BHQF: The Transubstantiation of Bruce

The manifesto of the Bruce High Quality Foundation

It will come as a surprise to many that Bruce High Quality went to church once a week. It's difficult to imagine the world's greatest ironist, and therefore hostage to both the radical left and the religious right, as a believer. But He was there, week after week, reporting back to the man upstairs. While we cannot presume to know His most sacred heart of hearts, it has now become clear, twelve years after His passing, that Bruce High Quality aimed to leave behind truly iconographic devotional pieces for a truly secular age. The exhibition "The Transubstantial Bruce" is the first to be dedicated to High Quality's spiritual concerns. With "The Sacraments" - His masterful series of plasticine moulded relics - as well as His massive triptych "Father, Son, and Holy Ghost" - a self-portrait depicting Bruce High Quality's death mask, a makeshift cross and an inflatable, grizzled rat as an equal, eternal trinity - High Quality's unapologetic intention to confront us directly with the afterlife becomes clear. Nowhere is this mission more evident than in His masterpiece "Stations of the Cross". They are now being shown to the public for the first time: The 14 panels of "Stations of the Cross" tell the story of the road to crucifixion. Each tragic step opens up a parable of earthly sacrifice and righteousness. The exhibition is completed by a carefully chosen selection of intimate self-portraits of Bruce High Quality: everyday scenes showing him surrounded by his family and friends - as in heaven, so on earth.

Exhibition:
Brooklyn Museum, New York, 28/6 - 22/9/2013