Fascinating and Beautiful Buddhist Imagery on Show at VR Museum

BANGKOK POST

THAILAND - All Buddhists - whether devout or not - must at some time feel fascinated with the various styles of Buddha images we come across at temples. They seem to be quite different from each other, yet they all share a hidden, soothing charm that always invites our eyes. Inaugurated just last month, the VR Museum showcases a collection of 41 Buddha images in various styles and postures from a wide array of regions and historical periods. Held under the theme "Journey of the Buddha", this contemporary exhibition reflects the beauty and artistic creation of Buddha images in different eras, ranging from the earliest known images to the ones created in the different kingdoms and regions of Thailand, as well as neighbouring kingdoms. [link]

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Kansas Art Gallery's Exhibit Inspired by Judaica Collection

KANSAS CITY JEWISH CHRONICLE
By Barbara Bayer

Photo by Kevin Blayney: Michael Klein (left) discusses the upcoming ‘Between Thee & Me’ exhibit at Epsten Gallery with the gallery’s curator, Marcus Cain. Klein is holding a 1950s Bible with beautiful sterling silver bookbinding.

KANSAS - Michael Klein began collecting Judaica quite by accident. Now his Judaica is the inspiration for a new exhibit, Between Thee & Me — Artists Respond to the Judaica Collection of Michael Klein and the Van Ackeren Collection of Religious Art at Rockhurst University. This project features two independent, invitational group exhibitions, the first of which will be presented at the Epsten Gallery at Village Shalom July 24 through Sept. 4. It opens with a reception at 2 p.m. Sunday, July 24, with an artists’ discussion at 3 p.m. A second group exhibition will be presented at The Greenlease Gallery at Rockhurst University Aug. 26 through Oct. 1. [link]

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Long-Delayed Show of Buddhist Art From Pakistan Is to Open in NYC

THE NEW YORK TIMES
By JANE PERLEZ

A piece in Asia Society's show of Gandhara art

NEW YORK - A long-planned exhibition of nearly 70 pieces of Buddhist art from Pakistan will finally open at Asia Society on Aug. 9, after political intrigue in Pakistan and a breakdown in American-Pakistani relations delayed it for six months. Anti-Americanism, which soared in the aftermath of the killing of Osama bin Laden, helped put the show in jeopardy, said Melissa Chiu, the director of Asia Society Museum. The death of a major advocate, Richard C. Holbrooke, the Obama administration’s senior diplomat for Pakistan and a former chairman of Asia Society, also complicated matters, she said, as did problems with getting American visas for the Pakistanis chosen to accompany the objects to New York. "The Buddhist Heritage of Pakistan: Art of Gandhara" runs from August 9 thru October 30. [link]

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Review: Buddhist Art Inspired Illusions at NYC's Klaus von Nichtssagend Gallery

NEW YORK OBSERVER
By Will Hienrich

Desktop (Cave Paintings) by Allyson Vieira.

NEW YORK - The title of this small but powerful exhibition, Discursive Arrangements, or Stubbornly Persistent Illusions, is either an ironic feint or it’s begging the question. Centered discreetly but unmistakably around what a Buddhist art critic might call the “emptiness” of images, the show forcefully makes the point that it can’t be quite right, in light of their persistence, to call images illusions. [link]

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Crucifix with a Penis: Art Exhibit Riles Catholics in Philippines

ABS-CBN NEWS
By David Dizon

PHILIPPINES - A crucifix with a wooden penis and a Christ the King figurine with rabbit ears. These and other art pieces exhibited at the Cultural Center of the Philippines (CCP) have earned the ire of various lay Catholic groups who are now considering the filing of charges against those behind the "sacrilegious and blasphemous" art exhibit. A CBCP News report said the groups have demanded CCP and the artists, all from the University of Santo Tomas, to stop the exhibit in 48 hours or face the legal consequences. The CCP exhibit which opened last June 17 and will run until August 21, has received flak from various groups, including the Catholic Church, for the unconventional use of religious figures in the art pieces. [link]

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Catholic Artists Say Art Must Reflect Liturgical Renewal

DFW CATHOLIC
By George Vogt

NEW HAMPSHIRE - At a recent symposium on the campus of the Thomas More College of Liberal Arts, leading Catholic artists agreed that liturgical piety is at the foundation of a culture of beauty. When art and architecture—and the culture as a whole—is deeply rooted in the liturgy it serves, liturgical piety is reinforced. Father Thomas Kocik, contributor to the New Liturgical Movement web site and former editor of Antiphon, chaired the discussion. He began the evening by emphasizing this link between the liturgy and culture. “The word ‘culture’ derives from the Latin cultus, meaning what we cherish or worship” said Kocik. [link]

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Book Review: Religious Culture in South India

THE HINDU
By Y. Subbarayalu

INDIA -This book, comprising 19 select essays by R. Champakalaksmi, presents a detailed and sober historical account of the evolution of religious culture in South India, from antiquity to the colonial times. It is the culmination of the author's five decades of diligent studies in the religious and art history of peninsular India. While she provides a panoramic picture of the Indian religious traditions as a whole, the emphasis is on the traditions in South India and their contribution to the pan-Indian structure. RELIGION, TRADITION, AND IDEOLOGY — Pre-colonial South India: R. Champakalakshmi; Oxford University Press, YMCA Library Building, Jai Singh Road, New Delhi-110001. Rs. 1450. [link]

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Philly Museum Present's Rembrandt's Faces of Jesus

THE INQUIRER
By Stephan Salisbury

The Supper at Emmaus (1648) by Rembrandt on loan from Louvre

PENNSYLVANIA - On an otherwise unremarkable day about a decade ago, Lloyd DeWitt found himself poking around in the storage vaults of the Philadelphia Museum of Art. Among the paintings packed away in the darkness was a small head of Christ painted on wood and attributed by a stream of scholars to Rembrandt's workshop, but not to the great 17th-century master himself. The panel is now one of seven similar heads of Christ, drawn from collections worldwide, that are the core of Rembrandt and the Face of Jesus, which opens at the Art Museum on Wednesday for a run through Oct. 30. The show - 22 paintings, 17 drawings, and nine prints - is the first in Philadelphia to feature Rembrandt paintings, and the first Rembrandt exhibition of any kind here since 1932, when the Art Museum hosted a show of prints. Also in this exhibition: the Louvre's newly cleaned The Supper at Emmaus (1648) and The Hundred Guilder Print (c. 1649), so called because of its immense value. [link]

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Christians Outraged Over Art with Jesus & Penis Symbols

RUETERS
By Michaela Cabrera

PHILIPPINES - An art installation that mixes Christ with kitschy symbols of pop culture and includes a crucifix with a movable penis has set off an uproar in the Philippines among conservative Catholics, who say the installations are a mockery of their faith. Mideo Cruz, the artist responsible for the installation -- intended to be a commentary on icon worship -- has been branded a "demon" and bombarded with death threats and hate mail since his work featured in an exhibit in Manila that began June 17. Cruz, a 37-year-old visual and performance artist who has exhibited in such international art centres as New York, Paris and Tokyo, said he had wanted to provoke a reaction but was surprised by the violence of the response. "You can't force people. But I just hope that when we look at something, the process doesn't stop at the surface," he said. Cruz said his installation, "Poleteismo" or "Polytheism," is about the worship of relics and how idolatry evolves through history and modern culture. Cruz's work is part of the group exhibition, KULO runs through August 21.  [link]

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NYC Mayor Defends Atheist Attack on 9/11 Cross

GOTHAMIST
By Christopher Robbins

NEW YORK - Mayor Bloomberg defended the group of atheists that are suing to prevent the September 11 Cross from being installed in the 9/11 memorial and museum at World Trade Center site. The lawsuit, filed by the American Atheists, drew jeers because it alleged that the cross injured atheists by giving them "dyspepsia, symptoms of depression, headaches, anxiety, and mental pain and anguish." [link]

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What is Ramadan to a Christian in America?

AOA NEWS
By Ernest Britton

INDIANA - Many Christians in the USA, and around the world this week are asking, "What is this Ramadan" and "How do I respond to it" with respect? Similar to Easter's relationship to Christianity, Ramadan is the greatest religious observance in the Islamic faith. It is an annual month of fasting (Christians have Lent) and it began on August 1 around the world and will finish on or around August 29, 2011. All Muslims who are physically able are required to fast each day of the entire month, from sunrise to sunset. The evenings are spent enjoying family and community meals, engaging in prayer and spiritual reflection, and reading from the Qu'ran. The official greeting for Ramadan, for non-Muslims and non-Arabic speakers is "Happy Ramadan."

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Nomination's Open for America's Religious Art Prize

AOA NEWS

NEW YORK - Nominations are now open for the 4th annual Alpha & Omega Prize for Professional Artists, sponsored by the Alpha & Omega Project for Contemporary Religious Arts. "Throughout this month, nominations will be solicited from the religious & artistic communities," says Ernest Britton, Project Director. "Unlike typical visual arts awards, the A&O Prize celebrates both artistic excellence and the faith dialogue the artwork inspires." Open to artists of all faiths, past honorees include Kehinde Wiley (2008) for his painting, "Dead Christ"; Helen Zughaib (2009) for "Midnight Prayers"; and last year's honoree was Thomas Blackshear (2010) for his US Postage stamp honoring Mother Teresa. In keeping with past practice, the winner of the annual prize will be announced on November 1st following the meeting of the board in NYC. To make a nomination, please send an email recommendation of 200-words (or less) to aoprize@alphaomegaarts.org by August 31.

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INSPIRE ME! Artist, Francisco Goya

By CHARLIE GOETZ

Plate 34: Por una navaja (For a clasp knife).
A priest tied to a stake grasps a cross in his hands.

On my shelf--frequently taken down--is a slim volume of etchings by Francisco Goya (1746-1828) entitled The Disasters of War. The eighty aquatint plates are unrelenting, nightmarish depictions of the 1808 Spanish insurrection and the consequent conflict with Napoleonic France.

Goya saw first-hand the bloody combat and the related Madrid famine and he did not stint in his re-creation of the savagery of these events. Captions accompany each characterization: "With or without reason"; "And are like wild beasts"; "Bury them and keep quiet."

The Disasters of War constitutes some of the most effective propaganda art ever created. So strong is Goya's case that one forgets that his point of view was obviously not shared by the military and political prosecutors of the suffering Goya portrays. Indeed, publication of the artist's decade-long efforts (1810-1820) did not happen until 1863, 35 years after Goya's death. Clearly, the delay muted the collection's impact which would have been explosive had the pictures appeared during the time of the actual events Goya recorded.

Now, with considerable distance from the occurrences that wrenched the art from the artist, his propaganda is generalized, powerful still, but antiquated, particularly in the overshadowing realities of our own suspensions of civilization, from Hiroshima and Nagasaki to--well, pick one from the array of current conflicts visiting suffering and deprivation on our fellow earth-tenants. (Would that we had a Goya to remind us of our own beastliness.)

The effectiveness of Goya's work notwithstanding, one cannot dismiss the propagandistic elements. And his POV leads to the question, how much other art also has propaganda dimensions? Michelangelo's subjects are famously Biblical: The Creation (Sistine Chapel ceiling); David; The Pieta, et al. Raphael, DaVinci, and Salvador Dali, among many others, have made liberal use of Judaeo-Christian inspiration.

Then there are the Handel oratorios and the Bach Masses. And whether or not the output of so-called Christian rock and pop music-makers can be called art, they seem clearly propagandistic, urging hearers toward the performers' POV. (Also, remember the Soviet-era symphonies, operas, etc., glorifying the industrial and agricultural might of the USSR?)

Are artists from other cultural traditions grinding axes, too? Are the Buddahs and Indian deities in some way the products of quasi- "missionaries"? (Interesting that Islam frowns on images of its prophet. And Judaism's God must not be named.)

Obviously, the creations I'm citing here are different in kind from Constable landscapes, Rembrandt portraits, self and otherwise, and VanGogh's (and O'Keeffe's and Mapplethorpe's) flowers: no axes to grind in these. And some art seems absolutely to contradict the propaganda elements in offerings inspired by religious figures: the Francis Bacon Cardinal portrait, Andres Serrano's photo, "Piss Christ,"of the small plastic crucifix submerged in a glass of Serrano's urine.

What a flap that work engendered among believers! But maybe there is a clue here to a more important truth about Jesus, Mary and Moses (and Buddha) art as well as its antitheses and alternatives. Get beyond the provocative title--and what you know about the medium--of the Serrano work and just look at it; you'll find it quite lovely.

A good friend is an atheist, but, were he an archbishop, he could not be more enthusiastic about churches. His travels abroad have been focused on visiting houses of worship from village chapels to the great cathedrals. He's seen the inside of more churches than the most assiduous adherent to Christianity.

Obviously, his interest, intense as it is, is aesthetic--as is altogether appropriate. To work its transformative magic on our senses and our spirits, art has to be approached on its own terms, no matter its inspiration, no matter its subject. It can only be gelded if it lives in the shadow of what--and who--brought it into being.

A work of art is like the guy (or woman) we meet at a party. Of course the new acquaintance has a job, a function, a work life. But this is a party, play time, and the person with whom we shake hands transcends his/her function as a lawyer, doctor, Indian chief.

For it to have its full impact, an art work has to be greeted that way. The subject doesn't matter. Questions regarding beauty, magnetism, do. As with a potential friend, the important query is does this connection trigger in me a sense of appreciative agreement? Does it, in some way, make me happy?

chasgoetz1@gmail.com

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A&O Meetup in NYC, October 28-30, 2011

ALPHA OMEGA ARTS

"Market in Jerusalem" (1927) By Ludwig Blum

NEW YORK - Once again celebrating creative and religious freedom in the city of our founding in 2008, the Alpha & Omega Project for Contemporary Religious Arts is planning an annual meeting/meetup:

• Tony ward winning musical "The Book of Mormon"
• An exhibition featuring internationally acclaimed painter of Jerusalem, Ludwig Blum (above) at the Museum of Biblical Art
• Visit the National September 11 Memorial & Museum on this, the 10th anniversary of the tragedy
• Guided tour at the Museum at the Eldridge Street Synagogue
• And a DJ Party of the Rubin Museum of Asian Art. You will not want to miss this annual pilgrimage to New York City.

Broadway Shows, Religious Art Collections, Houses of Worship and America's largest Halloween Parade are waiting for you in New York City this coming October.

Contact education@alphaomegaarts.org to get signed up.

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The Generous Gifts of Islamic Art at California Museum

PALISADIAN-POST
By Elizabeth Marcellino

"Sindukht Comes to Sam Bearing Gifts," a folio from the Shahnama of Shah Tahmasp, Iran, Tabriz (1525-35)

CALIFORNIA - Ramadan begins next week [today]. The ninth month of the Islamic calendar is a time for spiritual reflection and fasting, and the fast will be broken with a celebration that includes gifts for children, those in need and loved ones. It is just one of several occasions for gifts in a culture that promotes giving as an essential practice. The Gifts of the Sultan, at the Los Angeles County Museum of Art, uses that custom of generosity as a thematic frame for a notable exhibition of Islamic art. Organizing a show around the notion of gifts was an entirely new idea, as gift-giving has been an area of more interest to anthropologists than art historians, until recently. But Komaroff hoped that such a universally understood concept would emphasize our shared humanity. Gifts of the Sultan: The Arts of Giving at the Islamic Courts will run through September 5 at the Los Angeles County Museum of Art. [link]

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Islam's Most Sacred Site: The Kaaba in Mecca

AOA NEWSSAUDIA ARABIA - The Kaaba is a cube-shaped building in Mecca, Saudi Arabia, and is the most sacred site in Islam. The Qur'an states that the Kaaba was constructed by Abraham and his son Ishmael, after Ishmael had settled in Arabia. The building has a mosque built around it, the Masjid al-Haram. All Muslims around the world face the Kaaba during prayers, no matter where they are. One of the Five Pillars of Islam requires every Muslim to perform the Hajj pilgrimage at least once in his or her lifetime if they are able to do so. Multiple parts of the Hajj require pilgrims to walk seven times around the Kaaba in a counter-clockwise direction (as viewed from above). This circumambulation, the Tawaf, is also performed by pilgrims during the Umrah (lesser pilgrimage). However, the most dramatic times are during the Hajj, when about 6 million (officially) pilgrims simultaneously gather to circle the building on the same day.

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Catholics Eye Charges vs Cultural Arts Center Over 'Blasphemous' Exhibit

GMA NEWS

Artist Mideo Cruz speaks about his art installation ''Poleteismo'',
on exhibition at the Cultural Center of the Philippines in Manila July 29, 2011.

PHILIPPINES - Lay Catholic groups are considering filing charges against the Cultural Center of the Philippines (CCP) in Pasay City over what they called a “sacrilegious and blasphemous" art exhibit. Pro-Life Philippines sent a letter to the CCP and the artists who claimed to be from the University of Santo Tomas (UST) and demanded that the exhibit Kulo be stopped by Thursday. The exhibit “Kulo" will run from July 17 to August 21. [link]

A poster of Jesus Christ with a wooden penis on his face. Courtesy: Huff Post

“Poleteismo” by Mideo Cruz

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Doris Duke Foundation Awards $1 Million for Islamic Art's Building Bridges Program Across USA

WALL STREET JOURNAL
By Associated Press

RHODE ISLAND — Providence is one of five cities across the country that will participate in a pilot program designed to showcase the diversity of Islamic societies through their art. The Providence-based organization FirstWorks will host an artistic and cultural exchange program known as Caravanserai: A place where cultures meet. It is funded by a $1 million grant from the Doris Duke Foundation for Islamic Art's Building Bridges grants program. Officials said the program will focus on music and film from Pakistan. It will feature contemporary vocal and instrumental music and an award-winning Pakistani filmmaker. A public performance is scheduled for November. The other participating cities are Littleton, N.H.; Oswego, N.Y.; West Long Branch, N.J.; and Helena, Mont. [link]

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Video News: London Museum Hosts Contemporary Islamic Art Show

BBC NEWS

UNITED KINGDOM - Some of the finest new art works influenced by the Islamic tradition of design are on show at the Victoria and Albert Museum in London. They are all nominated for the £25,000 Jameel Prize which is given to contemporary works inspired by Islamic art. The winner will be announced in September. Contenders come from countries as diverse as Iran, the US, Iraq and Pakistan. Salma Tuqan, curator of contemporary Middle Eastern art, gave the BBC a tour of the exhibition. [Watch Video]

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Indianapolis Hosts Interfaith Fair, BBQ & Art Exhibit

AOA NEWS
By Ernest Britton

INDIANA - It was a fun day for many in Indianapolis on Saturday as the Center for Interfaith Cooperation hosted its first Community Fair at the Indiana Interchurch Center. The fair which celebrated the culture and traditions of central Indiana's interfaith community, included an International Barbeque competition, Asian, Middle Eastern and American cuisine, the opening of Asra Burney's photo exhibit, America the Beautiful: Through the Eyes of a Pakistani Immigrant, as well as other family and children's activities. With dozens of ethnicity's and faiths participating, this fair was a great opportunity to get familiar with the interfaith world right in the heart of Indiana. Expected to be an annual event, the fair was sponsored by BRIDGE, International Interfaith Initiative, Indiana Interchurch Center, Muslim Alliance of Indiana and OBAT Helpers.

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