International Times: Seizing Control of the Dreamscape

Here's my latest book review for International Times, which is on The Perfect Moment: God, Sex, Art, and the Birth of America’s Culture Wars by Isaac Butler:

'Butler documents the way the culture wars played out in this period within the visual arts predominantly by telling the story of the National Endowments for the Arts and Humanities (NEA) and the conflicts that arose firstly from (or from perceptions of) its funding of specific artists and then from grants that were not awarded but which faced legal challenges as a result. These include works or exhibitions by artists such as Andres Serrano, Robert Mapplethorpe, David Wojnarowicz, and Karen Finley, among others. The story takes place in the context of AIDS and its impact on the LGBT community, with its deadly effect informing a significant proportion of the work and the reaction towards it..'

See also my book review for International Times on The Last Supper: Art, Faith, Sex, and Controversy in the 1980s by Paul Elie:

'Paul Elie’s The Last Supper: Art, Faith, Sex, and Controversy in the 1980s is a survey of the culture wars that began in the US in the 1980’s viewed from the perspective of the religious aspects of the conflicts.

Many of the most famous confrontations in this period were between those defending a conservative view of their religion and artists utilising more progressive ideas and imagery in relation to that same religion. Martin Scorsese’s The Last Temptation of Christ, the photographs of Robert Mapplethorpe, Madonna’s Like a Prayer video, Salman Rushdie’s The Satanic Verses and Andres Serrano’s Piss Christ are among the works caught in the crosshairs of the face-off between embattled sides.

 

Elie takes us through the decade highlighting the artists involved – from Andy Warhol through U2 to Toni Morrison – while also documenting the changing response to crypto-religious works.'

For more on: Warhol - see here; Scorsese - see here and here; U2 - see here, here, here, and here - 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7. For consideration of what to do when confronted with contentious culture see here, here, and here.

For more of my writing on music, see my article for Seen and Unseen entitled 'Rock ‘n’ roll’s long dance with religion' and my co-authored book with Peter Banks, ‘The Secret Chord’, which has been described as an impassioned study of the role of music in cultural life written through the prism of Christian belief. The book can be purchased from Lulu - https://www.lulu.com/shop/jonathan-evens-and-peter-banks/the-secret-chord/paperback/product-1pey2g67.html?q=peter+banks&page=1&pageSize=4. Covering a range of musical styles and influences, from gospel music to X Factor, The Secret Chord conveys enthusiasm for music and its transformative powers. The book asks is there really a 'Secret Chord' that would both please the Lord and nearly everybody else as described in Leonard Cohen's popular song 'Hallelujah'?

My earlier pieces for IT are: an interview with curator Jacquiline Creswell; an interview with the artist Alexander de Cadenet; an interview with artist, poet, priest Spencer Reece, an interview with the poet Chris Emery, an interview with Jago Cooper, Director of the the Sainsbury Centre for Visual Arts, a profile of singer-songwriter Bill Fay, plus reviews of:

• 'Moving Pictures' and 'Closeups' by Steve Scott, 'Never Mind the Ballads Here's Nick Battle' by Nick Battle, and 'Blank Arcades' by Andrew Rumsey
• Michael Takeo Magruder -Reconstructed Landscape{s}
• The Last Supper: Art, Faith, Sex and Controversy in the 1980s
• In Another World: The Four Seasons of Talk Talk
• Hulda Guzman: Please awake - asked Nature kindly' at Turner Contemporary;
• 'Devotions' by Lucy Caldwell and 'Catholic Modernism and the Irish ‘Avant-Garde’: The Achievement of Brian Coffey, Denis Devlin, and Thomas MacGreevy' by James Matthew Wilson;
• the 'Stations' project from Dunlin Press;
• 'William Blake: The Age of Romantic Fantasy';
• Joseph Arthur in concert;
• installations by Chiharu Shiota and Yin Xiuzhen at Hayward Gsllery,
• U2's 'Days of Ash', Mumford and Sons' 'Prizefighter' and Moby's 'Future Quiet';
• 'Collected Poems' by Kevin Crossley-Holland;
• 'Lux' by Rosalía;
• 'Springsteen: Deliver Me from Nowhere';
• 'Great Art Explained' by James Payne;
• 'Down River: In Search of David Ackles' by Mark Brend;
• 'Headwater' by Rev Simpkins;
• 'The Invisibility of Religion in Contemporary Art' by Jonathan A. Anderson;
• 'Breaking Lines' at the Estorick Collection of Modern Italian Art,
• albums by Deacon Blue, Mumford and Sons, and Andrew Rumsey,
• also by Joy Oladokun and Michael Kiwanaku;
• 'Nolan's Africa' by Andrew Turley;
• Mavis Staples in concert at Union Chapel;
• T Bone Burnett's 'The Other Side' and Peter Case live in Leytonstone;
• Helaine Blumenfeld's 'Together' exhibition,
• 'What Is and Might Be and then Otherwise' by David Miller;
• 'Giacometti in Paris' by Michael Peppiatt,
• the first Pissabed Prophet album; and
• 'Religion and Contemporary Art: A Curious Accord', a book which derives from a 2017 symposium organised by the Association of Scholars of Christianity in the History of Art.

Several of my short stories have been published by IT including three about Nicola Ravenscroft's EarthAngel sculptures (then called mudcubs), which we exhibited at St Andrew's Wickford in 2022. The first story in the series is 'The Mudcubs and the O Zone holes'. The second is 'The Mudcubs and the Clean-Up King', and the third is 'The mudcubs and the Wall'. My other short stories to have been published by International Times are 'The Black Rain', a story about the impact of violence in our media, 'The New Dark Ages', a story about principles and understandings that are gradually fading away from our modern societies, and 'The curious glasses', a story based on the butterfly effect.

IT have also published several of my poems, including 'Spencer Reece at Bemerton' which is based on the visit that I made to Bemerton in 2026 with Spencer Reece, 'The ABC of creativity', which covers attention, beginning and creation, and 'The Edge of Chaos', a state of existence poem. Also published have been three poems from my 'Five Trios' series. 'Barking' is about St Margaret’s Barking and Barking Abbey and draws on my time as a curate at St Margaret's. 'Bradwell' is a celebration of the history of the Chapel of St Peter-on-the-Wall, the Othona Community, and of pilgrimage to those places. Broomfield in Essex became a village of artists following the arrival of Revd John Rutherford in 1930. His daughter, the artist Rosemary Rutherford, also moved with them and made the vicarage a base for her artwork including paintings and stained glass. Then, Gwynneth Holt and Thomas Bayliss Huxley-Jones moved to Broomfield in 1949 where they shared a large studio in their garden and both achieved high personal success. 'Broomfield' reviews their stories, work, legacy and motivations.

To read my poems published by Stride, click here, here, here, here, here, and here. My poems published in Amethyst Review are: 'Runwell', 'Are/Are Not', 'Attend, attend' and 'Maritain, Green, Beckett and Anderson in conversation down through the ages'.

I am among those whose poetry has been included in Thin Places & Sacred Spaces, a recent anthology from Amethyst Press. I also had a poem included in All Shall Be Well: Poems for Julian of Norwich, the first Amethyst Press anthology of new poems.

'Five Trios' is a series of poems on thin places and sacred spaces in the Diocese of Chelmsford. The five poems in the series are:

• 'Barking';
• 'Bradwell';
• 'Broomfield';
• 'Pleshey'; and
• 'Runwell'.

These poems have been published by Amethyst Review and International Times.

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Glen Hansard - Down On Our Knees.

International Times: Crypto-Religious Culture Wars

My latest book review for International Times is on The Last Supper: Art, Faith, Sex, and Controversy in the 1980s by Paul Elie:

'taken together, Elie’s The Life You Save May Be Your Own: An American Pilgrimage (a group portrait of Thomas Merton, Dorothy Day, Flannery O’Connor, and Walker Percy), Reinventing Bach: Music, Technology, and the Search for Transcendence (a meditation on how sound recording allowed Bach’s music to survive and be reimagined by the likes of Albert Schweitzer, Glenn Gould, and Yo-Yo Ma), and The Last Supper can be viewed as a loosely connected trilogy of twentieth century cultural and spiritual history. In them, Elie undertakes a wide-ranging inquiry into the ways in which religion and faith have shaped human creativity, memory, and community in the modern era by means of the ‘spiritualized encounter’. As Nora Futtner has written, ‘Elie’s work is an invitation—to engage, to reflect, and to explore how faith and culture continually shape one another in unexpected ways.’'

For more of my writing on music, see my article for Seen and Unseen entitled 'Rock ‘n’ roll’s long dance with religion' and my co-authored book with Peter Banks, ‘The Secret Chord’, which has been described as an impassioned study of the role of music in cultural life written through the prism of Christian belief.

The book can be purchased from Lulu - https://www.lulu.com/shop/jonathan-evens-and-peter-banks/the-secret-chord/paperback/product-1pey2g67.html?q=peter+banks&page=1&pageSize=4

Covering a range of musical styles and influences, from gospel music to X Factor, The Secret Chord conveys enthusiasm for music and its transformative powers. The book asks is there really a 'Secret Chord' that would both please the Lord and nearly everybody else as described in Leonard Cohen's popular song 'Hallelujah'?

My earlier pieces for IT are: an interview with the artist Alexander de Cadenet; an interview with artist, poet, priest Spencer Reece, an interview with the poet Chris Emery, an interview with Jago Cooper, Director of the the Sainsbury Centre for Visual Arts, a profile of singer-songwriter Bill Fay, plus reviews of:

• In Another World: The Four Seasons of Talk Talk
• Hulda Guzman: Please awake - asked Nature kindly' at Turner Contemporary;
• 'Devotions' by Lucy Caldwell and 'Catholic Modernism and the Irish ‘Avant-Garde’: The Achievement of Brian Coffey, Denis Devlin, and Thomas MacGreevy' by James Matthew Wilson;
• the 'Stations' project from Dunlin Press;
• 'William Blake: The Age of Romantic Fantasy';
• Joseph Arthur in concert;
• installations by Chiharu Shiota and Yin Xiuzhen at Hayward Gsllery,
• U2's 'Days of Ash', Mumford and Sons' 'Prizefighter' and Moby's 'Future Quiet';
• 'Collected Poems' by Kevin Crossley-Holland;
• 'Lux' by Rosalía;
• 'Springsteen: Deliver Me from Nowhere';
• 'Great Art Explained' by James Payne;
• 'Down River: In Search of David Ackles' by Mark Brend;
• 'Headwater' by Rev Simpkins;
• 'The Invisibility of Religion in Contemporary Art' by Jonathan A. Anderson;
• 'Breaking Lines' at the Estorick Collection of Modern Italian Art,
• albums by Deacon Blue, Mumford and Sons, and Andrew Rumsey,
• also by Joy Oladokun and Michael Kiwanaku;
• 'Nolan's Africa' by Andrew Turley;
• Mavis Staples in concert at Union Chapel;
• T Bone Burnett's 'The Other Side' and Peter Case live in Leytonstone;
• Helaine Blumenfeld's 'Together' exhibition,
• 'What Is and Might Be and then Otherwise' by David Miller;
• 'Giacometti in Paris' by Michael Peppiatt,
• the first Pissabed Prophet album; and
• 'Religion and Contemporary Art: A Curious Accord', a book which derives from a 2017 symposium organised by the Association of Scholars of Christianity in the History of Art.

Several of my short stories have been published by IT including three about Nicola Ravenscroft's EarthAngel sculptures (then called mudcubs), which we exhibited at St Andrew's Wickford in 2022. The first story in the series is 'The Mudcubs and the O Zone holes'. The second is 'The Mudcubs and the Clean-Up King', and the third is 'The mudcubs and the Wall'. My other short stories to have been published by International Times are 'The Black Rain', a story about the impact of violence in our media, 'The New Dark Ages', a story about principles and understandings that are gradually fading away from our modern societies, and 'The curious glasses', a story based on the butterfly effect.

IT have also published several of my poems, including 'Spencer Reece at Bemerton' which is based on the visit that I made to Bemerton in 2026 with Spencer Reece, 'The ABC of creativity', which covers attention, beginning and creation, and 'The Edge of Chaos', a state of existence poem. Also published have been three poems from my 'Five Trios' series. 'Barking' is about St Margaret’s Barking and Barking Abbey and draws on my time as a curate at St Margaret's. 'Bradwell' is a celebration of the history of the Chapel of St Peter-on-the-Wall, the Othona Community, and of pilgrimage to those places. Broomfield in Essex became a village of artists following the arrival of Revd John Rutherford in 1930. His daughter, the artist Rosemary Rutherford, also moved with them and made the vicarage a base for her artwork including paintings and stained glass. Then, Gwynneth Holt and Thomas Bayliss Huxley-Jones moved to Broomfield in 1949 where they shared a large studio in their garden and both achieved high personal success. 'Broomfield' reviews their stories, work, legacy and motivations.

To read my poems published by Stride, click here, here, here, here, here, and here. My poems published in Amethyst Review are: 'Runwell', 'Are/Are Not', 'Attend, attend' and 'Maritain, Green, Beckett and Anderson in conversation down through the ages'.

I am among those whose poetry has been included in Thin Places & Sacred Spaces, a recent anthology from Amethyst Press. I also had a poem included in All Shall Be Well: Poems for Julian of Norwich, the first Amethyst Press anthology of new poems.

'Five Trios' is a series of poems on thin places and sacred spaces in the Diocese of Chelmsford. The five poems in the series are:

• 'Barking';
• 'Bradwell';
• 'Broomfield';
• 'Pleshey'; and
• 'Runwell'.

These poems have been published by Amethyst Review and International Times.

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

U2 - All I Want Is You.

Seen and Unseen - Controversial art: how can the critic love their neighbour?

My latest article for Seen & Unseen is entitled 'Controversial art: how can the critic love their neighbour?'. It makes suggestions of what to do when confronted with contentious culture:

'Cultural comment is as much about love for neighbour as any other aspect of Christian life. Our charitable hermeneutic was summed up for us by St Paul when he wrote of going through life looking for “whatever is true, whatever is honourable, whatever is just, whatever is pure, whatever is pleasing, whatever is commendable”. Sister Wendy Beckett, the cultural commentator who most recently has best exemplified this charitable hermeneutic achieving huge popularity as a result, wrote of “a beautiful secret … that makes all things luminous … a precious gift in this confused and violent world”.'

For more on a charitable hermeneutic see here and here. For more on responses to controversial art see here and here.

My first article for Seen and Unseen was 'Life is more important than art' which reviews the themes of recent art exhibitions that tackle life’s big questions and the roles creators take.

My second article 'Corinne Bailey Rae’s energised and anguished creative journey' explores inspirations in Detroit, Leeds and Ethiopia for Corinne Bailey Rae’s latest album, Black Rainbows, which is an atlas of capacious faith.

My third article was an interview with musician and priest Rev Simpkins in which we discussed how music is an expression of humanity and his faith.

My fourth article was a guide to the Christmas season’s art, past and present. Traditionally at this time of year “great art comes tumbling through your letterbox” so, in this article, I explore the historic and contemporary art of Christmas.

My fifth article was 'Finding the human amid the wreckage of migration'. In this article I interviewed Shezad Dawood about his multimedia Leviathan exhibition at Salisbury Cathedral where personal objects recovered from ocean depths tell a story of modern and ancient migrations.

My sixth article was 'The visionary artists finding heaven down here' in which I explored a tradition of visionary artists whose works shed light on the material and spiritual worlds.

My seventh article was 'How the incomer’s eye sees identity' in which I explain how curating an exhibition for Ben Uri Online gave me the chance to highlight synergies between ancient texts and current issues.

My eighth article was 'Infernal rebellion and the questions it asks' in which I interview the author Nicholas Papadopulos about his book The Infernal Word: Notes from a Rebel Angel.

My ninth article was 'A day, night and dawn with Nick Cave’s lyrics' in which I review Adam Steiner’s Darker With The Dawn — Nick Cave’s Songs Of Love And Death and explore whether Steiner's rappel into Cave’s art helps us understand its purpose.

My 10th article was 'Theresa Lola's poetical hope' about the death-haunted yet lyrical, joyful and moving poet for a new generation.

My 11th article was 'How to look at our world: Aaron Rosen interview', exploring themes from Rosen's book 'What Would Jesus See: Ways of Looking at a Disorienting World'.

My 12th article was 'Blake, imagination and the insight of God', exploring a new exhibition - 'William Blake's Universe at the Fitzwilliam Museum - which focuses on seekers of spiritual regeneration and national revival.

My 13th article 'Matthew Krishanu: painting childhood' was an interview with Matthew Krishanu on his exhibition 'The Bough Breaks' at Camden Art Centre.

My 14th article was entitled 'Art makes life worth living' and explored why society, and churches, need the Arts.

My 15th article was entitled 'The collective effervescence of sport's congregation' and explored some of the ways in which sport and religion have been intimately entwined throughout history

My 16th article for Seen & Unseen was entitled 'Paradise cottage: Milton reimagin’d' and reviewed the ways in which artist Richard Kenton Webb is conversing with the blind poet in his former home (Milton's Cottage, Chalfont St Giles).

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Feargal Sharkey - A Good Heart.

Stations of the Cross

'Stations of the Cross' is an ongoing series of exhibitions depicting the crucifixion of Christ, curated by Ben Moore, in support of the Missing Tom Fund.

‘Stations of the Cross’ 2014 and 2015 were held at St. Marylebone Parish Church and then at St. Stephen Walbrook in 2018.

These Lenten exhibitions included works by Francis Bacon, Sebastian Horsley, Mat Collishaw, Wolfe Lenkiewicz, Polly Morgan, Paul Benney, Robin Mason, Charlie Mackesy, Alison Jackson and Antony Micallef.

Art Below showcased many of the works on billboard space at London Underground stations that had a link to the theme including Kings Cross, Temple, Angel, Charing Cross and St.Paul’s.

A website documenting the exhibitions has been created and includes two articles I have written about reactions to these exhibitions. One explores protest or engagement in terms of Church responses to controversial art and the other reflects on the 2018 exhibition and reactions to it.

Proceeds from the 'Stations of the Cross' exhibition go to the 'Missing Tom' fund, which was started up specifically to raise money to support the search for Thomas Moore. Tom left his family home in 2003. He was 31 years old. His friends and family have not heard from him since then. With the support of the Missing People Charity his family continue to search for Tom. 

www.missingtom.com

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Lou Reed - Dime Store Mystery.

Artlyst - Art In Churches 2018: Spiritual Combinations Explored

In my review of 2018 for Artlyst I highlight the opportunities that the past year provided to explore:

• the contemplative element within art through the frame of Bill Viola’s video works;
• one of the most innovative examples in the twentieth century of creating work out of the dialogue between art and spirituality in 'Corita Kent – Get With The Action’ at Ditchling Museum of Art + Craft;
• the fractious element to the Church’s embrace of art in Art Below's 'Stations of the Cross' at St Stephen Walbrook; and
• opportunities for creativity concerning interfaith dialogues in 'Faith' by Russell Haines and 'Journey' by commission4mission, both at All Hallows by the Tower, plus 'Encounters' by Nicola Green at St Martin-in-the-Fields.

My other Artlyst articles and interviews are:

• Sister Wendy Beckett – A Reminiscence
• Marleen Hengelaar-Rookmaaker On The Legacy Of ArtWay
• Guido Guidi: Per Strada Flowers Gallery London
• Peter Howson Artlyst Interview
• Peter Howson: The play is over – Flowers Gallery
• Camille Henrot: Scientific History And Creation Story Mash Up
• Nicola Green Explores Recent And Contemporary Religious Leaders – St Martin-in-the-Fields
• Art And The Consequences Of War Explored In Two Exhibitions
• Helaine Blumenfeld Translating Her Vision
• Alastair Gordon A Testament To His Faith
• Sacred Noise: Explores Religion, Faith And Divinity
• Bill Viola: Quiet Contemplative Video Installation St Cuthbert’s Church Edinburgh
• The ground-breaking work of Sister Corita Kent
• Katrina Moss Chaiya Art Awards Interview: Where is God in our 21st century world?
• Picasso To Souza: The Crucifixion Imagery Rarely Exhibited
• Apocalypse Now: Michael Takeo Magruder Interviewed
• Jonathan Anderson: Religious Inspirations Behind Modernism
• Michael Takeo Magruder: De / coding the Apocalypse – Panacea Museum
• Giorgio Griffa: The Golden Ratio And Inexplicable Knowledge
• Arabella Dorman Unveils New Installation At St James Church Piccadilly
• Can Art Transform Society?
• Art Awakening Humanity Conference Report
• Central St Martins in the Fields Design Then And Now
• The Sacramental And Liturgical Nature Of Conceptual Art
• Caravan – An Interview With Rev Paul Gordon Chandler On Arts Peacebuilding
• Art Awakening Humanity Alexander de Cadenet Interviewed
• Polish Art In Britain Centenary Marked At London’s Ben Uri Gallery
• Michael Pendry New Installation Lights Up St Martin In The Fields;
• Mark Dean Projects Stations of the Cross Videos On Henry Moore Altar;
• Refugee Artists Learning from The Lives Of Others;
• The Religious Impulses Of Robert Rauschenberg;
• The Christian Science Connection Within The British Modern Art Movement;
• Artists Rebranding The Christmas Tree Tradition;
• Art Impacted - A Radical Response To Radicalisation;
• The Art of St Martin-in-the-Fields; and
• Was Caravaggio A Good Christian?

----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Bob Dylan - The Groom's Still Waiting At The Altar.

Congruity and controversy: exploring issues for contemporary commissions

Today I gave an illustrated talk at St Stephen Walbrook entitled 'Congruity and controversy: exploring issues for contemporary commissions.' Modern commissions by Henry Moore, Patrick Heron, Hans Coper and Andrew Varah at St Stephen Walbrook bring into focus some of the key issues and questions regarding modern or contemporary commissions. I explored these issues in the context of 'Reflection', the latest exhibition at St Stephen Walbrook by commission4mission. The essence of what I had to say in this talk can be found by clicking here.

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Michael Kiwanuka - The Final Frame.

Europe’s openness about religious images has grown out of the Christian tradition

'Europeans may believe that in defending free speech – including contentious religious cartoons – we are standing up for human rights won since the French Revolution, but this is not strictly true.'

Jonathan Jones, writing about Art Below's Stations of the Cross exhibition at St Marylebone Parish Church (an exhibition which features work by commission4mission's Christopher Clack), notes that: 'Europe’s modern openness about religious images has grown naturally out of the Christian tradition itself.'

As a result, 'Europeans should recognise, when we rightly defend the right to offend, that for inheritors of the sensational tradition of Christian art, it is actually quite easy to say that artists have the right to do what they want to religion. Even the church agrees on that, as it always has.'

While this is a valid and important corrective, Jones will also be well aware of the propensity within certain streams of Christianity to protest against the right to offend. In his article he mentions Andre Serrano's Piss Christ, a cibachrome print of a crucifix submerged in urine, which 'became a hate object for cultural and religious conservatives in 1980s America.'

Yet, as he rightly suggests, Christians are as 'likely to embrace the outrageous image as they would a lamb strayed from the flock. 'Jesus,' he quips, 'how can you offend these people?' In his excellent talk on faith and contemporary art entitled 'Icons or Eyesores?' Alan Stewart does precisely that in relation to Serrano's Piss Christ:

'For me the real power of the piece is that it encapsulates a Christ who comes into the filth and refuse of the world, who himself is rejected, expelled like a body fluid. God in the refuse of life; dignifying it; sitting with us in solidarity. Allowing himself to become contaminated with the fall-out of life.'

Some years ago Philip Ritchie, Paul Trathen and myself led several courses entitled The Big Picture exploring faith and popular culture. In one session we considered the pros and cons of Christian protest or engagement in relation to controversial portrayals of Christ. In the 1970’s and 80’s films like Monty Python’s Life of Brian and Martin Scorcese’s The Last Temptation of Christ resulted in thousands of Christians demonstrating outside cinema’s while Christian organisation’s like the National Viewer’s and Listener’s Association headed by Mary Whitehouse lobbied for these films to be banned. However, the release of The Da Vinci Code in 2006, although it dealt with similarly controversial material for Christians, did not result in mass protests. Instead, through seeker events, bible studies, websites and booklets Churches encouraged discussion of the issues raised by the film while clearly contesting the claims made about Christ and the Church.

We noted that the protests often did not tally with the content of the films and displayed a lack of understanding of the films, their stories and meaning. As Richard Burridge, Dean of King’s College London, has said 'those who called for the satire to be banned after its release in 1979 were “embarrassingly” ill-informed and missed a major opportunity to promote the Christian message.' Life of Brian portrayed the followers of religions as unthinking and gullible and the response of Christians to that film reinforced this stereotype. The Church had to relearn that the way to counter criticism is not to try to ban or censor it but to engage with it, understand it and accurately counter it. The Da Vinci Code events, bible studies, websites etc. that the Church used to counter the claims made in The Da Vinci Code featured reasoned arguments based on a real understanding of the issues raised which made use of genuine historical findings and opinion to counter those claims.

This brings us back to Jones' comments that, following the Iconoclastic controversy, 'When it comes to portraying God and Jesus, there never were many restrictions in Europe ... Artists were not only permitted but encouraged by the Church to depict Jesus in the most shocking ways they could.' This approach has helped to develop 'Europe’s modern openness about religious images' but has grown naturally out of the Christian emphasis on 'the humanity and suffering of a god brought down to Earth' or, as Stewart puts it: 'a Christ who comes into the filth and refuse of the world, who himself is rejected, expelled like a body fluid. God in the refuse of life; dignifying it; sitting with us in solidarity. Allowing himself to become contaminated with the fall-out of life.'

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Kanye West - Jesus Walks.

Sabbatical art pilgrimage: Westminster Cathedral

Westminster Cathedral is modelled on Byzantine styles and was intended to be filled with mosaic and marble. However when John Bentley, the Cathedral's architect, died in 1902 he left no finished mosaics and very little in the way of drawings or designs. The time since has been a voyage of discovery for the Cathedral staff with false starts, controversies and solid achievements along the way.

Commissioning on any scale involves risk, as the commissioner is negotiating  a combination of individual inspiration, church tradition, personal taste, and current fashions. To commission on the scale of a Cathedral and over considerable time with significant financial constraints is no mean undertaking. As with Antonio Guadi's Sagrada Familia, the scale of ambition here is such that the task is never fully complete.

The style and feel of Westminster Cathedral is the reverse of of the open, light expanses found in many Cathedrals - the contrast in my mind on this visit was with St Paul's which I had revisited earlier in the day. Despite its size and scale there is a sense at Westminster Cathedral of being in a subterranean, cavernous expanse; a dark catacomb like space which in some areas seems to absorb the glitter of the gold mosaics into itself while, in others, darkness provides focus to what is central to the life of this place - the sanctuaries and the Eucharist.

The decision to use mosaic as the principal form raised a debate between the arts and the crafts; what is the appropriate balance between technique and inspiration? The history of the mosaics here includes work which is traditional but high quality as well as work which was artistically interesting but was judged inadequate technically and was eventually removed. Use has been made of artists, most recently  Leonard McComb RA and Tom Phillips RA, as well as mosaicists like Boris Anrep who have created work with an artistic sensibility.

Other media do also feature, including painting and sculpture, and it is here that some of those who played a prominent role in the revival of religious art during the twentieth century can be found - Roy de Maistre, Eric Gill and Giacomo Manzù. De Maistre painted Stations of the Cross and a Crucifixion displayed in areas of the Cathedral to which the public do not have access. The altarpiece in St George's Chapel is by Eric Gill, as are the Stations of the Cross in the main body of the Cathedral. A bronze by Manzù can be found in the North Transpet and is of St Theresa.

A continuing source of controversy has come not so much with the mosaics but with the Stations of the Cross and their creator, Eric Gill. Gill was a controversial choice for Cathedral authorities as he was then a radical young sculptor who, together with Jacob Epstein and Henri Gaudier-Brzeska, was among the first to create modern art in Britain. In additional to his emerging and radical reputation, Gill was a very new convert to Catholicism. Although the initiator of the original approach to Gill, the architect at the time, John Marshall thought that the initial Stations produced by Gill showed that his style was 'neither suitable for the peculiar light of the Cathedral nor the Catholic public.' These Stations were variously described as 'grotesque and undevotional', as 'cold as the mind that produced them' and as hideous, primitive and pagan. To these letter writers Gill was, like Epstein and Gaudier-Brzeska, a 'wild thing' (as was suggested by a relatively recent exhibition at the Royal Academy on the three sculptors).

Yet despite these factors which seem to have made him a surprising choice, Gill's designs for these Stations, which were directly carved in low relief in Hopton Wood limestone, are seen today as respectful and restrained. Other letter writers at the time argued that they should be seen as 'dignified in conception, superb in outline and restrained in feeling' and as showing 'admirable breadth and simplicity of design.' Fortunately, as Gill wrote, 'there were sufficient people to tell (Cardinal Bourne) the things were good to outweigh those who said they were bad.'


In more recent years a different controversy has developed around these Stations,one which has nothing to do with the Stations themselves but everything to do with the man who made them. His biographer, Fiona McCarthy notes that Gill accused Epstein of being "quite mad on sex" and comments that, if so, Gill himself was even madder, "taking to stone carving as the medium for expressing his most secret thoughts and longings." His sexual proclivities included incest and paedophilia and, within our own day and time, would surely have seen him behind bars. As a result, there have been public protests at the Cathedral from those who argue that Gill is an inappropriate role model for Catholics and that the continued showing of his Stations in the Cathedral is a source of distress to victims of sexual abuse.

This controversy over these Stations, unanticipated by those who commissioned them, raises the issue of the extent to which art, once created, exists independently of the artist. The argument that the artwork should be understood in its own right and as its own entity has been a significant strand within modern art criticism. It has been used to defend the continued use of the Stations at the Cathedral - i.e. that the Stations themselves contain no hint of Gill's sexual preferences or appetites and, as artworks, are now something separate from him - while also being used to generally disparage art commissioned by the Church, as art which conforms to a message in contrast to art which is its own entity.  


For me, this is an argument built on the individualism of modernism which ignores the relational insights of post-modernity. Identity is found and formed in relationship - no one and no artwork is an island entire unto itself - and so the uniqueness of an individual artwork is formed in part by the ideas and practices of the artist, the context in which it was created and the developing viewer reaction and response to it. None of these by themselves, however, form the whole that is the artwork and, for that reason, Gill's sexual appetites should not become the primary lens through which these Stations are viewed while, inevitably, being part of the picture.

All artworks, as post-modern thought has demonstrated, are part of, or become part of, multiple layers of meaning. The controversies over Gill's Stations are now a part of what they are. Yet looking at these Stations now, without this background, one would be hard pressed to identify them as a source of controversy. Those letter writers who saw these Stations as 'dignified in conception, superb in outline and restrained in feeling' and as showing 'admirable breadth and simplicity of design' would seem to have been discerning viewers.

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Gene Clark - Life's Greatest Fool.