"The Seven Sacraments" by Abigail O'Brien
Inspired by Nicolas Poussin's two well-known series, "Seven Sacraments" (1635 and 1644-48), Irish artist Abigail O'Brien took up the theme ten years ago, and she has spent the greater part of the past decade years interpreting this liturgical belief, which is so central to the Christian mystery. O'Brien's approach to the sacraments is very modern; she uses with photographs, embroidery, wood, metal and audio to relate them to contemporary life. The entire cycle of installations she has built up since 1995 is now being shown for the first time in its entirety in Munich's Haus der Kunst.
These installations are open to different interpretations. On one hand, they could be seen as a form of feminist assertion. Men are excluded; women dominate. But on the other hand, they could be viewed as a critique of "emancipation". The beautiful kitchens many of her figures inhabit are straight from the catalogue of bourgeois dreams, but take a close look at the faces of these women. Exhaustion, strain and tension are what hit you. The price for that perfect worktop is high. An entirely different reading might see these installations as a critique of post-agrarian, post-religious Ireland, with its adoption of the material and its rejection of the spiritual. By the way, the exhibition is supplemented with several 17th-centry Dutch paintings that depict domestic scenes. "The old spinning woman at meal time" by Quiringh Gerritzsz. Van Brekelenkam (ca.1620-1668) works perfectly here as it shows a chaotic room that's kitchen, living room and workspace. The contrast with the sterile, spotless modern kitchen couldn't be greater. O'Brien is not without humour or a sense of irony.
For this visitor, the highlight of the Haus der Kunst exhibition is "The Last Supper". What's provocative here is that O'Brien associates the sacrament of marriage with Christ's final meal. The juxtaposition of the meal that the wedding couple share with their guests and the one Jesus had with his Disciples raises a number of questions. Is she suggesting that marriage is a form of imprisonment, exile or doom that one enters after having had one last memorable communal experience? Whatever the message, it's clear that O'Brien sees the sacrament, indeed all the sacraments, as a transition, a rite of passage.
At this stage many of you are asking what are the seven sacraments. Well, here goes: baptism, confirmation, Eucharist, penance, Holy Orders, extreme unction and marriage. "The Seven Sacraments" by Abigail O'Brien runs until 12 April in Munich's Haus der Kunst.
