ARTWORK
Mano a Mano
Born a Man. Died a GOD.
THE STORY
In Mano a Mano, I chose to portray Jesus completely exposed, not to provoke, but to make his humanity impossible to ignore. Before the divinity, before the resurrection, before centuries turned him into an icon, he was born into a human body. He was a man.
He entered our world and experienced it intimately: love and betrayal, empathy and cruelty, sickness and death, wealth and poverty, and the ways we mistreat women and those we perceive as different from ourselves. He witnessed the contradictions of humanity because he lived among them.
That is why I painted all of his manhood. I wanted there to be no distance between the viewer and the reality of the incarnation. His body was vulnerable because he was vulnerable. He could feel pain. He could be humiliated. He could suffer. And ultimately, he could die.
For me, that makes what followed even more profound. He endured torture and death for the very humanity whose flaws he had come to know so intimately.
Born a man. Died a God.
And yet, standing before him, I am left with questions that feel as personal as the painting itself: Was it worth it? Did we learn? Have we become more compassionate, more forgiving, more worthy of that sacrifice? Do we truly understand redemption?
I cannot answer those questions for anyone else.
That is the struggle at the heart of Mano a Mano. The human and the divine. Flesh and spirit. Sacrifice and redemption.
The answer belongs to the person standing before him.
WORK DETAILS
MANO A MANO
David Schure, February 2026
Graphite on Bristol Paper
24 × 18 5/8 inches, framed
$525,000
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