Council chiefs behind the Bible defacing art exhibition have come under fire again after allowing a Bible, deep fat fried in batter, to be sold at one of its galleries.
Glasgow City Council received hundreds of complaints earlier this year when an exhibition at the city’s Gallery of Modern Art resulted in a Bible being defaced with obscene and offensive messages.
Now the Council faces criticism again after it emerged that a 200-year-old Bible, fried in “standard chip shop batter”, was being sold in an art auction at another of its taxpayer-funded galleries.
The artists behind the battered Bible, Craig Little and Blake Whitehead, defended their work claiming it was an “interesting” take on Glasgow life.
“The Bible and the batter are two quintessentially Glaswegian things”, claimed the duo known as Littlewhitehead.
“Being Glaswegian artists, we thought it would be an interesting way to work”, they added.
But the piece has been condemned by church leaders and religious campaigners.
Revd Ian Galloway, convener of the Church of Scotland’s Church and Society Council, said: “Many people in the Christian community will view this as an act of desecration.
“It is difficult on viewing the item to understand what artistic merit there is or what the artists are aiming to communicate.”
A spokesman from the Christian group, CARE for Scotland, said: “It is difficult to see the rationale in this item being regarded as a work of art.
“We have been consistently disappointed at the way Glasgow City Council has not really been concerned about the church’s reaction to a number of these recent exhibits.
“While the Council may not have been so aware of this latest item, it just seems to be a consistent pattern of using Christianity as an easy target.”
This latest work, entitled The Good Book, was created to raise money for students on the Master of Fine Art course at Glasgow School of Art. The event was hosted by council-run McLellan Galleries in Glasgow.