Movement 105

vulnerability at the time of his death. lt
is also an image associated with the
regular sacrificial offerings to God of
unblemished lambs in the Old
Testament.
The dual nature of God, both
human and divine, is an important
theme in the exhibition. Artists have
sought in various ways to express this
paradox. A lot of the paintings 0n this
subject contain images which speak
of both his birth and his death and
resurrection in one piece ofwork. Ihe
Virgin with the Dead Christ (The Pieta -
Italian for pity or mercy) does exactly
this by showing Mary holdingJesus'
corpse in a posture typically
associated with Christ's birth - the
nativity scene. This sculpture has no
scriptural basis but is an imaginary
scene that could have taken place
afterJesus had been taken down from
the cross and before his body was
placed in the tomb.
The sculpture reminds us of Mary's
significance in the Passion - her
willingness to give up her son so that
the world might be saved through him.
It encourages us to share in the grief
and personal suffering she went
through at this time.
During the Medieval period artists
became more interested in expressing
Christ's weakness and vulnerability in
the Passion, ratherthan his power.
Christ on the Cold Stone, another
disturbing image, is a sculpture which
compels us to respond with
compassion and pity for Christ, seen
here as sonowful, suffering, defeated
and abandoned. This scene is not
described in the Gospels, but again
the artist has imagined that on his
way to the cross, Jesus withdraws
briefly from the crowds. He has been
drained of all energy and hope, so he
just sits in despair. His vulnerability is
emphasised by the fact that he is
naked apartfrom the crown ofthorns.
Another section of the exhibition
devotes itself to the resurrection.
Jesus's body in these paintings either
has obvious wounds from the
crucifixion (quite graphic at times) or
is a very pale shade of white to
indicate thatthe body is in a
Francisco de Zurbaran's The Bound Christ
< Chrlst on the Cold Stone, unknown Dutch artist
transformed state. The collection also
contains some more modern images
of Christ, such as the well-known Dali
piece.
I would seriously recommend that
you go and see this exhibition if you
have the chance. Whether the styles
of art appeal to you or not, you are
guaranteed to learn a lot about the
i1.iffi
development of the Christian religion
in the West, as well as being provoked
to reflect on your own ideas about
Christ.
Ellie Mensingh is SCM's Groups
Worker.
Martin Davies has a good time listening to Moby's latest offering
Play's the thing
Puv
Moby (Mute)
tr*tr*trfuri
the music. Try and imagine Liam
Gallagher getting his feather-cut
round this little mouthful from one of
Moby's micro-essays:
"Trying to understand the world
can be fun and, attimes, helpful. But
ifwe base our beliefsystems on the
humble assumption that the complexities
of the world are ontologically
beyond our understanding, then
maybe our belief systems will make
morg sense and end up causing less
suffering."
Musicians are rarely encumbered
by fluency when speiking on spiritual
matters and usually fall into two
unappealing camps: Aquarian
psycho-babble indulgence (see
Morissette, Madonna, O'Connor) or
toe-curling Christian literalism (see
Van Morrison, Dylan, Cliff). Most
musicians have the good sense,
decency and all-round inarticulacy
not to bother God at all. Moby is a
rarity - as explorative and creative
spiritually as he is musically.
"Fundamentalism (of any kind)
troubles me. The world is too big and
"',''il,+*iffig;, S
too intricate to conform to our ideas
of what it should be like."
At the heart of Moby's beliefs and
songs is an intense openness to new
ideas and forms. The music and the
ideas interplay with a natural, often
mischievous, ease. There is a feeling of
childlike exploration, tinkering,
messing. The title is a metaphor just
waitingto happen. The artistas a
playful child; the studio as playground;
instruments as shiny new playthings;
guest singers as jubilant playmates.
And what part does the listener
play in all this? Well, all we have to do
is press the right button: play.
The music itself is anarchic and
intense: hypnotic ambient loops,
folksy guitar twiddling, bluesy-trance,
techno-thrash. lt's an invigorating 18-
track ride and, atthe heart ofthe
album, is a clear, sustained note of
confidence and optimism - felt most
acutely on tracks like'Everloving, 'The
Sky is Broken', 'Natural Blues'and
'Why Does My Heart Feel so Bad?' lf
you're looking for comparisons, think
of Matt Johnson without the acridity or
Massive Attack gone vegan.
It's no surprise that record shops
find Moby hard to label but - as
another difficult{o-define artist once
put it - the play's the thing.
Martin Davies was the editor of
Movementlrom 1995-97.
movement 91