| National Gallery makes Sacred tangible |
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National Gallery makes sacred tangible  You almost want to reach out and touch the exhibits in London’s National Gallery’s The Sacred Made Real exhibition, though we don’t recommend it! The hyper-realistic sculptures and vivid devotional paintings of 17th and 18th century Catholic Spain are creating a ‘marvellous and disturbing exhibition’ The Guardian reports. In the exhibition ‘lifelike and usually life-sized painted wood constructions… spare us nothing of Christ’s tortures and excruciations,’ Adrian Searle writes. Their sculptors employed glass eyes, ivory teeth and even human hair before painting them with ‘tender’ and ‘infinite realism’. The works are typical of the best that are paraded on floats through Spanish towns every Easter, but the exhibition invites visitors to re-evaluate them as works of art. Alongside the sculptors are paintings by artists including Spanish master Velazquez. But these are not objects to be worshipped but to inspire us. They show just part of the story, for Jesus Christ conquered death and rose from the grave. He is alive. Who was this innocent man Jesus Christ, so cruelly put to death? What should our response be to his sacrifice? What does he want us to do with our lives? See beyond the wood, the paint, the art, to the truth of Jesus Christ. The exhibition continues to January 24th. See www.nationalgallery.org.uk for details and ticket prices. There is also a free exhibition, The Making of a Spanish Polychrome Sculpture. |
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