In his catalogue essay, Stations of the Cross, curator/writer Peter Simpson states: Dominant among the various projects Richard Lewer has undertaken during his tenure of the McCahon House Residency (September-November, 2008) is his remarkable Stations of the Cross, a rendition that is traditional in conforming to the sequence of fourteen specific moments in the narrative of Christ’s final hours – from being condemned to death by Pilate to his entombment after the crucifixion – but idiosyncratic in its medium and mode of figuration.

Back home for an extended stay after more than a decade based in Melbourne, Lewer has in this ambitious and courageous work responded to two powerful imperatives: his Roman Catholic upbringing in Hamilton, on the one hand, and the example of Colin McCahon, in whose name the residency is established, on the other.

The constant rain that accompanied his arrival in the Titirangi bush quickly turned to inspiration and became a way of documenting his stay. The resulting series of paintings forms an exhibition called Ninety-two Nights in Titirangi, a playful nod to McCahon’s famous work Six Days in Nelson and Canterbury.

Richard says “When I first arrived it was pouring with rain every day, so I thought it would be appropriate to document the fickle Waitakere weather. So every morning I get the midnight weather map from the Herald and paint it. I like the idea of documenting my time here this way, ending up with one for each day I’m here."