the miracle, 2025, 38x83” this is the first fisherman figure on day one.
3:50 PM: i got started today on the miracle, 2025 38x83” the canvas is 78” wide, so this is just the first of what will probably be five or six figures, rather than the seven in the original.
the miracle, 14 1/2 x 49”, oil on canvas mounted on board, 1979
1:06 PM: this morning i took the miracle, 14 1/2 x 49” oil on canvas mounted on board, out of my storage room with the intention of creating a new , more accurate image for my files. as well, i’m planning on making a new version, incorportaing all that i’ve learned since 1979, when it was painted.
the miracle was inspired by my experience with frangos, a fisherman from the village of corthi, on andros, greece. i spotted him emerging from his fishing boat with fresh caught fish, which he was about to sell to nonas, whose little seaside restaraunt was just a few hundred feet from my andros studio in the plakoura.
when i approached him with my camera, he unexpectedly launched into his experience years ago of a miracle. it was 46 years ago, and if i took notes at the time, i have no idea where they are, so i can’t tell you what exactly what that miracle was.
once my friend marika developed the photos i shot, i worked from 7 of them in my athens studio at the time, where frangos tells his story and, in the 7th one, rests, hands by his side, his head surrounded by a celestial light, with a flower at his feet. this was my way of giving the viewer a little taste of the awe i experienced in that moment.