Artist research "Saints Alive"


 Saints Alive is was a exhibition commisioned by the national gallery by  by installation artist Michael Landy. A collection of kinetic , large scale sculptures depicting the saints assembled in a Frankenstein's monster type of fashion.These bizarre mechanical saints are interactive, jumping to life by the touch of an iron foot pedal for viewers to engage with the moving parts.
I like how this very bodily, physical thing is representing this religious phenomenon of martyrdom.
 Its kind of ludicrous and barbaric. Elements of classic sculpture with rusty junk yard parts medieval torture devices to represent this holy devotion. The idea that faith is painful, that a person must suffer for their bit of heaven. The body is just a machine, a vehicle. I like the rich romantic, symbolism along side the very realistic barbarity that was the duality of medieval life and seeing belief as a form of escape.

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