Download or read book Contemporary Art and the Church written by W. David O. Taylor and published by InterVarsity Press. This book was released on 2017-06-20 with total page 268 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The church and the contemporary art world often find themselves in an uneasy relationship in which misunderstanding and mistrust abound. On one hand, the leaders of local congregations, seminaries, and other Christian ministries often don't know what to make of works by contemporary artists. Not only are these artists mostly unknown to church leaders, they and their work often lead them to regard the world of contemporary art with indifference, frustration, or even disdain. On the other hand, many artists lack any meaningful experience with the contemporary church and are mostly ignorant of its mission. Not infrequently, these artists regard religion as irrelevant to their work, are disinclined to trust the church and its leaders, and have experienced personal rejection from these communities. In response to this situation, the 2015 biennial conference of Christians in the Visual Arts (CIVA) facilitated a conversation between these two worlds. This volume gathers together essays and reflections by artists, theologians, and church leaders as they sought to explore misperceptions, create a hospitable space to learn from each other, and imagine the possibility of a renewed and mutually fruitful relationship. Contemporary Art and the Church seeks common ground for the common good of both the church and the contemporary art world. The Studies in Theology and the Arts series encourages Christians to thoughtfully engage with the relationship between their faith and artistic expression, with contributions from both theologians and artists on a range of artistic media including visual art, music, poetry, literature, film, and more.
Download or read book Art and Faith written by Makoto Fujimura and published by Yale University Press. This book was released on 2021-01-05 with total page 184 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: From a world-renowned painter, an exploration of creativity’s quintessential—and often overlooked—role in the spiritual life “Makoto Fujimura’s art and writings have been a true inspiration to me. In this luminous book, he addresses the question of art and faith and their reconciliation with a quiet and moving eloquence.”—Martin Scorsese “[An] elegant treatise . . . Fujimura’s sensitive, evocative theology will appeal to believers interested in the role religion can play in the creation of art.”—Publishers Weekly Conceived over thirty years of painting and creating in his studio, this book is Makoto Fujimura’s broad and deep exploration of creativity and the spiritual aspects of “making.” What he does in the studio is theological work as much as it is aesthetic work. In between pouring precious, pulverized minerals onto handmade paper to create the prismatic, refractive surfaces of his art, he comes into the quiet space in the studio, in a discipline of awareness, waiting, prayer, and praise. Ranging from the Bible to T. S. Eliot, and from Mark Rothko to Japanese Kintsugi technique, he shows how unless we are making something, we cannot know the depth of God’s being and God’s grace permeating our lives. This poignant and beautiful book offers the perspective of, in Christian Wiman’s words, “an accidental theologian,” one who comes to spiritual questions always through the prism of art.
Download or read book On the Strange Place of Religion in Contemporary Art written by James Elkins and published by Routledge. This book was released on 2004-12-15 with total page 154 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Can contemporary art say anything about spirituality? John Updike calls modern art "a religion assembled from the fragments of our daily life," but does that mean that contemporary art is spiritual? What might it mean to say that the art you make expresses your spiritual belief? On the Strange Place of Religion in Contemporary Art explores the curious disconnection between spirituality and current art. This book will enable you to walk into a museum and talk about the spirituality that is or is not visible in the art you see.
Download or read book God in the Gallery written by Daniel A. Siedell and published by Baker Academic. This book was released on 2008-10 with total page 192 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: An art historian develops a theological, philosophical, and historical framework within which to experience and interpret modern and contemporary art that is in dialogue with the Christian faith.
Download or read book Memento Mori in Contemporary Art written by Taylor Worley and published by Routledge. This book was released on 2019-11-28 with total page 255 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This book explores how four contemporary artists—Francis Bacon, Joseph Beuys, Robert Gober, and Damien Hirst—pursue the question of death through their fraught appropriations of Christian imagery. Each artist is shown to not only pose provocative theological questions, but also to question the abilities of theological speech to adequately address current attitudes to death. When set within a broader theological context around the thought of death, Bacon’s works invite fresh readings of the New Testament’s narration of the betrayal of Christ, and Beuys’ works can be appreciated for the ways they evoke Resurrection to envision possible futures for Germany in the aftermath of war. Gober’s immaculate sculptures and installations serve to create alternative religious environments, and these places are both evocative of his Roman Catholic upbringing and virtually haunted by the ghosts of his excommunication from that past. Lastly and perhaps most problematically, Hirst has built his brand as an artist from making jokes about death. By opening fresh arenas of dialogue and meaning-making in our society and culture today, the rich humanity of these artworks promises both renewed depths of meaning regarding our exit from this world as well as how we might live well within it for the time that we have. As such, it will be a vital resource for all scholars in Theology, the Visual Arts, Material Religion and Religious Studies.
Download or read book Theology of Contemporary Art written by Felix Hernandez Mariano and published by ATF Press. This book was released on 2018-11-01 with total page 102 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: In today's world we want everything to be clear, effective and instantaneous, a useless desire that, in addition, locks the human being into only appearance. Contemporary art, as a reflection of the concerns and needs of today's humanity demands attention, silence, reflection and a discerning eye. For this reason, it becoems a privileged platform for the encounter with Mystery, with a God who escapes all configurations or concepts. This function is what makes the work of the Dominican, Kim En Joong OP, an internationally recognised artist, so remarkbale. These pages deepen, from a novel theologhical perspewctive, the different elements that nmake up his work: colour, shape, light, composition ... a persoewctrive that guides us towards the contemplation of the Mystery that the painter shows us. A fascinating book, which is one and the same time accesible and a gift for all, believer or not, who feels the thirst for depth.
Download or read book No Idols written by Thomas E. Crow and published by Power Publications, Sydney. This book was released on 2017 with total page 0 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The first in the new Power Polemics series, Thomas Crow's No Idols: The Missing Theology of Art turns away from contemporary cultural theories to face a pervading blindspot in today's art-historical inquiry: religion. Crow pursues a perhaps unpopular notion of Christianity's continued presence in modern abstract art and in the process makes a case for art's own terrain of theology: one that eschews idolatry by means of abstraction. Tracking the original anti-idolatry controversy of the Jansenists, anchored in a humble still life by Chardin, No Idols sets the scene for the development of an art of reflection rather than representation, and divinity without doctrine. Crow's reinstatement of the metaphysical is made through the work of New Zealand artist Colin McCahon and American artists Mark Rothko, Robert Smithson, James Turrell, and Sister Mary Corita Kent. While a tightly selected group of artists, in their collective statute the author explores the proposal that spiritual art, as opposed to "a simulacrum of one," is conceivable for our own time.
Download or read book On the Strange Place of Religion in Contemporary Art written by James Elkins and published by Psychology Press. This book was released on 2004 with total page 156 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Can contemporary art say anything about spirituality? Answering this question and more, On the Strange Place of Religion in Contemporary Art explores the curious disconnection between spirituality and current art.
Download or read book Art and Religion in the 21st Century written by Rosen Aaron and published by Thames & Hudson. This book was released on 2017-01-14 with total page 256 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Blaspheming artists get all the press. Some exploit the shock potential of religious imagery - but many also reflect deeply on spiritual matters and are, in fact, some of the most profound and sensitive commentators on religion today. Here, Aaron Rosen shows how religious themes and images permeate the work of contemporary artists from across the globe.
Download or read book Religion and Contemporary Art written by Ronald R. Bernier and published by Taylor & Francis. This book was released on 2023-05-10 with total page 475 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Religion and Contemporary Art sets the theoretical frameworks and interpretive strategies for exploring the re-emergence of religion in the making, exhibiting, and discussion of contemporary art. Featuring essays from both established and emerging scholars, critics, and artists, the book reflects on what might be termed an "accord" between contemporary art and religion. It explores the common strategies contemporary artists employ in the interface between religion and contemporary art practice. It also includes case studies to provide more in-depth treatments of specific artists grappling with themes such as ritual, abstraction, mythology, the body, popular culture, science, liturgy, and social justice, among other themes. It is a must-read resource for working artists, critics, and scholars in this field, and an invitation to new voices "curious" about its promises and possibilities.
Download or read book Brushes with Faith written by Aaron Rosen and published by Wipf and Stock Publishers. This book was released on 2019-09-04 with total page 230 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Contemporary artists are engaging more deeply than ever with religious imagery, themes, practices, and audiences. With a bracing, jargon-free style, Aaron Rosen—a leading scholar, art critic, and curator—takes readers into studios, galleries, and worship spaces as he paints a compelling picture of art and religion today. Focusing on individual artists, from eminent names to emerging stars, Rosen’s essays and interviews tackle key questions, from how art might sustain communities to how it might offer new approaches to conflict resolution. Drawing on years spent developing relationships with artists around the globe—from Algeria to India to the United States—Rosen gets artists to talk, often for the first time, about how religion impacts their practice. Whether inspiring or unsettling, these brushes with faith challenge and invigorate the artists in question, and those who ponder the results. Replete with more than seventy color images of works ranging from video art to outdoor installations, this volume is indispensable reading for those looking to see contemporary art in a new light.
Download or read book A Theology of Artistic Sensibilities written by John Dillenberger and published by Wipf and Stock Publishers. This book was released on 2004-10-19 with total page 294 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: For most of history, argues John Dillenberger, the visual arts were, for better or worse, part of the very fabric of the life and thought of the church. But with the Reformation and the Counter-Reformation a major change took place. Protestant rejection of the visual was matched in Roman Catholicism by the reduction of its formative power. While the visual arts dropped out of the lives of Protestant churches, they became a memory rather than a source of ennoblement or power in the Roman Catholic Church. Thus, in different but allied ways, Protestants and Catholics lost the power of the visual. Part art history, part historical theology, and part theological reflection, this book is both an argument and a program for the recovery of the visual arts in the life of the church, for reclaiming seeing as part of religious perception. It offers a theological understanding of the visual and provides a basis upon which the visual arts may again be incorporated into Protestantism and reinvigorated in Roman Catholicism. The first part is devoted to historical reconstruction, exploring those moments in Western history in which the relation between religion and the arts was in ferment. Part 2 is given to contemporary delineation and analysis: of spiritual perceptions in modern American painting and sculpture, of modern church art and architecture, and of the changing views of contemporary theologians toward the visual arts. Citing David Tracy, Karl Rahner, Langdon Gilkey, and others as examples, Dillenberger argues that contemporary theology is moving away from the modern rationalistic understanding of theological analogy to one far closer to the arts. Part 3 is constructive, developing a theological perspective that demands and includes the visual arts, and suggesting ways in which this can be accomplished in pastoral and theological education. The world of art, says Professor Dillenberger, is more aware of the role of religion in the arts than the world of religion is of art. Thus it is time for the church to resume its historic association with the visual arts, albeit in analogous rather than repristinating ways.
Download or read book God in the Modern Wing written by Cameron J. Anderson and published by InterVarsity Press. This book was released on 2021-10-12 with total page 200 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Should Christians even bother with the modern wing at the art museum? After all, modern art and artists are often caricatured as rabidly opposed to God, the church—indeed, to faith of any kind. But is that all there is to the story? In this Studies in Theology and the Arts volume, coeditors Cameron J. Anderson and G. Walter Hansen gather the reflections of artists, art historians, and theologians who collectively offer a more complicated narrative of the history of modern art and its place in the Christian life. Here, readers will find insights on the work and faith of artists including Marc Chagall, Jackson Pollock, Mark Rothko, Andy Warhol, and more. For those willing to look with eyes of faith, they may just find that God is present in the modern wing too. The Studies in Theology and the Arts series encourages Christians to thoughtfully engage with the relationship between their faith and artistic expression, with contributions from both theologians and artists on a range of artistic media including visual art, music, poetry, literature, film, and more.
Download or read book Explorations in Art Theology and Imagination written by Michael Ridgwell Austin and published by Routledge. This book was released on 2016-04-08 with total page 202 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Christianity has repeatedly valued the "Word" over and above the non-verbal arts. Art has been seen through the interpretative lens of theology, rather than being valued for what it can bring to the discipline. 'Explorations in Art, Theology and Imagination' argues that art is crucially important to theology. The book explores the interconnecting themes of embodiment and incarnation, faith and imagination, and the similarities and differences between art and theology. Arguing for a critique that begins with art and moves to theology, 'Explorations in Art, Theology and Imagination' offers a radical re-evaluation of the role of art in Christian discourse.
Download or read book Art as Theology written by Andreas Andreapoulos and published by Routledge. This book was released on 2016-04-08 with total page 188 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Religion and spirituality are key aspects of the contemporary art scene. Following Ronald Barthes' 'death of the author' - which argued for the dissociation of work from creator - works of art have withdrawn as independent objects, giving way to a growing religious awareness or practice. 'Art and Theology' examines the connection between art and religion in ancient Jewish drama, Greek tragedy, the Renaissance, the Byzantine icon and the medieval cathedral. The book explores how art lost its sacred character in the late Middle Ages and how the current withdrawal or 'death' of art and the fusion of the limits of art and life are consistent with the medieval view of the religious icon.
Download or read book Transforming Christian Thought in the Visual Arts written by Sheona Beaumont and published by Routledge. This book was released on 2021-07-06 with total page 375 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This volume explores how the visual arts are presenting and responding to Christian theology and demonstrates how modern and contemporary artists and artworks have actively engaged in conversation with Christianity. Modern intellectual enquiry has often been reluctant to engage theology as an enriching or useful form of visual analysis, but critics are increasingly revisiting religious narratives and Christian thought in pursuit of understanding our present-day visual culture. In this book an international group of contributors demonstrate how theology is often implicit within artworks and how, regardless of a viewer’s personal faith, it can become implicit in a viewer’s visual encounter. Their observations include deliberate juxtaposition of Christian symbols, imaginative play with theologies, the validation of non-confessional or secular public engagement, and inversions of biblical interpretation. Case studies such as an interactive Easter, glow-sticks as sacrament, and visualisation of the Bible’s polyphonic voices enrich this discussion. Together, they call for a greater interpretative generosity and more nuance around theology’s cultural contexts in the modern era. By engaging with theology, culture, and the visual art, this collection offers a fresh lens through which to see the interaction of religion and art. As such, it will be of great use to those working in Religion and the Arts, Visual Art, Material Religion, Theology, Aesthetics, and Cultural Studies.
Download or read book Religion Contemporary Art written by Anthony Padgett and published by Lulu.com. This book was released on 2010-02 with total page 221 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: These essays explore the relationship between art and religion. The first part, 2001-2002, is essays about "The Ism," where 1994-9 Padgett united religious and spiritual perspectives by uniting the art-forms appropriate to them. The second part is essays from 2002-2005, when Padgett studied at Wimbledon School of Art, London, for an MA in Theory of Contemporary Art and Performance. Padgett looks at artists (Damien Hirst, Thomas Hirschhorn, Anton Artaud, Jake and Dinos Chapman Brothers, Guillermo Gomez-Pena etc) and develops the idea of "Postmodern Religious Art." His program of uniting the art-forms is progressed by uniting the specific material forms of religions in semi-irony with the profane - whilst keeping the sacred as of highest importance. The final part is the questionnaire that Padgett submitted to the Employment Tribunals, giving the main arguments behind his claim that the Tate Galleries were exercising religious discrimination in the way they selected artworks.
