Drawings of the Crucifixion by Paul Freud 

Paul Freud is driven to draw. His thin spidery lines weave and contort over the paper until they form a small dense tangled web of lines, a mesh of hidden meaning . When I first saw them, and he showed me many, I was perplexed. What were they about - Paul does not explain. Looking for images for a Holy Week show I started to see Crucifixions in this mass of lines and that’s where this exhibition started.

Later at lunch a neighbour told us to read the Poem of the Rood - the seventh century work discussing the tree from which the Cross was hewn. The unknown poet dreams that he encounters a beautiful tree. It is the "rood," or cross, on which Jesus Christ was crucified. It is gloriously decorated with gold and gems, but the poet can discern ancient wounds. The rood tells the poet how it had been forced to be the instrument of Christ's death, describing how it, too, experienced the nails and spear. No longer an instrument of torture and death it is now the sign of mankind's redemption.

It is this pagan transition from suffering to beauty, which is what Freud describes - wittingly or not. Remember that no other religion is so dominated by one image - that of The Cross. How many crucifixes will you see today

Paul Freud, the eldest son of Lucian Freud and Katherine Margaret McAdam and great-grandson of Sigmund Freud was born in 1959 . He grew up in north London in the thick of studio life. Painting and creative expression came as second nature to Paul from a young age. Paul got an extensive education studying psychology, sociology and art. He studied at Putney & Wandsworth, Camberwell College of Art and Goldsmiths where he was awarded a BA in fine art. Painter currently in drawing phase.

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