The Grail (2011)
plastic glass, bioresin, mooncup

This mooncup has been donated by Mooncup Ltd.
http://www.mooncup.co.uk/

Photo by: David Olsan
http://davidolsanphotography.com/

‘The great non-Christian legend of the Middle Ages was that of the Quest of the Grail. The Christian knights of King Arthur’s table were tormented by a vision of the cup used at the Last Supper that contained blood from the wounds of the crucified Jesus. Only the pure knight without stain, Parsifal, was admitted into the Grail Castle where the genitally maimed Fisher King sat awaiting the question that would bring life back into the Wasteland. Parsifal watched the show of knights and maidens carrying the last dripping blood into the cup of the Grail, and he was thunderstruck. He was speechless. Being speechless, he did not ask the question that would have redeemed the Wasteland. He showed no curiosity. The show came and went - and the Castle vanished. Parsifal had failed.’ (Penelope Shuttle & Peter Redgrove, p.190, The Wise Wound)

In order to understand The Grail we have to answer the following three questions:

1. Whom does the Grail serve?

2. The world is in the Grail and the Grail is in the world: what is the Grail?

3. Where is the Grail Castle, that is surrounded with water, that is everywhere at once, and which is invisible?

The mooncup that is contained in this artwork gives a clue to these questions.