I may be out of school, but I still have a special place in my heart for field trips! The Art History class I have been attending took a field trip to see the current temporary exhibition at a bible museum. I have been attending the English speaking class, so this was the first time I was able to meet the Hungarian students. I was in Art Heaven when we went around the room and had everyone speak about a piece that stuck out to them. There were two main walls in the gallery. On one wall there were pieces related to the Old Testament, and on the other side, the New Testament. Each piece had a biblical theme, but there was abundant variety in medium and style. There were abstract and realistic works, illustrations, oil paintings, pastels, acrylic paintings, lithographs, intaglio prints, bronze-cast sculptures and a central book display to reflect and study. The exhibition displayed borrowed work by 20th century Hungarian artists, from different museums and private collections around the country.
The piece that stuck out to me most was a small bronze abstracted sculpture of Christ crucified. Bulky rectangular blocks accentuated the weight and verticality of the hanging crucified Christ. Each exaggerated, heavy form, depicting this monumental event contrasted with the small size of the piece. Something in my psyche wants this minimized sculpture to be more refined or idealized because of its reduced size, and yet I am met with these imperfect, organic, abstracted, small blocks that still somehow feel overtly heavy because of the bronze medium and elongated rectangular forms.
The artist did not just connect these blocks together to create the form of a crucified Christ, but somehow created a composition that makes the viewer feel the bronze shapes being pulled by gravity as they are suspended from the cross. This piece helped me to think about the cross in a new way. It caused me to contemplate how appropriate it is to have the crucifixion be rendered in the abstract to emphasize direction of hanging and weight of material. It sets the viewer up to got beyond simply recognizing the subject, but to start to actually experience the depicted subject. Instead of looking and just thinking, “the cross”, my train of thought with this piece started with the cross, but then moved to the weight of hanging, and the discomfort of the imperfect forms that created the sculpture.
Instead of representing a man, it represents the humble and brutal act of torture that is crucifixion. Each disfigurement from the natural body towards these irregular block forms represents a simplified symbol of new growth and new life. It shows the glory of the making of something new that has been broken down. This sculpture uses imperfect forms and a depiction of the darkest moment in history to be a symbol of atonement to the source of truth and redemption.
It was such a pleasure to hear how each student responded to the exhibition. The observations were honest and rich. The art was of high quality and all of these elements together created and a truly worshipful experience!