still small voice: creating sacred space

My latest exhibition review for the Church Times is of still small voice at The Wilson in Cheltenham. The collection of British biblical art currently on show there 'begins with the Nazarene and Pre-Raphaelite styles of William Dobson and William Bell Scott, and continues, with Eric Gill as the bridge between Modernism and the earlier Arts and Crafts movement, through the inter-war period of the 1920s and 1930s, the Second World War, the post-war era, and the later 20th century, into the early 21st century.'

Included is a stunning Craigie Aitchison piece: 'Completed just a year before his death, Body of Christ (Red Background) is an example of the spiritual depths of modern art, with its full-on expressive use of colour combined with the stripped-back minimalism of its imagery. Christ is the cross, the cross is the wound at the heart of the canvas, and this gash in the blood-red background is the point at which light enters the space ...

this is art that creates sacred space by taking you "somewhere beyond yourself and outside of your own little world".'

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Krzysztof Penderecki - St. Luke's Passion.

Research and exhibitions about ecclesiastical art

While visiting the excellent still small voice exhibition at The Wilson in Cheltenham today, I was interested to find out that it forms part of a series of international exhibitions focusing on ecclesiastical art which The Wilson is organising in conjunction with the University of Gloucestershire over the next two years. This programme will include a touring exhibition in Spring 2016 featuring the ecclesiastical works of Arts and Crafts designers.

The Schools of Humanities and the School of Art and Design at the University of Gloucestershire, in Cheltenham, have begun a new initiative aimed at integrating biblical interpretation and new artistic representations of scenes and narratives from the Bible, and other expressions of religious belief, in paintings, sculpture and other media. The particular aim of the initiative is the production of new artistic works focused on biblical material and other expressions of religious belief in a self-reflexive and research-focused way.

To this end, the University of Gloucestershire is now offering a scholarship in this area to be jointly supervised by Philip Esler (biblical critic) and Angus Pryor (artist) with the output to consist of discursive textual material and an artistic work or works focused on biblical material or some other expression of religious belief.

Angus Pryor, Head of Fine Art & Design at the University, also provides his unique response to the still small voice exhibition with an ambitious wall-length artwork entitled ‘God’s Wrath’. The playful and macabre piece is displayed on the ground floor of the gallery. Pryor's interest in this painting and indeed in the entire show,  began with the Stanley Spencer painting, Angels of the Apocalypse (1949).

All works in this exhibition are transcriptions from biblical texts. Angels of the Apocalypse is derived from the Book of Revelations. Pryor wanted to explore the idea of this “taken text” in a manner that was more secular in its intention and therefore looked closely at and researched Spencer’s work to see how a parody of this painting could be made, bearing in mind the original words within the text and how Spencer had transcribed them.

Angus Pryor’s large, tactile works are based around narratives of imagination. They represent his attempt to recycle the “ready-made” object popular in much modern art “back into the made” through the “visceral practice of painting”. He says, “The finished paintings sustain discursive narratives, which explore atomisation and fragmentation within the contemporary art world and its diminishing sense of social responsibility.”

Pryor relies heavily on religious imagery and narrative for his work and through his object impressions reinvents the object thus challenging the process of objectification in conceptual art.

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Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds - God Is In The House.

still small voice: British biblical art in a secular age

still small voice: British biblical art in a secular age at The Wilson in Cheltenham is an exclusive opportunity to see major works by influential 20th century British artists including Stanley Spencer, Eric Gill, Jacob Epstein, Barbara Hepworth, Edward Burra and Graham Sutherland. Exploring ideas around creativity, crisis and the human experience, this is a major exhibition for 2015.

The works on show are normally held in an international private collection, and this is the first time this exhibition has been displayed in the UK. It explores a diverse range of media, including major paintings, drawings, prints, and sculpture by some of the most important and beloved 20th century British artists, some of whom are also shown in The Wilson's own collection.

Dr Chloë Reddaway (Ahmanson Fellow in Art and Religion at The National Gallery) will speak at The Wilson during the exhibition on Speech and Silence, Word and Image (5.30pm on 22 April). In this talk she will discuss the relationship between Christian language and image making, the challenge of painting God incarnate, and the theological potential of silence, empty spaces, and dissemblance in indicating the dual nature of Christ.

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Charles Ives - Psalm 90.