Background to the commissioning of Meditations on Noel Counihan's Laughing Christ: 'Having been a little doubtful at first about writing in response to a commission, Hardy was surprised at the depth of his emotional engagement with Counihan's Christ, an image which contrasted strongly with that artist's more established realist style. In the end, the drama of that contrast, a microcosm of one of the great dialectics of world history, caught Hardy's attention. He found himself responding to the image in autobiographical terms recalling the tensions of his Melbourne schooldays between the two competing worldviews of Catholicism and Communism, a debate that also exercised a profound influence on Counihan. For Hardy, the writing of his Meditations assumed the power of a personal catharsis while also bringing him to a renewed appreciation of Counihan's intense humanity as it came to be reflected in his art.'
from 'Walk Forward and See How Far We Can Go', Dianne Fogwell.
(Source: First National Artist's Book Forum. 6 February 2004. Artspace Mackay, Qld.)
