A young man receives the book The Imitation of Jesus Christ from a priest. His reading of the book induces an ardour for one single wish: to be crucified himself. As he cannot find a cross large enough for him in any shop, he orders one from a carpenter. In the meantime he dwells through the red light district, where he meets a prostitute who also turns out to be a cross merchant. He has a nocturnal adventure with her. The next day, he picks up the cross from the carpenter and begins his own calvary.
“To only speak about Mariën’s work in terms of transgression, seems then to be missing the point and neglect the light, often pun-like humor which disarms the violence inflicted by transgression. As we saw, Mariën seems more interested in moving between two terms, or following a side-track, than with the actual crossing of boundaries.”
Mieke Bleyen
“The images of dream, of the spirit, are ideal surfaces, that is to say without a reverse side, without anything ‘verso’. Their depth lies in their extent, their succession and their surpassing.”
Marcel Mariën
