RESURRECTION
I modeled this statue to represent the Resurrection of Jesus.
For me, the Resurrection happens from a (deceased) body and a tomb: Jesus rises from the Sepulcher.
This image, which fits the hands that contain it joined in prayer, has no angles. It presents us with Jesus’ body in opaque marble, where the centurion’s spear mark evokes crucifixion. His face, on the other hand, is polished to mirror all the resurrected life in and around him.
The figure is cut at its bottom to achieve a geometry of flat sides that keep it upright and show us the rigidity of the sepulchral marble. This intervention is achieved with a tool, not by shaping with the hands. Without it, the body of Jesus could not leave his hands having no base, the tomb, in which to lean and from which to rise.
This Resurrection statue contains the body of Jesus and his Holy Sepulcher.
The original statue, to the size of the hands that see it, is a tactile prayer; enlarged it is a devotional reference touched by the eyes.
Guido Dettoni della Grazia
The Icon of Resurrection | Sculpted in Carrara marble | 90 cm | 3 ft
The sculpture to represent the Risen Christ was requested beginning 2013 to Guido Dettoni by Msgr Philip Heng and Mrs. Therese Huang to be installed in the Church of St. Ignatius in Singapore. Mrs. Huang had already donated a marble enlargement of the Sculpture MARIA to the same Parish.
During his visit to Singapore for the inauguration of both statues of Resurrection and MARIA , Guido Dettoni della Grazia carried out with twenty-two parishioners aged from 6 to 81 a Handsmatter experience.
They started the process by getting in touch with malleable matter: a wax especially prepared for this practice. Then they would sit all together -blindfolded- listening to a chosen reading from the Parish about the vision of St Ignatius…. that God has come in person among us transforms our world and gives it hope…
The sculpture was achieved at the end of 2013 but, before being shipped to its final destination in Singapore, it was presented on February 10, 2014, at the Chapel of the University of Theology of Barcelona and blessed by Cardinal Lluis Martínez Sistach, archbishop of Barcelona. The act counted with the presence of Dr. Armand Puig, dean or the University, and the poet Carles Duarte i Montserrat, author of the poem “Resurrection after Guido Dettoni”.
Since 2013, there has been a 1 ft copy of the original Resurrection, carved in Carrara marble, which has been part of the Permanent Contemporary Sacred Art Exhibition by Guido Dettoni della Grazia, in Santa Maria delle Rose’s church di Assisi.