Tangible Art Forms and their Sacred Content

Tolai people during ceromony

Elkin poses that religion has limited scope in contemporary art. Currently the biggest exhibition in Brisbane is the 7^th Asia Pacific Triennial at GOMA. As a recent visitor to this exhibit, I was enthralled by the use of religious figures within the works. One such example is LN Tallur’s sculpture “Chromatophobia” (2010) which couples the Hindu goddess Lakshmi with local coins drawing upon the faith in both tradition rituals and consumerism. Also the Tolai people of PNG had tokatokai (headdresses) commissioned with both ancestral figures and Mary the mother of Jesus topping them, confirming that belief narratives and customs are syncretized with the relatively -recently arrived Christianity. While Elkin asserts that tribal or eastern views are tolerated by the art world, western influence is prevalent in the contemporaneous practice of these belief systems.

Perhaps what Elkin was trying to argue is that Christian images are not acceptable to galleries and exhibitors. Art depicting Jesus in particular is fraught with theological debate among even among Christian denominations: while iconography remains a staple within Orthodox and Roman Catholic worship, Calvin “argued that it was an insult to God, "corporeal images" being unworthy of divine majesty” (Morgan, 2002). For the point of this argument, given that the content of Jesus is authorized in art, I wonder of the ethnocentricity in depicting a Middle Eastern man as fair, blue eyed and effeminate. And content aside, I wonder at the media’s replication of Renaissance religious art. Art is reflective of the times and, while to this writer the works of Michelangelo, Raphael, and Botticelli were literally jaw dropping in reality, the reinforcement of these forms portrays a static nature to Christianity. Which then poses another question: is the Avant-guarde art world just reflecting the inert Christian faith by denying access to western religious art?

Eric Gill (English printer, sculptor) disagreed with faith being stagnant. He was inspired by Hindu temples imagery in his work and was a late convert to Catholicism.  For Gill, the creative process was enmeshed with spiritual practice: 'all creative acts have God for their author. The human act of begetting is a type of divine creative power'. Art practice as a sacred ritual is not refined to theists such as Gill. Julia Cameron, author of The Artist’s Way draws on spirituality as a core element. She guides artists “One life, one love, one energy, runs through all of creation. This life is Spirit, an inner river that can be tapped into at any time. Knowing this, we are divinely guided at all times.” Even Fredrich Nietzsche, atheist philosopher, stated in The Birth of a Tragedy "In song and in dance man expresses himself as a member of a higher community... supernatural sounds emanate from him... He is no longer an artist, he has become a work of art: in these paroxysms of intoxication the artistic power of all nature reveals itself."  While Elkin and Morgan may argue at relationship between art and religion at a social and institutional level, the readings do escape a common conviction of creative process itself being a spiritual experience. As experiential forms of religion grow in Australian society, more investigation is warranted into the soulful transcendence occurring with creative expression. 

Cameron, Julia "One Spirit" http://juliacameronlive.com/?s=creation+spirit

Elkin J. 2007. Bridging the gap between modern art and religion. ArtStyle Blog, Nov 30, http://www.chicagoarts-lifestyle.com/cac-perspectives-can-modern-art-and-religion-get-along/#more-660

Gill quoted "Artist Profiles" http://www.tate.org.uk/art/artworks/gill-ecstasy-t03477

Morgan D. 2002. “Would Jesus Have Sat for a Portrait?” The Likeness of Christ in the Popular Reception of Sallman’s Art: Negative Response and the Case Against Likeness: Iconophobia, Iconclasm, and the Masculinity of Jesus. In S. Brent Plate, Eds., Religion, Art and Visual Culture: A Cross-Cultural Reader. 81-86. New York: Palgrave.

Nietzsche quoted on:http://www.redefinemag.com/2012/mysticism-spirituality-in-modern-music-redefine-magazine-sxsw-2013-panel/