Sculptor Marcus Cornish
Prince is among sculptor's admirers
Sculptor Marcus Cornish, who has been commissioned by Uckfield Catholic Church to create a seven foot figure of Christ cast in bronze, has won awards both nationally and internationally.
His work has been commissioned by the Prince of Wales for Highgrove and is represented in collections at the Museum of London, Girton College, Cambridge, the Mathematical Institute and St Hugh's College, Oxford.
His series of life-sized Scottish wild animals can be seen at important sites in central London, one being an over life-sized stag in St James' Square, and he sculpted the Victoria Cross and George Cross memorial at Whitehall.
Marcus was artist-in-residence at the museum of London in 2005-2006 and at an Ibstock brick factory for a year.
He was also invited to be official tour artist on a diplomatic tour to Eastern Europe with the Prince of Wales and as tour artist with the British Army in Kosovo.
Marcus said his passion for sculpture began at the age of ten when he was first introduced to the Sculpture Courts of the Victoria and Albert Museum. In time he gained a first class honours degree in sculpture from Camberwwell School of Art followed by an MA from the Royal College of Art. In 1993 he was elected a member of the royal Society of British Sculptors.
Sculpture of Christ is simple and direct
Marcus wants to create an heroic figure. He says:
The sculpture is simple and direct and I hope it sums up the feeling that Christ is always with us and that we are not to be afraid.
I wanted to summon up the heroic figure who is active, vigorous, strong, alive and not remote to us. He has a youthful caring face but wears a beard as a wise teacher should.
His eyes see us directly and his mouth opens with the beginning of a smile. I wanted the face to look as though Christ has just recognised us, like the face people have when they spot you in a crowd.
I have found that to sculpt the face of Christ is a very emotive thing to do. One wants to imbue it with such feelings and strength that one both finds and seeks, and I would obviously intend to do more work on this.
The direct contact made by the expression of the face is only part of the whole composition which seems to do the same thing. Christ rises up defying gravity but as he does so he leans forward (symbolising his commitment to us) and reaches out to us with his left hand to help us up. With his right hand Christ shows us his offer of salvation that his left hand has the strength to provide us with.
The sculpture is not symmetrical. This in parts adds to the quality of Christ’s being alive and not just symbolic. It has two other functions.
Firstly, Christ is reaching down and looks across directly into the congregation at the entrance way as they enter the church. This way he is directly accessible to those that seek to find him.
Secondly, the asymmetry serves an architectural function. The axis across Christ’s powerful shoulders and arms creates a visual link across the parts of the church – from the main hall to the tower and up, which is both literal and metaphysical.
Christ’s clothing is blown vigorously to add to the sense of being alive and also his strength in defying earthly cares. The clothing is loosely contemporary in order to connect Christ to his people now as much as in the past.
I hope this sculpture will inspire and communicate in very human terms, reaching out and being relevant to both the congregation and local community. To this end, I would hope to work closely with all concerned, including workshops with school children to involve them in the whole process of creating a sculpture.