personal words

“The greatest contribution both to my skill as a sculptor and the personal connection I have with my creations was when in July 2003 I was diagnosed with Stage T3 Prostate cancer.

“As a world-class Sports Competitor, I had lived a disciplined life, consistently maintaining a high level of physical fitness. I was proud of my ability to set world’s records in endurance sports, which could not be challenged by men half my age. 

“Frankly, having enjoyed a long life of good health, I probably felt I was immortal.

“Suddenly the carpet was pulled out from under me. For the first time in my life I was faced with my own mortality. My conventional doctors told me that I would be dead in two years if I did not immediately submit to their prescribed medical treatment. Since the cancer had spread too much to operate, my only given options were a combination of intensive Radiotherapy and intense Chemotherapy. 

 I have always done things “My Way”. After researching the side effects of conventional treatment (impotence and incontinence), I rejected the advice of my doctors, and I decided to utilize a course of Alternative Medicine. My course consisted of taking nauseating potions by the clock, plus 227 pills each day and 1½-hour intravenous drips 3 times a week. It was hell, but I stuck to it with resolve.

“My family and I did a lot of praying. My sons and my Grandson flew to Israel to comfort me and to show their support. We prayed, unashamedly, with arms around each other at King Solomon’s great Western Wall in Jerusalem. I felt closer to G-d than ever before.

“G-d listened. He heard our prayers and decided that I had a reason to keep on living. G-d granted me a prolonged life. Between the power of prayer and the alternative medicine, my PSA dropped lower and lower and the malignant tumor got smaller and smaller until it disappeared. After 8 months I was in remission. For the following 18 months, there was no medical evidence of cancer. What I accomplished is in no medical record book. My conventional doctors, who remain at odds with my alternative medicine doctors, have no explanation. One of them says I simply “willed” my Stage T3 cancer to go away. Don’t you believe that.

“During this time of uncertainty, not knowing if I would live or die, I buried myself in my work. I felt that every sculpture I produced could well be the last sculpture I would ever create, and, if so, it would be the last part of me that I would leave on this earth for my family, friends, and the world to remember me by. Nothing mattered except for my work. My heart and soul poured into each sculpture. My passion and internal torment, my lust for life, my determination to survive – all poured into my work. G-d (and I truly believe this) guided my hand. I was as connected to my work as if G-d had taken one of my ribs and put it inside the sculpture, making each sculpture my “Eve”. I loved each sculpture as Adam loved Eve. Each sculpture became part of me and I became part of my creation. We were inseparable.

“Because I felt each sculpture could be the last I would ever create, I attacked it with such focus, striving for ultimate excellence, that I raised my level of skill and excellence to a level it might otherwise have taken me a lifetime to achieve.

“Also the stage of my cancer and my mental state of mind is clearly reflected in my work. When I created MOSES BETRAYED I, it was early in the diagnosis and I faced death. MOSES’ pathos was an extension of my pain and pathos. When I did the large Portrait of OLD SALT I, it was in pre-cancer days and I created an anatomically perfect head and a true likeness. But when, two years later, I modelled OLD SALT II under the uncertainty of cancer, I identified with this old Russian sailor, with his weather-beaten face and his mass of lines and wrinkles. This time I captured his soul. The first sculpture is a good likeness. The second sculpture reveals the inner man.

“Everyone has to battle a Goliath in their lifetime. I have had many Goliaths to battle, but Cancer was my biggest Goliath. When I created AGAINST GOLIATH, my cancer was gone. I had won my battle against my Goliath just as David had conquered his Goliath. I became David and he became me: Triumphant in Victory, with my head raised to G-d, dedicating the victory to G-d and praising the glory and the power of G-d.

“Since I intend to spend the rest of my life creating the best art I am capable of, I assume that this is G-d’s will and I dedicate everything I create to the greatest Creator of all: G-d.

Richard Minns