Former local resident and artist Gary Lessord's national and international recognition for his ongoing inspirational series of artworks has continued to increase in recent weeks. His painting "The Crucifixion," created in 1979, has been receiving even more attention recently with the release of Mel Gibson's movie "The Passion of the Christ." Lessord's extremely realistic and graphic depiction of Christ's suffering was the result of a year of intense study and investigation of that extremely historic event. Since its creation, the original oil has been widely exhibited, viewed by tens of thousands, and published as a fine art print. In June 1999, "The Crucifixion" was exhibited by invitation in the Rotunda of the United States Russell Senate Building in Washington, D.C. In 2001, Lessord had the great privilege of speaking in the Senate Caucus Room to a group of international artists on the subject of modern Christian images and their impact in the world today. The art was a featured promotional image for the international traveling exhibition Jesus 2000. Following that, the painting was on the cover of "The Many Faces of Christ," a book published in Australia featuring international museum and private collection artworks depicting Christ by such masters as Rembrandt, Carravagio, El Greco and Delacroix. The artist says, "It was a great honor for me to be chosen for this book as many of the old masters I studied in my graduate Master of Fine Art program are included in the publication along with my own art." In Orlando, Lessord has exhibited "The Crucifixion" and several other paintings during two of First Baptist of Orlando's Easter presentations "Portraits of Grace" and "Portraits from the Life of Christ." Amazing Art Images of Hollywood, Florida had begun worldwide print distribution of "The Crucifixion" along with another highly praised work of Lessord's entitled "Creative Splendor." Anyone interested in viewing work of the artist may visit his web site at www.garylessord.com |