Greg Tricker on Christ

Clare and I went by train to Gloucester today, to view the art exhibition by our friend Greg Tricker, which will be there in the Cathedral for the next two months.

 

Sixty six works, stained glass, sculptures and paintings. Some of them have appeared in previous exhibitions, but over half are new, focussing on Christ. The setting is perfect as his creative inspiration is taken from the Gospels and the life of the Saints. His work reminds me of Chagall and Roualt, yet his style is unique, distinctive, evoking the numinous in its beauty and simplicity.

I took photos of exhibits which were new to me. Here's a slideshow of them.

I think of Greg as a contemporary icon painter. Even though he doesn't paint in the Byzantine style of traditional 'iconografeia', his paintings work in the same way. The subjects, more often than not are gazing to the beyond, rather than towards the on-looker, but the gaze, and the subtle emotions expressed in the subjects eyes take you with them somewhere else. The paintings are mostly simple and seem to be lacking in much detail, yet when you consider the detail added, whether in use of colour or figures, everything has a relationship to the theme, and to the story represented. So these are images capable of being used in teaching about Christian faith in much the same way as the original icons were.

Greg had invited us to the preview of the exhibition last Friday, but we were unable to go. We were just delighted to find him there in the nave, chatting about his work with other visitors. He said that he's been coming as regularly as he can this week and will do in future, as he enjoy discovering what people think of his work and discussing it with them. He's a gentle self effacing man who empties himself into his work, and is as a result without egotism. He's just delighted when anyone says something that reveals they have made their own inner connection with one of his works. It's not about him, but about the creativity that happens through him. Such a breath of life in today's self-dominated world.

Things seem to be getting worse in Japan with crises hitting two nuclear reactors as a result of Friday's earthquake and tsunami. The Japanese have have built resilience into the framework of their society as well as their buildings because their land is prone to earthquakes. So they should be able to cope with the crisis. They are very rich and will have to invest in reconstruction, rather than making money elswhere out of their savings. This may make waves of a different kind on the international economic scene. However an even bigger setback could be lurking in this nuclear emergency as it unfolds.

Quite apart from the dangers of radiation etc,  if they lose the output of a couple of reactors for several years, that's around 20% of the capacity of their energy infrastructure, which they rely on to keep society and the economy running. Even more if further faults are found in other reactors. Do they have a fall back plan? If citizens lose confidence in the nuclear option, and demand alternatives on a massive scale, the cost of that plus reactor decommissioning could be colossal. I imagine this whole exercise will push them a few rungs down from the top of the global economic ladder. China is currently cash rich, and in a position to invest or give economic support for a speedier recovery, but given the history of enmity between China and Japan, that seems like a recipe for strife. There could be global repercussions which make cleaning up the mess and reconstructing homes look easy in comparison.