Sin what is good for? Some people don’t think it exists anymore. It certainly goes without much thought these days as to what notions it concerns itself with, the historical context from which it emerged and how it has shaped civilisation despite that most of the norms we have where inherited from this . A simple biblical understanding of sin is – corruption. And the first sin , that of the fall is pride. In. he modern sense we would possibly think of this in Lacanian terms – where pride is the ego assuming a state of perfection and an inability to see where one might have trespassed against another person. Such a kind of blindness throws up questions of how complete an insight anyone has of their actions and the state the end up in if they have no ability to respond of be sensitive to the feed back of another person. In more than one way such a life – personal and social is one that becomes untethered from reality. Perhaps the most painful version of this in modern life that most people encounter is when a lover has cut them out of their lives and this very lack of relational responsiveness is at the root of the end of this relationship. It’s this time that the very sense of self gets turned inside out and a personal hell is visited. Fundamentally in sin there is an absence of communion with others. Which is why the devil is pictured in the final circle of hell frozen to the waist cold and alone. Yup cold, freezing, not burning it’s quite a surprise what goes on in the deepest pit of hell. Sin then is in part abscenting yourself from the lives of other. It is in its origin asocial. And contains a lack within it. Motivated by desire, in other words what you don’t have and want. As opposed by being motivated by love or the goodness of an action. It privileges the object/action desire above all other concerns, so that you are distorted in the inventory of your priorities. Because we will always be incomplete we will always lack the ability to see all our faults and understand how we are driven by our desires and the biases that motivate in even the simplest choices we make.
Dealing with the idea of sin in art is almost a comedy-tragedy, as arts’ business is the search for an aesthetic or intellectual perfection and will always lack any completion… instead failure in art is in fact its plenitude.
‘Youth’, 2009. Ron Mueck
The Sin exhibition though small and free is really quite good I love the modern fresh aspect with the painting by Warhol – Repent and Sin No More! (1985-6), Ron Mueck’s ‘Youth’ and other works, Emin‘s Neon actually did add a stinging buzzing live energy, shown with Velasques Madonna for which his wife posed for it, is quiet tender and reflects the formation of character at the time, the Bronzino Venus, Cupid, Folly and Time really has a zinging modern feel so really match the modern works for energy and frequency. It is an incredibly complex painting that literally continues with life, depending on the myriad ways you attempt to interpret what is going on and it’s meaning you follow different chains of causality in the action unfolding. It also has a powerful lesson today in showing how hard it is to unpluck an event from its entanglements.
Venus, Cupid, Folly and Time, c.1545. Agnolo Bronzino.
Ron Mueck’s ‘Youth’ recalls Christ present doubting Thomas with his spear wound received from a roman Soldier while being crucified. The gesture links life crime and deaths to Our Lord. And makes us feel where indifference and lack of visibility would have reigned. In fact its possible that for a modern Londoner every time that they seen the spear wound of Christ that they should automatically see the cut body of a London youth.
Repent and Sin No More! (1985-6). Andy Warhol
Warhol re-invested into the type of Apocalyptic placard typically seen on prime shopping real-estate with the elegance and jazzy energy used to sell American products. So that the caption with all its promise is as neat a a vitamin pill. There’s plenty of humour in the near comic book lettering. Yet there’s been plenty of choice going on in the design and refinement of Warhol’s hand. Aspects of the machine age, repetition, warmth and a hidden true belief in his Ruthenian Catholic. He regularly volunteered at homeless shelters in New York City, and every year during Christmas. He would privately described himself as a religious person. Much of his openness and enduring fascination for people of all walks of life and can be traced to the religious ethos of his upbringing.
The Immaculate Conception 1618 by Diego Velazquez