London Bronze Editions Prize
January 11, 2021
I am thrilled to announce that my work “The Golden Calf” has been selected for the London Bronze Editions Prize. For the prize London Bronze offered the selected artists to have their work cast by the foundry in a series of limited edition bronzes. One of each edition has been donated to a charity that supports key work, decided by the artist. For my edition I have chosen to donate the work to @housing4women. They are a phenomenal charity that provide housing for survivors of domestic violence and sex trafficking. As more and more women and children become trapped in abusive situations during nationwide lockdowns, the work that @housing4women does has become more vital than ever.
For this work I was inspired by Poussin’s “The Adoration of The Golden Calf” (1633-1634) and the story the work references. The golden calf is a symbol for “false idols” and “false idol worship.”
I made the original sculpture, which the editions have been cast from, during the first official government sanctioned lockdown this past spring. At the time I was thinking a lot about the idea of “fake news” and have been very curious to see how information related to such a deadly virus was being responded to, and the drastic differences in peoples’ responses.
I see this work as a prompt, one to encourage a questioning, and a discourse around the beliefs that we all hold. At a time when it has become increasingly difficult to understand the realities of others who may think differently than we do, I feel that it has become more important than ever to question our understanding, seek out truth, and be open to conversation.
Numerous people throughout the world and across history have worshiped calves, cows, and bulls as sacred symbols. My interest with this work is highlighting the “sin of the bull” one of the most widely known examples of religious assimilation.
The Hebrews were told by Moses not to worship “false idols” and instead only worship God. I am interested in this as a motif to discuss ideas about individual ideology, the notion of false idols, and the commodification of goods in contemporary culture.
The work is a part of a larger series that I have been working on called Neo Icons. In this series I have created a life size painting of a golden calf and produced a series of mono prints accompany the painting.
for more information on the prize and for sales enquiries please visit:
https://www.londonbronzeeditions.com/emma-fineman
