Crowd eat ‘Fish and Chips’ with Jesus in contemporary art exhibition


People eating ‘fish and chips’ with Jesus in the ‘Feeding of the Five Thousand’, is just one of the unusual images in works of art due to go on display this January at Southwell Minster, when the Cathedral hosts a special exhibition of works from the Methodist Collection of Contemporary Christian Art.
The exhibition called, ‘Brightest and Best’ will open on Tuesday 4th January 2011 and runs until the end of the month. It includes work by Graham Sutherland, Elizabeth Frink, Mark Cazalet and Ceri Richards, focusing on episodes in the life of Christ, and  inviting visitors to look at these events with eyes open to new revelations through an artist’s inspiration.
 
‘The Five Thousand’ by Euaria Clarke, shows the great crowd in modern dress sitting on the grass eating, not fish and bread, but fish and chips! Cathedral Administrator, Caroline Jarvis, who helped choose a selection of works for the exhibition explained: “Only Jesus’ arms and legs are visible, the focus is on the crowd. Only a few people are apparently listening with their whole attention, most are busy making tea, dozing in the sun, looking after children and enjoying the day. Discarded bicycles and balls are scattered about! Maybe it was really like this – how could Five Thousand people have heard the word with no microphones? It was important just to be there, to be fed and see the Lord.”
 
The Methodist Church collection is one of the foremost collections of contemporary art in the country and is the result of the vision and enterprise of two Methodists in the early 1960s who believed that the standard of church art was poor. They set out to remedy matters by buying outstanding works designed to tour around different venues. Caroline said: “We are very lucky to be allowed by the Trustees to show part of the collection here in Southwell. As well as Epiphany, the Week of Christian Unity coincides with the exhibition, making our fellowship with the Methodist Church even more relevant.”
 
The exhibition will be opened by the Bishop of Southwell  & Nottingham, the Rt Revd Paul Butler, on Tuesday 4th January at 7pm, when one of the Trustees of the Collection will be there to talk more about the works of art.
Bishop Paul said: “The Methodist art collection is a stunning way of helping people think about the Christian message and story. It’s inspiring art work in its own right, engaging people with the Christian story in a different way.”
 
The exhibition includes many more stimulating and interesting paintings and will be situated in the Cathedral, at the back of the Nave. Admission is free and the exhibition will be open every day from 4th January until January 30th 2011.
 
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