“Return to Sender” is a mixed media sculpture by Sean Read on display at the Kelvingrove Art Gallery & Museum. It’s cheesy, catholic, pomo. Kind of like Cop26.
Skinny legs. Fat paunch. This is late Elvis. The Elvis of drugs and bad food and self-loathing. And yet Sean Read has given him a neon halo. We want to say things like: “it shows how redemption is possible even for someone as far gone as him.” But that’s not how grace works, is it? Redemption is possible especially for someone as far gone as him.
I wonder what the janitor does at the end of the day when everyone has left and the Kelvingrove has fallen silent. Does he flip the switch to the halo and walk away like it’s nothing? Or does he pause for a second, like someone caught in a liturgical moment, and genuflect. Maybe he swishes his hips, or contort his lips. Maybe he gives thanks to the king. Tibi ago gratias.
