Illusion in Hornby's NippleJesus Questions Art
Hornby Uses Illusion to Encourage Fascination and Contemplation
Jun 13, 2009
“NippleJesus” is part of a collection of short stories called Speaking with the Angel that Hornby compiled to raise money for TreeHouse, a school for children with autism.
NippleJesus” is rich with facets that readers who appreciate irony will find striking, hilarious, and beautiful. One of those facets is illusion.
Illusion and the Art World
An art gallery where Dave, the narrator, works is next used to underline Hornby’s theme. As Dave is led through the gallery on the way to his post, at first, it is as he expected–pictures on a wall with people standing in front of them. But then appearance gives way to reality.
“The thing is, this gallery’s like the normal sort of gallery for the first few rooms–pictures of fruit and all that, and then it starts to go weird.”
This walk through the gallery begins the journey readers will share with Dave. Suspense increases, and there is a tiny twinge of voyeuristic excitement.
The gallery’s modern art exhibits raise the question of what really constitutes art.
As Dave walks through the gallery, he notes what he sees–first, pictures of food and country life, then “splodges,” then “bits of animals all over the place, and a tent, and ping-pong balls floating on air currents, and a small house made of concrete, and videos of people reading poetry.”
- The gallery’s modern art exhibits raise the question of what really constitutes art.
- As Dave walks through the gallery, he notes what he sees–first, pictures of food and country life, then “splodges,” then “bits of animals all over the place, and a tent, and ping-pong balls floating on air currents, and a small house made of concrete, and videos of people reading poetry.”
- Eventually, Dave is asked to guard an onion.
"NippleJesus" and Art?
Hornby, by raising the issue of what constitutes art, of where creativity ends and pretentiousness begins, segues into the introduction of the controversial work of art Dave is re-assigned to protect.
Dave is to guard the NippleJesus, a large image of Jesus on the cross, from the shoulders up. This archetypal image of innocent, pious suffering touches Dave in a personal way. He stops for a moment and ponders the life and death of Jesus.
“…what this picture has that the normal ones don’t…is that you can really tell just how much it must have…hurt, being nailed up.”
The exhibit has already created controversy and provoked public outcry. At first, Dave fails to understand why. All he sees is an image of Jesus on the cross. Why, he wonders, would this offend anyone?
With this question, Hornby leads readers further into his theme of illusion. He hints that there is much more than meets the eye when Dave says: “Because you can’t tell how it’s done from a distance, see.”
As Dave gets closer to the picture, he sees the image is comprised “of hundreds–thousands, maybe millions–of little squares …” As he gets closer still, he sees that the squares “were actually little pictures, and every single little picture had at least one female breast in it.”
- The introduction of the NippleJesus is an obvious but intriguing development in Hornby’s theme.
- It raises compelling questions; perhaps, even, it stuns.
- It forces readers to contemplate boundaries–in art, in religion, in morality, in tolerance.
Filling the Negative Spaces
Dave faces a negative space that he must fill. He is not a Philistine. He displays knowledge of pointillism when he describes the image.
But at first, Dave is angry. He hopes someone will damage the picture, which he calls offensive. Dave hates the picture and the artist who created it.
- Gradually, Dave’s negative attitude toward the NippleJesus moderates from hate to curiosity.
- Because Hornby has rendered him so sympathetic, it also becomes easier for readers to temper their initial reactions.
- Dave fast becomes a staunch defender of the NippleJesus. He has concluded that the NippleJesus is “something that’s beautiful if you look at it in one way…and ugly if you look at it in another.”
Illusion and Humanity
Hornby uses Dave’s encounters with people viewing the NippleJesus to continue the theme. One such encounter is with a man who puts Dave on his guard.
“So it wasn’t like he was hard to spot. He wasn’t an undercover nutter, if you know what I mean.” When the man, however, kneels in front of tNippleJesus to pray, Dave is unsure from his ambiguous words whether he is praying because he is before an image of Jesus or if he is trying to cleanse the room.
Another visitor to the NippleJesus exhibit is a vicar, a young, stylish-looking man with “a sort of Hugh Grant floppy haircut.” Despite Dave’s attempts to prevent him from doing so, the vicar insists on standing quite close to the picture so that he can see all the nipples clearly for himself.
- A religious zealot with obtuse speech, a fashionable vicar with a bent for breasts–both underline the idea of illusion.
- Hornby, however, is not ready to resolve this mystery just yet, allowing Dave to stand by, watching hordes of people stream into the NippleJesus exhibit–people who are determined to be offended.
- Dave becomes the picture’s full-fledged champion, calling it “beautiful” and urging people not to go up close, but rather to stand back and admire the overall effect.
Hornby, through his theme of illusion, shows how people are often not what they seem to be, from the narrator Dave to the droves coming to view the NippleJesus.
He also addresses the question of true creativity and the motives behind making it and viewing it. Many questions are raised, but few are answered. The illusions hold firm.
Source: Speaking With the Angel, "NippleJesus," by Nick Hornby, Riverhead Books, 2000.
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