ooooo Religion!

'Stations of the Cross' Jim Latter

http://www.stmarylebow.co.uk/?Home

My mind is all over the place at the moment, and I guess its having an affect on my work or vise versa. I seem to keep drifting onto to different projects, so I now have many started projects. Whilst looking through the New Exhibition website (link at the side!) I discovered a link to a small exhibition within a church. The exhibition doesn't have much relevance to my current but I am always interested in discovering Christian artists, and as its lent I felt it would be prefect.

So last week I went to see the exhibition at St Mary Le-Bow Church, which is close to St Pauls Cathedral. The exhibition is called 'Stations of the Cross' by Jim Latter. It consists of 15 paintings which take a contemporary look at Jesus' journey to cross. The paintings are hung on typical church noticeboards, which were placed around the church. It was a simple exhibition but it suited the subject matter. The work was more concerned with the meaning behind it, than presenting it on the pristine whitewashed walls within an art gallery. For me the purple church noticeboards added to the impact of the work, as it reminded me of church back home. This combined with the silent stillness added to the peaceful atmosphere within the church, which allowed you to feel free and at ease. Each painting consisted of a strong thick cross that dominated a square of colour, which occasionally contained a slight pattern. Underneath each cross was written in pencil the station of the Cross. The exhibition will remain in the church during lent.

Whilst within the church my attention was caught by the contemporary crucifix above the altar. St Mary le Bow Church, Cheapside London, was founded in Norman times. The church has been destroyed on several occasions but it has always been rebuilt, and remains a beautiful historical building, with a few modern influences contained within. An example of this is the image above, the comtempory crucifix which fascinates me. The scultpure takes the familar structure of Jesus on the cross, but has removed any physical representations of the actual cross, allowing the viewer imagine it. The sculpture is constructed of bend metal, with the centre hollow, and the surface incomplete, and has a wirey thorn crown above his head. I was not expecting to see such a modern image of Jesus within such a historical church, this may be why it had such an effect on me. The way the metals folded allowing the reflective shiny side to be on the outside suggests God's light shining out, with our sins being defeated and send/remaining in darkness within him, as he defeats death and allows us to have eternal life. I guess you could say the metal may also be representative of God's protective armour, having greater power and strength but modeled and shaped into the flesh of human form. The only information I've been able to gain about the crucifix is: ' The crucifix before which the Priest celebrates the Eucharist, the central act of Christian worship' (from the 'a guided tour' leaflet) which doesn't exactly explain a lot! I wish to go back to the church and possibly do a few sketches of the crucifix and hopefully find someone within the church to ask more about it.