Trevor Tynan is unlike most models.

He’s not sexy; he’s not mysterious. He doesn’t have a cutting-stomach, nor does he have a snobby German accent. Trevor, or Tre as he’s known to his followers, smokes a ton of pot. He likes to drink beer and watch the Montreal Canadiens. He’s of average height and slightly overweight. He has a shaggy beard and long dark hair.

Oddly enough, Tre is Jesus…literally. A few months ago, Tre was “spotted” by a rep from a company that among other things makes full-scale sculptures of religious figures. Tre was asked to be a model for their full sized Jesus statue.

The following is from a conversation Tre and I had about his holy modeling career:


RD: Describe your appearance in your own words.

TT: I decided a couple years ago that I was tired of cutting my hair. I hated the "frosted tips" look that was raging at the time, because I didn’tunderstand how the white man could justify his sexism if he participated in activities that had for the most part been things left to the other half. Dye my hair? Gel my tips? When did this become something I should do? In defiance, I decided to not cut the locks for a while. A while turned to two years. If I was to describe my look I would say it’s very Middle Eastern circa 2000 years ago. The bad wispy beard is done merely to enhance my biblical resemblance.

RD: Who first contacted you about the Jesus job?

TT: Frank Summarah. I still have his business card. He owns the Accent Gallery in the north end of Halifax. Sweet, sweet man. He made me an omelete after church one day. I hate tomatoes but I didn’t have the heart to tell him so he put them in with the eggs and the other omelettey things. Delicious.

RD: Yummm. Sounds tasty! How did you react when you were asked to be Jesus?

TT: I thought it was a bit of a joke at first to be honest. I mean by the every single person I'd see that I had gotten really used to it. The conversations would be, "You look a lot like..." and I'd just cut them off, "Jesus. JC. Son of God. I get it. King of the Jews. Hilarious," I’d continue to stare at them until they felt a bit awkward. People always fail torealize that when something looks like something, they’re not the first to see the correlation. But yeah, when the two sculptors, Joe and Brian, got in touch with me and told me this was going to be taking place, I thought i tsounded pretty rad. If you’re going to be made in the recreation of anyother human being, may as well be the most famous one of all. Jesus or TomCruise...I'd take the Miracle Worker over the Alien anyday.

RD: Me too. What kind of company recruits people as Jesus?

TT: That’s a tough question. The Jews kicked him out. The Christians couldn’t exist until after his whole gig was done. The Muslims believe hewas a prophet but one of a couple hundred. Maybe the Muslims? They seem tobe the only logical answer. As for me, it was a couple of professional sculptors. Great guys. Really funny and good natured. Abundantly talented. They are pro's and charge a hefty sum for anyone who is vain enough to wanta statue of themselves...not that I'm calling Jesus vain or anything...but all of the religious figures they do sans fee. Donated. No cash necessary. They were looking for a modern looking figure of Christ to work with to bring back the concept of faith and spirituality to the modern day westernized youth who, while perhaps longing for a spiritual backbone, have nothing tangible in their world that they can relate to.

RD: Whatever. What went down during the modeling?

TT: That’s a story all to itself. The short version is, I said a couple Hail Mary's, shaved a lot of the hair off my body, greased up, had mould poured all over me, waited for it to harden...the mould that is, said acouple more Hail Mary's, wondered what I was going to have for breakfast the next day - Apple Cinnamon or Maple Sugar Quaker Oatmeal -, showered as much of the goop off as I could, put my clothes on and left. I didn’t realize Iwas going to be naked for it. The concept had never crossed my mind. But I ended up that way. It was awkwardly liberating.

RD: Have you seen the finished product of you as Jesus?

TT: I've yet to see the whole thing. My parents came out for our grad in May and we got to see the head, which is the only part finished so far. It creeped me out a little bit. I could clearly see my facial features in itand yet, at the same time, it looked very Christ-like. Speaking of our grad...loved the valedictorian address. Well played.

RD: Thank you very much. Throughout the entire speech I was picturing you naked, covered in Vaseline, having two men sculpt your body in a run down art studio. Is there more Jesus work for you in the foreseeable future?

TT: Well, seeing as the statue isn’t finished yet I hope so. I don’t know how much good just a head of a guy who sort of resembles Christ is going to do. Outside of this though, I don’t know. I might be asked to fill in for acouple of miracles or sightings here and there, but the folks upstairs who do all the scheduling know I have a real life job down here, and some of the locations are such a nuisance to get to - that grilled cheese sandwich likeness was hell to do -, so I don’t think so. I think everyone should be doing Jesus work everyday. Being kind and open minded and giving. Making someone else's life better...that sort of thing we can all do all the time.

RD: Has Jesus tried to get in touch with you during this whole process? If so, what did he say?

TT: We had a lot of trouble with our phone connection so it was quite a relief to finally get His opinion on it when I did. He said the outfit didn’t match His skin tone or eye colour very well, but other than that He seemed pretty cool about it. I think if I had felt uncomfortable or if He had, I would have been let know. He's a busy guy though; a lot of prayers these days that need His answering, so we don't talk as much as I'd like. But I understand. Being the Son of God is a tough gig. He does it well.

RD: How many chicks do you get when you tell them you model as Jesus, ten or twenty?

TT: Please: water into wine. Ten? Twenty? I've fed 5000 with my fish and buns before...the possibilities are indefinite. Actually...you'll likethis...I was waiting in line at a bar in Halifax a little while back and my buddies began to inform the three beauties in front of us about my "Jesus modelling." The girls' collective reaction was one of disgust. They looked me up and down a quick double, snickered, turned around and killed a little piece of me. Those bitches aren't getting into Heaven, you can bet all your coins on that one Rowland. I may forgive...but I do not forget.

RD: Thanks for your time Trevor.

TT: Anytime Rowland.

RD: Trevor Tynan.