- Venue
- Nottingham Trent University
- Location
- East Midlands
The Gingerbreadman My imprinted memory of sign in sheets and art posters is nowhere to be seen in the dark, dark room. The long isolated lights remind me of strong sunlight streaming through the cracks of the rafters above and the silence is golden as dark curious figures leave footsteps that echo around the tomb. Atmosphere is everything. The Jesus/pharaoh like figure seems slightly secondary to the reserved countenance imposed upon visitors and triggers of memories of funerals, church, history as a whole are conjured up. The way the figure lies along a table of plinths and at an easy to view level is reminiscent of an archive of a museum. As does the lack of adornment. Yet the figure itself suggests a God or a King at least in shape, and so I couldn’t help but feel a little tied as to what the artist was really trying to express to the viewer. Was it about the media, elevating the status of something as humble and everyday as that of gingerbread to a new and empowering level? Perhaps a reference to how the great are not invincible and open to death and decay or maybe a comment on the wave of people putting their faith and money into food that appears to bear the mark of God or someone important, such as an egg in the shape of the queen’s head, a toastie with God’s face, even in the program Hollyoaks a recent storyline featured Jesus’ face in the marks of a potato! There is this amazing sense of awe felt in the presence of the sculpture, not for any spiritual reasons, just simply because the mind boggles at how someone could make a sculpture so large (almost lifesize) out of such a precarious medium. The slight sting that you have been respectfully silent for what is in effect a giant biscuit is completely overshadowed by this awe. The left hand of the sculpture seemed to have broken off and was now placed next to the sculpture but not attached, there had been no attempt to make it look obvious, and I didn’t really see any reason to believe that this was anything over than accidental, as there seemed to be much better ways to express opinions such as religion isn’t perfect than by snapping a hand off. In some ways the fact that it had snapped off still added more to the sculpture, being able to see the crumbly texture of the inside was interesting and only furthered my amazement at the whole thing. I loved this piece aesthetically. The way the room had been constructed and curated suggested a lot of the piece was about the experience than the actual sculpture, and this was done really well. I walked away feeling inspired but at the same time I never really found that moment where I felt completely certain that I knew for sure what the piece was about, and although Im hoping that is the artists comment on the uncertainty of religion, something still tells me perhaps it was more than that.
