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The more of you the more I love you,
Conceived by Tracey Emin (born 1963),
Executed in 2016,
Neon light installation
© Photo Courtesy of Xavier Hufkens Gallery, Brussels |
| One of the scribes came up to Jesus and put a question to him, ‘Which is the first of all the commandments?’ Jesus replied, ‘This is the first: Listen, Israel, the Lord our God is the one Lord, and you must love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, with all your mind and with all your strength. The second is this: You must love your neighbour as yourself. There is no commandment greater than these.’ The scribe said to him, ‘Well spoken, Master; what you have said is true: that he is one and there is no other. To love him with all your heart, with all your understanding and strength, and to love your neighbour as yourself, this is far more important than any holocaust or sacrifice.’ Jesus, seeing how wisely he had spoken, said, ‘You are not far from the kingdom of God.’ And after that no one dared to question him any more. |
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| Reflection on the Neon Installation
‘The more of you the more I love you’ is a large-scale neon installation by British artist Tracey Emin. Since 1995, Emin has produced neon artworks which are based on her own handwriting. She creates phrases or a play on words which are always slightly ambiguous and playful. Many interpretations always ensue from these neon works. Emin’s use of neon lights as an art form is inspired by her childhood memories of the neon illuminations in the English seaside town of Margate where she grew up. Neon lights are commonly used to make attractive business signs, for commercial purposes. By being used as an art material inside a gallery or domestic setting, these neon works become poetic, mysterious, playing solely on colour, phrase content and light.
Jesus is talking about love in today’s Gospel reading: ‘love the Lord your God’ and ‘love your neighbour’. The problem we humans have is that we are limited in our capacity to love. That’s why these ‘love commandments’ were issued to us by Christ in the first place. He knows how we struggle to love genuinely, as in willing the good of the other. Man was limited in his ability to love, so God offered some instruction… BUT, once we have recognised our limited ability to love, we can build on it and really make our capacity grow!
by Patrick van der Vorst
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