Some things are best left unsaid
title : Some things are best left unsaid
year : 2008
medium : mild steel, CFL bulbs
scale :800mm x 500mm x 50mm
edition : edition of 5
price : on request
collection: artist
“… Greg Streak’s piece, Some things are best left unnsaid, consists of a cross constructed out of energy-saving (CFL) light bulbs. Bathed in this crucifixion light, I could not help thinking of religious art and, specifically, Aldous Huxley’s musings in his essay Heaven and Hell, which explores the relationships between light and religiosity. Streak’s piece gains resonance when you realise that it correlates to a statue of Christ on the cross across the road from the gallery, at the Catholic Church in Florida Road. While the gallery is accessible to the public, the church is less so, surrounded by security fencing. Streak’s piece seems to be reaching out to the constrained Christ on another side of reality.
The Huxley reference isn’t entirely gratuitous. His distopian Brave New World could perhaps find a place in the context of the Light Show. While inside the gallery I experience a gentle throbbing of illumination, several hours later, I am left with a nagging, vaguely apocalyptic feeling. What will we all do when the lights go out?”
Peter Machen
