Art Review: John Taylor Arms at National Gallery

THE WASHINGTON POST
By Philip Kennicott

WASHINGTON, DC - The National Gallery in Washington, D.C. will presents the exhibition "The Gothic Spirit of John Taylor Arms from May 15 - Nov. 27, 2011. John Taylor Arms (also on view in VA) was a conservative artist, and he knew it. He started making prints in 1914, a year after the epic Armory Show in New York introduced European modernism to the philistine shores of the New World. Gothic churches were a perfect subject. Arms aligned himself with the Gothic revival, with artists who, for confused but charming reasons, saw the late Middle Ages as a lost paradise of holistic unity among artistic expression, spirituality and craftsmanship. The Gothic appealed to everything old-fashioned in him, especially to his monklike devotion to work and detail and his flowery belief in things such as beauty. [link]

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Asia News Channel Features Intra-Religious Art Bridges

AOA TODAY

INDIA - Founded over 50 years ago, Indian based ANI (www.aniin.com) is today South Asia 's leading multimedia news agency with over 100 bureaus. When it comes to covering South Asia , ANI goes across the globe to bring news of and from South Asia, wherever it takes place. The result is a complete service, multi-faceted in the depth of its coverage, and extensive in its reach. ANI covers almost all areas of interest including news as well as religious arts such as how faiths come together to create art tapestries. Today's video news feature is on how Muslim craftsman create Hindu god idols:

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Native American Zunis’ Shrine in the Sky, a Refuge

EL DEFENSOR CHIEFTAIN

NEW MEXICO - As far as we know, all Indian pueblos prehistoric and historic had their religious shrines. Perhaps the most common form was a simple rock cairn, at which religious leaders deposited offerings and recited prayers. A spring, a mountain, or even a lake, as at Taos Pueblo, could in itself be regarded as a holy place and have sacred cairns or petroglyphs associated with it. One of New Mexico’s most fabled shrines is Towa Yalane, a flat-topped mountain rising a thousand feet above a sandy plain, just three miles southeast of Zuni Pueblo. The name translates as Corn Mountain, tracing back to antiquity when a massive flood, according to legend, forced the Zunis to seek safety on the summit. The people carried sacked corn with them, enough to last until the waters subsided. In history, Towa Yalane is most often mentioned as a place of refuge for the Zunis during the Spanish colonial era. In these troubled times, they habitually fled there, on occasion after slaying the resident missionary. [link]

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West Virginia Church Mural Brings Bible Alive

THE RECORD DELTA
By Amanda Hayes

Artist Sheri Gaudet stands in front of the mural she
painted at Chapel Hill United Methodist Church.

WEST VIRGINIA - A local artist has helped bring the stories of Jesus to life through the creation of an 80-foot-long by 8-foot-high mural at Chapel Hill United Methodist Church. Sheri Gaudet spent roughly two months painting the scenes of Jesus on the Christian Education hallway. Chapel Hill UMC’s pastor, Chapel Hill United Methodist Church is truly blessed to be the recipient of this gift of art.” Dr. Joseph Shreve, said, “Sheri Gaudet’s mural of ‘The Life of Christ’ is both a tremendous tool for teaching about our Lord Jesus Christ and a wonderful focus for meditation and prayer for those who seek to follow Him. Chapel Hill United Methodist Church is truly blessed to be the recipient of this gift of art.” [link]

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Nick & Rosie, Founders of Minneapolis 11th Annual Spiritual Art Show

THE JOURNAL
By Michelle Bruch

MINNESOTA - Nick and Rosie Heille host the annual Art-A-Whirl trolley tour. Nick and his wife Rosie helped found the Northeast Minneapolis Arts Association (NEMAA), they are often spotted at gallery shows, and they continually add to a personal art collection that represents about 40 artists. In addition to serving as founding members of the Northeast Minneapolis Arts Association, Nick and Rosie advised the city on its Arts Action Plan, which is meant to strengthen the artists’ presence in Northeast. They also founded the annual Spiritual Art Show, which is a juried exhibition of religious artwork that is now in its 11th year. “We want to get churches to realize the quality of the art that’s out there,” Nick said. One of this year’s winners is an oil painting that depicts Demond Reed, a four-year-old Minneapolis murder victim, surrounded by angels outraged by his senseless death. Nick said the painting is representative of the high-quality work he wants to highlight. [link]

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Lecture on Replica of "La Pieta" on Friday in New Jersey

AOA TODAY

NEW JERSEY - Resurrection Parish, a Roman Catholic Church in Randolph NJ, is the first venue in the mid Atlantic region to exhibit and host an informative art lecture on life-size replica of Michelangelo's masterpiece, La Pieta, May 13 at 8 p.m. The sculpture is cast from a prototype made from a mold of the original located in St. Peter's Basilica in Rome and is on display now through May 31. The art lecture will be conducted by Ms. Ivannia Vega-McTighe, a current Ph.D. candidate in Art History at Rutgers University, NJ. [link]

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LADY GAGA'S CHRISTIAN VIDEO

Lady Gaga's new "Judas" video [View Video]

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Imprisoned in China, Ai Weiwei's "Zodiac Sculptures" hit NYC

12 giant-sized  Zodiac Heads on view in NYC Park [Read More]

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Salvador Dali's Ascension Coming to San Diego

"The Ascension of Christ" (1958) By Salvador Dali  [Read More]

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Osama Bin Laden Anti-Portraits at Aldridge Museum

Anti-Portraits of Bin Laden on view at the
Aldrich Contemporary Art Museum [Read More]

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Banksy's Stained Glass Window at LA's MOCA

"Stained Glass Window" (2011) By Banksy [Read More]

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A&O PROJECT REPORT:

BY ERNEST BRITTON

What a week of news! A South Korean man was crucified on a wooden cross while wearing a cross of thorns. Osama Bin Laden is dead and Pope John Paul II was Beatified. Also, the future head of the Church of England got married; we celebrated the 400th birthday of the King James Bible; and of course Lady Gaga released her controversial Judas video. In the midst of all this religious news, pageantry and art, I prepared for the Spring board meeting of the Alpha & Omega Project for Contemporary Religious Arts. The board of directors meets twice a year: Spring (Indianapolis) and Fall (New York City). As Executive Director, I want to thank the board and all our supporters for a remarkable first six months, and I'm excited about continuing to spread the good word about religious art. See you in NYC, and thanks you for being a part of it all.

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RELIGIOUS ART | TALK OF WEEK

"BEHOLD THE MAN" (1606) by Caravaggio, and other religious and spiritual arts news stories of the past week are listed below. The stories are grouped into five faith categories: Buddhist; Jewish; Islamic; Christian; and Other.

BUDDHIST-HINDU:

• Norton Simon Museum's "Sculpture from the Hindu-Buddhist World" (AOA Today)
• Getty Museum's "God's of Angkor" (AOA Today)
• The art, the truth and the compassion (The Epoch Times)
• Ai Weiwei's Zodiac Heads Come to NYC (AOA Today)

JEWISH:

• Marc Chagall's Biblical Works on Display in Russia (Voice of Russia)
• Dor Guez, an interview with an "Arab-Jew" (Haaretz)

ISLAMIC:

• Islamic Council Welcomes Death of Osama Bin Laden (AOA Today)
• Iran Unveils Shia Shrine (Press-TV)
• Drawing Bin Laden, Before and After Death (Ridgefield Press)
• Al-Abbas Holy Shrine Participates in Baghdad International Flower Festival III (ABNA)

CHRISTIAN:

• King James Bible Turns 400 (The Birmingham News)
• Future Head of Church of England Weds (AOA Today)
• Residents Ask for Reprieve for Surfer Madonna (Coast News Group)
• Beatification of Pope John Paul II (Catholic Online)
• Signs of Crossing Over: Secular and Sacred Art (Charlottesville News)
•  San Diego Hosts "From El Greco to Dali: The Great Spanish Masters" (San Diego Museum)
• Canadian Temple of Art & Music (The Metropolitain)
• Indiana Church Hosts Book of Psalms Art Exhibit (Evansville Press)
• National Art Museum Gathers Secular and Spiritual Belarus authorities (Belteler Radio Co)
• Honey Methodist Church "Steering Wheel" (AOA Today)
• Cross Becomes a Work of Art at Truro Cathedral (BBC)
• S.Korean Man Found Crucified on Wooden Cross (USA Today)
• Ethiopian Christian art on view in Oregon (The Oregonian)
• Caravaggio's "Behold the Man" to be centerpiece of exhibit (The Columbus Dispatch)
• Artist uses "The Book of Mormon" to create a 41-ton sculpture (The Salt Lake Tribune)
• Lady Gaga denies that Judas video is blasphemous (Contact Music)
• Former Marine now makes Christ inspired art (Highlands Today)
• Lady Gaga means to "celebrate faith" in her new video (USA Today)

OTHER/INTERFAITH:

• Photographer captures Bin Laden Meal promotion (AOA Today)
• Oldest religious symbol discovered in France (World News Report)
• Banksy's "Stained Glass Window" (Flavorville)
• Creating art brings Oklahoma artists closer to their God (Oklahoman)
• Couple uses their art to battle religious bigotry of Westboro Baptist Church (South Florida Gay News)
• Power of Giving on display in German Museum (ArtDaily)

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Exhibition Features Leonard Piha's Jewish Traditions

THE TENNESSEAN
By MiChelle Jones

"Judah Buddha" by Leonard Piha, 69 x 80 x 3 inches

TENNESSEE - The Arts Company’s loft-like second floor has been taken over by The Intimate World of Leonard Piha, a whimsical marriage of religious iconography, personal symbolism and folk art traditions. Piha had been expressing his self-described obsession with Judaism through prints, drawings and other works filled with “little Jewish men with yarmulkes.” He dropped such imagery after a professor encouraged him to explore art history and contemporary art; now the imagery is back. Judah Buddha, a wall sculpture of wood and rusted tin, captures Piha’s obsession and exhibits his sense of humor. With multiple arms and legs pulled from Hindu imagery, the figure holds a ladder, a window and a candle as it climbs a short staircase. For Piha, Judah Buddha is a commentary on the coexistence of orthodox, conservative and reformed Judaism. [link]

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Lady Gaga means to "celebrate faith" in her new Judas video

USA TODAY
By Ann Oldenburg

Gaga's as a swaggering Mary Magdalene biker chick
opposite actor & rapper Rick Gonzales' smoldering Jesus.

NEW YORK - Lady Gaga's new controversial video for Judas, her second single from her May 23 album, Born This Way, has arrived. In it, Gaga stars as Mary Magdalene leading a motorcycle gang on a pilgrimage to Jerusalem. Gaga explained last week to MSN that "theme of the video and the way that I wanted to aesthetically portray the story was as a motorcycle Fellini movie where the apostles are revolutionaries in a modern-day Jerusalem. Her goal, she says, is to show that "forgiveness and betrayal are hand in hand ... video puts destiny above all things and postures that the mistakes in your life are in fact not mistakes at all, they are just part of your overarching potential and your destiny." And, she said, "It's meant more to celebrate faith than it is to challenge it."[link]

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Drawing Bin Laden, Before and After Death

RIDGEFIELD PRESS
By Macklin Reid

"This is not a portrait" (2011) by James Esber

CONNECTICUT- Since January, Osama bin Laden’s face has glared out from the walls of The Aldrich Contemporary Art Museum on Main Street. New York artist James Esber’s ‘This is not a portrait’ exhibition features more than 100 drawings of Bin Laden’s face, created by a variety of people he invited to trace from and remake a drawing he’d done, based on a familiar photo image of Bin Laden. He is interested in the way common media images take on a life of their own. [link]

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Ai Weiwei's Zodiac Heads Come to NYC

AOA TODAY

NEW YORK - Internationally acclaimed Chinese contemporary artist Ai Weiwei has re-interpreted the twelve bronze animal heads representing the traditional Chinese zodiac that once adorned the famed fountain-clock of the Yuanming Yuan, an imperial retreat in Beijing. "Circle of Animals/Zodiac Heads" is the artist’s first major public sculpture project. "Circle of Animals/Zodiac Heads" is the centerpiece of a global, multi-year touring exhibition that will be presented in the United States, Europe, and Asia. The set of twelve zodiac heads was recently on display at the São Paolo Biennale in Brazil (September – December 2010). The official world tour for Circle of Animals/Zodiac Heads by Ai Weiwei will launch in New York City at the historic Pulitzer Fountain at Grand Army Plaza near Central Park and the Plaza Hotel. The heads will be on display there from May through July 2011. [link]

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An Interview with "Arab-Jew" artist, Dor Guez

HAARETZ
By Dalia Karpel

Dor Guez (2011)

ISREAL - On his father's side he's a third-generation Holocaust survivor, on his mother's side the scion of a prominent Palestinian Christian family. In his work, artist Dor Guez, 29, explores his roots while refusing to be labeled. "I have full confidence in my identity. All the definitions such as I'm a Jew, I'm an Israeli, I'm a Palestinian, I'm a Christian Arab, are something that I don't want to use or contain. "What is art, if they're trying to castrate it of the only condition that justifies it - the test of criticism. I have no interest in abstraction or in imitating the traditional Western artistic narrative, but I have a desire to use the tools of that language. These are two different activities. Time will tell if my exhibition within the walls of Israeli museums is an activity that makes me a part of the quasi-Western Israeli canon or establishes the presence of another narrative. It's a real dilemma: Is an exhibition like 'The Nation's Groves' a Trojan horse or a fig leaf?" [link]

"Georgiolopolis" (2009) By Dor Guez

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The Art of Truth, Compassion, Tolerance

THE EPOCH TIMES
By Hon. David Kilgour

"A tragedy in China" Oil on Canvas 48"x 36" (2004) By Yuan Li.

CANADA -Since 2004, this exhibition has toured more than 200 cities in 40 countries. The pieces were done by artists who practise Falun Gong (or Falun Dafa), an ancient discipline which seeks to improve body, character, and ethics. It contains the essence of traditional spiritual systems, like Buddhism and Daoism (Taoism), combined with a set of gentle exercises. Its core principles are “truth, compassion and forbearance.” It today evidently has millions of practitioners of diverse backgrounds in more than 100 countries. In China where it first became public in 1992, Falun Gong grew within seven years to 70-100 million by the government’s own estimate. [link]

Hon. David Kilgour speaking at art opening

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Retired Marine Now Makes Christ Inspired Art

HIGHLANDS TODAY
By Pamela Glinski

James Ward painting

FLORIDA - Artist James Ward (b. Ohio) creates from his "heart and soul" and has found his inspiration not only in his vast life experiences and in nature but also in his strong faith in God. Ward's vividly colorful paintings, sketches and pottery are on display at the Highlands Art League at 1989 Lakeview Drive in Sebring. A very lean, healthy 64-year-old, he still works out vigorously five days a week and teaches kickboxing. He explains, "It is a yen and yang kind of thing…. getting out aggression on the heavy bag with gloves and then (being) calm and collected for the rest of the day when I am painting." This devotedly religious man attends Independent Baptist Church in Sebring and says his work comes from "deep within" and is deeply influenced by his faith. Through all of his experiences in life and in art he has learned, "Life is too short to be that uptight… especially when you create." [link]

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