Merseyside Merry Christmas: Walker Art Gallery Unveils A Statue Of A Priest Vandalised By Banksy

 

Banksy, Cardinal Sin, Walker Art Gallery,Liverpool




LIVERPOOL.-

 
The WalkerArt Gallery is set to unveil a new addition to its collection this week – astatue of a priest vandalised by Banksy. The renowned graffiti artist has sawn offthe face of an 18th Century replica stone bust and glued on a selection ofbathroom tiles. The resulting 'pixelated' portrait is entitled Cardinal Sinand is believed to be a comment on the abuse scandal in the Church and itssubsequent cover- up.

“I’m never sure who deserves to be put on a pedestal or crushed under one” saidBanksy.

The sculpture, which has been loaned indefinitely by the artist and has neverbeen seen before, will be exhibited in one of the Walker’s 17th-century OldMaster galleries. Works in the gallery include large church altarpieces andreligious sculpture.

You are invited to send a photographer, reporter or camera crew to the WalkerArt Gallery on Thursday 15 December 2011 at 10:30hrs. Cardinal Sin will be ondisplay and Reyahn King, Director of Art Galleries at National MuseumsLiverpool will be available for interview.

Reyahn King, Director of Art Galleries at National Museums Liverpool said:"We are thrilled to display the work of this major contemporary artist. Itis a huge coup and we're sure his work will spark a reaction with visitors.Banksy specified that it be shown alongside our period collection and we werevery happy to oblige.”

 

Note:  

Well, I like the pixelation effectand I accept that Webster’s doesn’t specificallyexcludethe possibility that a person -- in this case a famous artist in a highly intellected and mediated creative act -- might correctly be described as “vandalizing” their own property (although the description seems inaccurate and overly precious to me).

Still, this is flat, lacks timeliness and the bite and mystery I expect from  thisartist.  

And Director Reyahn King’s "well respected man" praise-line is just sad.  

The Walker's decision to place Cardinal Sin in a gallery of devotional works during the Christmas season is questionable at best, idiotic at worst, and certainly unnecessarily offensive. 

“You think it's funny/ turning rebellion into money?”

A Damp Squib.  
 

  

Banksy steamroller work. This I like.

 

The Suicide Club by Robert Louis Stevenson (1882)

 

  

I.  "Fortunate beings!", cried the young man.  "Forty pounds is the entry money of the Suicide Club".  

    "The Suicide Club," said the Prince, "why, what the devil is that?"

"Listen," said the young man; "this is the age of conveniences, and I have to tell you of the last level of perfection of the sort.  We have affairs in different places; and hence railways were invented.  Railways separated us infallibly from our friends; and so telegraphs were made that we might communicate speedily at great distances.  Even in hotels we have lifts to spare us a climb of some hundred steps.  Now we know that life is but a stage to play the fool upon as long as the part amuses us.  There was one more convenience lacking to modern comfort; a decent, easy way to quit that stage; the back stairs to liberty; or, as I said this moment, Death's private door."

II.  An hour after, Florizel in his official robes, and covered with all the orders of Bohemia, received the members of the Suicide Club.  

    "Foolish and wicked men," said he, "as many of you have been driven into this strait by the lack of fortune shall receive employment and remuneration from my officers.  Those who suffer under a sense of guilt must have recourse to a higher and more generous Potentate than I."

Illustrations (from top):

1. Banksy, Rat, Westbourne Grove, London W11.

2. From Unheimlichte Geschichten (dir. Richard Oswald), 1919 (German film adaptation of "The Suicide Club").

3. From "The Suicide Club", Suspense (CBS television series), February 14, 1950. The program was an adaptation of "Story Of The Young Man With The Cream Tarts", the first story in Stevenson's "The Suicide Club".

4. Augustus Saint-Gaudens, Bas Relief Portrait of Robert Louis Stevenson, The St. Giles Cathedral, Edinburgh, Scotland, ca. 1899.

5. Martha Stewart, Strawberry cream tart.

6. Satan, Gustave Dore, Paradise Lost, wood engraving, 1866.

7. Unknown artist, Charles IV, King of Bohemia and Holy Roman Emperor of the House of Luxembourg, and his third wife, Anna of Schweidnitz (Anne of Swidnica).

8.  The Queen of Bohemia Swallowed Up Alive, From Robert Burton, Wonderful Prodigies of Judgement And Mercy, 1685.