Warpaint: What Does George W. Bush See in His “Portraits of Courage”?
There’s an explosion on nearly every other page of George W. Bush’s Portraits of Courage:…
Read Moreart
Can Art Save Us From Fundamentalism?
In his new book, religious studies scholar Philip S. Francis uses personal stories from young evangelicals to explore how one’s experiences with art can dramatically reorient Christian beliefs and practices.
Read More
WikiLeaks’ October Surprise: With “Spirit Dinners,” Conspiracy Goes Mainstream
Conspiracists have long believed that Hillary Clinton is a member of a Satanic cult.
Read More
A Pair of Exhibitions Demonstrate How Biases Color the History of Jerusalem
For many, Jerusalem has always been less a window on the past than a kind of magic mirror on the present.
Read More
I Met God, She’s Black: An Exhibit Makes the Black Female Body a Temple
The moment I entered the Black Woman is God exhibit in San Francisco’s SOMArts gallery,…
Read More
What’s Wrong With the Virgin Mary Depicted as a Barbie Doll?
Catholic and Hindu leaders—two religions that normally appreciate religious statues and images—have decried “Barbie: The Plastic…
Read More
Christ is Pissed, Again
Commenting to Fox News, Staten Island Representative Michael Grimm has called the work a “deplorable piece,” one that is as “offensive” to Christians as ‘Innocence of Muslims’ is to “the Islamic world.” Unfortunately, but not surprisingly, the comparison has provided opportunity to emphasize the supposed moral high ground that Christians occupy over Muslims when it comes to material deemed offensive or blasphemous. Tony Perkins, president of the Family Council, told Fox News that the two incidents shore up “the contrast between Islam and Christianity.” “You don’t have to plead with Christians not to riot and burn and storm buildings simply because they are offended,” Perkins said. “That’s the difference. That’s why Christianity moves nations forward and Islam moves nation backwards.”
Read More
The Eternal in the Blink of an Eye, Chris Marker (1921-2012)
The reclusive filmmaker understood that the truth of history, like myth, can only be approached as a sensual experience.
Read More
Looking at Death: Images of 9/11, Before, During, and After
What might it mean for a synagogue, a church, a mosque, or a temple, to set up a video screen in its sanctuary and play these images of death from September 11—and then turn around and respond to them? What reinvented rituals might result from a ritualized, contextualized reception of these images? Such communal framing gets us beyond the questions of morbid voyeurism because it eliminates the one-way dimension and places images within a social setting. It further allows us to reflect and come to terms with dying, thereby stirring the potential for a good death.
Read More
Cozy Cottage or House on Fire? Thomas Kinkade’s Theo-Aesthetic Legacy
Kinkade challenged the high-brow haughtiness of the art world, grew rich in the process, and seemed to fumble around, rock-star like, with drinking and bad behavior. Liberals scoffed at the hypocrisy of yet another social-religious conservative who can’t live up to a decent set of moral standards, while his mass-produced images were hugely loved, especially by evangelical Christians who felt that here, finally, was an artist for them. He called himself the “Painter of Light” and then trademarked the phrase. He includes a Christian fish (icthus) above his signature—but he’s also alleged to have urinated on a Winnie the Pooh figure at Disneyland, among other socially unacceptable activities.
Read More