Blasphemous 02.04.10 / 25.04.10 Irish Museum of Contemporary Art Open to the public from 12:00pm to 5:00pm (exibition text below)
Deities at the bottom of the garden Bartles latest series, titled Deities at the bottom of the garden, is an exploration into the nature of obsession; the obsessive zealot, the obsessive tinkerer, and the artist as obsessive re-presenter. Through a series of intricately detailed scale models of typical garden sheds, Bartle has created his own Lilliputian land, cataloguing and refining the iconography of the major religions of the world, reflecting on the objects and structures of faith that define difference and similarity. Bartle says ‘My own spiritual journey leans towards the chaotic, in all religions there is good intent at the core and that’s where my focus lies, but the badness is also interwoven and the process of reflecting on their architecture and icons strips away much of that mask opening a path to the truth in their scriptures’.
Detail from catholic shed - deities at the bottom of the garden For Blasphemy, Bartle has turned his attentions to the ongoing sectarian tensions of Ireland. Creating two distinct hidden garden temples: one Catholic, One Protestant. Placed either side of a very unremarkable garden fence, the work is a deliberate modernisation to the Tudor concept of the Priest Hole, a comment on ordinariness of faith, and a clear reference to the close proximity and so often personalised act of worship.
Detail from Protestant shed - deities at the bottomof the garden Blasphemous By this time most people in Ireland, and indeed many throughout the world, are aware of the ‘Blasphemy Law’ that came into effect January 1st this year. It may seem like the perfect time- or a perfectly awkward time- for such a law. In just the past few months, when most people would probably be more inclined to hear about how their politicians and governments are trying to salvage their economies, we have heard increasingly shocking reports from within the Irish Catholic system; from Germany’s Catholic churches, including abuse cover-ups and priest-shuffling that reportedly includes the now-pope Benedict; murder attempts on Kurt Westergaard and plots -from within Ireland no less- to assassinate Lars Vilks, two artists who were willing to portray the prophet Mohammad. In light of all of this, to say that this law is focused in the wrong direction is an understatement. With €100,000 bounties issued on artists’ heads by extremist groups, as in Vilks’ case, or with churches asking their parishioners to donate money to help pay the legal fees for the abuses inflicted upon them and their loved ones (as did Dennis Brennan, Bishop of Ferns in County Wexford, Ireland), it would seem that if any new laws regarding religion were needed, they need to be designed to protect us from them. Regardless of whatever the opinions of those who have worked to produce or support this show, this is not an atheist agenda. Some of the participating artists identify as christians; others as wiccans, pagans, buddhists. As much as it is a direct confrontation of this dangerous law, Blasphemous is a celebration of artistic freedom and intellectual discourse. Perhaps the most blasphemous notion to any religion is the existence and practice of all others, and so keeping that in mind we applaud the diversity of the artists’ practices, if only to present a tableau for debate. Curated by K. Bear Koss Blasphemous Artists Richard Bartle , George Bolster, Hannah Breslin, Alan Butler, Church of the Flying Spaghetti Monster, Steve Farley, Una Gildea, Sarah Hardacre, Jacinta Jardine, Mark Lomax, Matthew MacKisack, Justin McKeown, Noël O’Callaghan, RedMeat by Max Cannon, Emer Roberts, Will St. Leger, Kate Walters, Paul Woods.
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| Copyright Richard Bartle |
