Modern art in City churches

'The Priory Church of St Bartholomew the Great contains a number of artworks by notable artists. Some of these are temporary loans, while others are permanent commissions.'

'Damien Hirst's statue of St Bartholomew, known by the title Exquisite Pain is back at St Bartholomew the Great and will be on loan to the church for the next few years. The statue is in the South Transept at the foot of the steps up to the South Doors. The statue is unmissable, but is doubly arresting because it is fully gilded . It grabs your attention even in dim light, and when the sun hits it, the effect is literally dazzling.'

'The artist Sophie Arkette created Colloquy for an exhibition at the Temple Church as a response to the ongoing celebrations of Magna Carta. This remarkable work is now on loan to the Priory Church, and its various parts have been positioned around the building in what is only a first attempt to find the right location for each. The glass elements are etched with text, which is both illuminated and distorted by the effects of light – both from candles that are in some cases lit within the element, and the light from sources around the building – and water, which is also included within parts of the work. Sophie Arkette worked in conjunction with Alan Freeman of Parndon Forge, and Jon Lewis of Orbic Glass in creating Colloquy. The glass etching was undertaken by Norfolk Resists.'

Aude Hérail Jäger's Enmeshed includes 'two large drawings Enmeshed I and Enmeshed II currently on loan at St Bartholomew the Great. Enmeshed illustrates human beings' interwoven-ness with each other and/or their story. The biblical theme of the Lamentation has fascinated Jäger for some years. In ordinary circumstances the group surrounding Christ would argue, plot, come together, fight, shout, laugh, etc. The Lamentation is the one moment when everyone and everything comes to a still-stand around the dead Christ. The figures become welded together and their cluster is the embodiment of grief. Both drawings also encompass recurrent themes in Jäger's work, such as the family and the theme of descending-ascending. In addition they are based on a new working method, which uses observational drawing in National Museums to extract particular aspects from Old Masters' work, which are then appropriated and transformed in large-scale drawings in the studio.'

Also on loan is Richard Harrison's Golgotha; 'rich in colour and texture with generous lashings of paint, which ebb and flow on the canvas reflecting turbulence and ... violent upheaval.' Harrison’s paintings have content which is often 'exaggerated by the vigorous and robust handling of voluminous layers of paint adeptly manipulated to create a dynamic expression of form and colour which resonate all-over the canvas thus underpinning the powerful emotional and visionary themes.'

'Alfredo Roldan was commissioned to paint an altarpiece of the Madonna and Child. In February 1999 it was unveiled in the Lady Chapel and dedicated by the Lord Bishop of London. Roldan aspires to embrace those major Avant-Garde moments of the early 20th century, which has defined his understanding of colour and shaped his application of form and composition. Without apology he acknowledges the influence of Matisse and Picasso and also Modigliani for his elongated portrayal of the female nude. And yet, like all genuine and honest painters who recognise the importance and significance of those historic revolutionary styles, Roldan has assimilated each derivative influence to create his own personal and very distinctive style of painting.'

A further permanent artwork is Josefina de Vasconcellos' terracotta The Risen Christ. De Vasconcellos was active as a sculptor from the early 1920s. As an artist she followed her own individual path, always believing that sculpture had a role to play as an inspirational force in society. In her extraordinary life she faced many challenges and disappointments, yet, sustained by her sincere Christian beliefs, managed to continue working into great old age. Versions of her best-known work Reconciliation now stand outside Coventry Cathedral, in the Hiroshima Peace Park, at the site of the Berlin Wall and in the grounds of Stormont Castle, Belfast. Many of her other works are in churches, cathedrals and private homes throughout the UK and overseas.

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Paul Mealor - A Tender Light.

My Greenbelt 2012 journal (3)

Sunday 26^th August

Instead of the Greenbelt communion I go to St Bartholomew Nympsfield for their Patronal Festival where the 60 strong congregation is made up of locals and retreatants from Erdington at the Marist Retreat Centre in the village. Diana Crook preaches an impactful sermon equating the training and dedication of the Paralympians with that of the disciples, Dietrich Bonhoeffer, St Bartholomew, and ourselves. Jesus’ question to us – ‘Do you want to go?’ is a liberating one. We follow because we choose to and want to. This is a message which I need to hear.

Lila Dance are perplexing – something vigorous and fascinating is happening but, like Mister Jones, I have to confess I don’t know what it is. Peterson Toscana, in line with Jesus’ parables, is deliberately raising more questions than answers. He mixes his own story told as a sequence of prayers with the retelling of several Bible stories. These, while amusing and different, are not as funny or radical as I’d expected from the advance notices and I’m left rather underwhelmed. The session is titled 'Jesus had two daddies' though and that got me thinking about the phrase 'The unorthodox Jesus'. So much of the debate on controversial issues in the Church seems to revolve around different understandings of orthodoxy but Jesus was unorthodox - right from the start, as Toscana noted, growing up in a family set-up that was very far from being a nuclear family. 

I revisit the Gallery and appreciate a little more fully the comic book/strip focus of this show. Leunig is whimsical and wise while Smith is clear and challenging. Green remains opaquely personal while Lia has innocent humour.

Things pick up at mainstage with a great set of sensitive folk songs from Roddy Woomble and a barnstorming set from the Proclaimers. Roddy Woomble’s ‘Work Like You Can’ strikes me as a celebration of ordinary existence, something I need affirmed currently, while the Proclaimers sang:

“Thought that God had failed me
Thought my prayers were useless
Thought that he would never give the chance for me to praise him

Thought the book was written
Thought the game had ended
Thought the song was sung and I could never sing another

Thought my faith was misplaced
Thought my back was broken
Broken by a weight that I was never fit to carry

Thought I knew this city
Thought I knew all about it
And then one night I went to Morningside and you were waiting

I met you.”

Following that inspiration, I experience a measure of peace via the Taize Service and Aradhna in Eden and write the following:

Absence is not void.

Absence fills vacuum with live memory;

a present aching.

Silence is not still.

Silence simply tunes our hearing to other sounds;

noise abounds.

Peace is not passive.

Peace requires active relations,

if hands are to be shaken.

Do not a-void absence.

Hear the sounds of silence.

Actively create peace.

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Roddy Woomble - Work Like You Can.