Mach puts a match to his head of Jesus despite protests from religious leaders

He was given the go-ahead to set the figure alight by the city council, which is hosting a major religious-themed exhibition of the Fife-born artist’s work.

The local authority has ploughed £115,000 into the City Art Centre exhibition, which has been given over entirely to Mach for more than 70 works of art.

Among the highlights of the exhibition, which is inspired by the 400th anniversary of the King James Bible, are a number of crucifix figures made out of coat hangers.

He has still to unveil a huge depiction of The Last Supper, which is planned to be held at the gallery on 28 September.

Mach had been forced to hold the burning of the head in private after the furore surrounding the burning of the Jesus head, which was made out of thousands of match heads. He had burned a head meant to represent the Devil at the start of the exhibition’s run in early August.

Mach was unavailable for comment yesterday, however a spokeswoman said: “The process of burning is used as a creative and metamorphic force in his work and this performance is part of his ongoing creation of new pieces during the Precious Light exhibition.”

Born in Methil in 1956, Mach studied at Duncan of Jordanstone College of Art in Dundee and at the Royal College of Art, London. He has lived and worked in London since 1982.