the calorimetry of consumption

I just managed to catch damien hirst's exhibition at leeds gallery last month thanks to a last minute under the radar fly-through. I'm more than happy i did... totally inspirational! I don't know if he (hirst) does it for you, but for me he's bang on the money, although often not quite as interactive I'd really like, he never seems to lack being able impact deeply on my senses...

For me this wall paper from the 'pharmacy restaurant', a previous and now reincarnated installation from the late 90's, is the stand-out piece as it shouts wildly at my quest for artistic theological reflection, challenging me to engage and refusing to slip my memory...  It shows various pills, solutions and remedies each rebranded with title of an old testament story... Talk about kwik fix yerself religion!  If I get the umption I'll try and reflect fully on this in a later blog, the only problem is I can't seem to get a decent sharp copy of the image anywhere... help!

I circled this sculpture several times; enchanted by her beauty I made surreptitious mental notes under the disturbing scrutiny of the leeds gallery security guard... At around 8 foot I was captivated for a good ten minutes... Hirst's angel seemed to have a lot of human bits inside...

There was the usual innocent and helpless mammal frozen in formaldehyde... I wish it were a lamb...

And a splendid collection of anatomy...

Profound and provocative would set the scene, but I find hirst more than helpful to lead my reflections on the human state, and indeed a place to start my mental act of worship.  He systematically takes on the dark inner, that banality of desire, the calorimetry of consumption... each a day to day experience yet all issues so often ignored by the church...  If we are to attempt to address the pain of real life through the arts then here lies the benchmark.


The arts has all the creativity in the world to offer the church, and the church has the audience required for the arts;

   for me the two should indeed be at one.  The artist to encourage the difficult question, the congregation to address it's own brokenness, each individual at their own pace through a spirit guided sense of reciprocity.   The priest's role is to introduce one to the other, and to invite God into the mix.

Here in my communities I feel my challenge is to build up facilities capable of performing such a function... if you like we can call it church... I have a few other names for it but that's another blog for another time...