NEA Grant Aims to Bridge Religious Differences With Art

THE PORTLAND DAILY SUN
By Casey Conley

OREGON - The city’s Art at Work program has won a $100,000 federal grant designed to use the arts to build community and strengthen neighborhoods. The one-year grant from National Endowment for the Arts will be used to fund a new initiative from Art at Work called “Meeting Place,” which will use “multidisciplinary arts projects” to tackle religious, ethnic and political divisions that exist in some city neighborhoods. Improving diversity within the city’s neighborhood associations is another key aim, said Marty Pottenger, director of Art at Work. [link]

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Idaho Man & Church Join Forces to Have Hindu Statue Removed from Street

THE CORUR D' ALENE PRESS
By Tom HasslingerIDAHO - A Coeur d'Alene man, supported by a church, is circulating a petition to get the statue of Ganesha removed from its spot at the corner of Sixth Street and Sherman Avenue in downtown Coeur d'Alene. Ronald J. Vander Griend is soliciting help from other churches besides Lake City Lighthouse Church, which has already pledged its support, in Vander Griend's attempt to remove the public art piece on grounds that it's offensive. In his interpretation, the symbol of Ganesha is too similar to the swastika, the elephant's trunk depicts a phallic symbol, and the weapons in the statue's hands represent tools used to put fear in Hindu followers to the "gods who control their lives," according to the petition. Some religious scholars said Vander Griend is misinterpreting symbolism associated with Ganesha, including the charge that its trunk is a phallic symbol. It's the second time since the June ribbon cutting that the Hindu god has caused a stir. It's one of 14 pieces dedicated to the city's inaugural ArtCurrents program, an art on loan agreement that places art pieces in public view for a year while the artists and city attempt to sell them. [link]

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A "Blasphemous" Exhibit Opens on Ireland Campus

CORK STUDENT NEWS

"Our Lady" (1992) by Alma Lopez

IRELAND - A ‘blasphemous’ exhibit depicting ‘Our Lady of Guadalupe’ in a floral bikini is to go on show in University College Cork (UCC) tomorrow — and critics have begun attacking the ‘artwork’ before it’s even begun. ‘Our Lady and Other Queer Santas’ is the brainchild of Alma Lopez, a graduate of the University of California at Irvine – a well-known target of criticism from religious Catholic groups, and is being displayed as part of a weekend conference on Hispanic Studies taking place at the university. The exhibit sits very broadly within the context of a larger debate in Irish society about blasphemy itself. A controversial ‘Blasphemy Law’ was passed at the start of this year, and was decried as a retrograde step by many in the Irish media at the time. [link] The display ran June 24 & 25 as part of a conference.

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Govt Consider's Rating System for Artworks in Galleries

THE ADVERTISER | HERALD SUN

"Only woman bleed" (2008) By Adam Cullen

AUSTRALIA - The visual arts industry is appalled by a proposal to apply a classification scheme to artworks exhibited in galleries across the nation. In 2008, the inclusion of [Adam] Cullen's "Only Woman Bleed" in the Blake Prize for Religious Art prompted one judging panel member to quit and another label his work "really offensive". Throughout his career Cullen, who in 2000 won the Archibald Prize for his portrait of actor David Wenham, has courted controversy with his works having been described as "crude" and "puerile" by detractors. The 200-page report, released late last week by the Legal and Constitutional Affairs References Committee, says the defence of "artistic merit" is not enough to allow some controversial works of art to be exhibited, particularly when it comes to those that depict children. [link]

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Ai Weiwei Released: 'Life is never guaranteed to be safe'

GUARDIAN
By Tania Branigan

"Zodiac Heads" By Ai Weiwei,
On display in NYC through July 15

CHINA - Chinese police have released detained artist Ai Weiwei on bail after he confessed to tax evasion and because he suffers from a chronic disease, according to the state-run news agency. Beijing police said they released him on bail "because of his good attitude in confessing his crimes" and because he has a chronic illness, Xinhua news agency reported. No mention was made of his whereabouts. Ai's detention on 3 April sparked an international outcry. He vanished after he was detained by police at Beijing airport. [link]

'Life is never guaranteed to be safe'
~ AI WEIWEI (March 2010)

• Reports: Chinese artist Ai Weiwei freed  (Aljazeera)
• Ai Weiwei Release, "Not Linked" to Chinese PM's visit to Europe (The Guardian)
• Dissident Chinese Artist Is Released (The New York Times)
• Artist Ai Weiwei released, Chinese police say (Christian Science Monitor)

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Moving "Surfing Madonna" Will Take a Miracle, Expert Says

HUFFINGTON POST
By Julie Watson

AP Photo

CALIFORNIA - Assistant conservator Andrew Smith of Los Angeles-based Sculpture Conservation Studio said Wednesday that his agency will recommend officials in the beach city of Encinitas not only keep the artwork [Surfing Madonna] – but adopt a plan to protect it. Smith said after examining the wall Tuesday that it would be pretty much impossible to remove the image because it is attached with a combination of epoxy glue and a metal bolting system. "It's on there very securely, and short of a miracle, it's not coming down," he said. [link]

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A&O Prize (2009) Winning Artist Helen Zughaib Fosters Dialogue

WASHINGTON CITY PAPER
By Mimi Kirk

Detail from Zughaib's "Another Wall."

WASHINGTON DC - The exhibit, at the Jerusalem Fund Gallery, “Breaching the Wall” runs through June 24, features 11 artists’ works [including Helen Zughaib] that respond to the barrier that has divided Israel from the West Bank since construction began in 2002—through sculpture, paintings, photographs, and film. [link]

Helen Zughaib with one of her "Abaya Series" paintings.

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Holy Flame Turns Out to be Hoax in Southern India Temple

PHILSTAR

Pilgrims marching to the Makara Jyothi, or the Makaravillaku

INDIA - The Makara Jyothi, or the Makaravillaku, the so-called divine flame which flickers three times atop Ponnambalamedu Hill opposite the Sabarimala shrine in south India's Kerala, is not a celestial occurrence but a fire lighted by men, rather by the officials of the Kerala State Electricity Board (KSEB). High-level sources in the Board itself have admitted that the Makaravilakku is not a celestial manifestation. It is lit by humans and is a complete hoax. "The light is not magic nor even a natural phenomena," sources said on condition of anonymity. [link]

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ACLU Seeks to Cover Prayer Art

CRANSTON PATCH
By Mark Schieldrop

RHODE ISLAND - The Rhode Island American Civil Liberties Union is seeking a preliminary injunction for the prayer art banner to be removed until a final outcome in their April civil rights case filed on behalf of a student. The controversial art banner has been the subject of heated debate since the ACLU said it planned to file a lawsuit after the school district declined to voluntarily remove it. The prayer themed banner, one of 21 different student art banners in the auditorium, has hung on the wall for almost 50 years.

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Scottish Art: 1650-2010, Works from the City's Methodist Art Collection

THE LIST

"Desposition" (1947) By Graham Sutherland

SCOTLAND - The King James Bible has given the English language more phrases than Shakespeare (including such not-at-all clichés as 'feet of clay' and 'reap the whirlwind') and it's 400 years old this month. To wish the good book a happy birthday, Edinburgh Uni's New College is showing paintings from the Methodist Art Collection, including pieces by Graham Sutherland (above), Frink, Rouault and Eric Gill, along with Scottish artists John Bellany, John Byrne, Paul Martin, Craigie Aitchison, Robert Powell and Ken Currie.

This selection of works of modern religious art includes work by a number of well-known artists including Scottish greats Craigie Aitchison, John Bellany, Peter Howson, Ken Currie and John Byrne as well as Graham Sutherland and Elisabeth Frink. These paintings will be set alongside a display of a rare first edition of the 1611 King James Version of the Bible in the 400th year of its publication. ‘This is a brilliant opportunity to view some of our most inspired and inspirational artworks,’ says Monique Sliedrecht, one of the curators of the exhibition. ‘The chance to see pieces responding to what has been dubbed “the greatest story ever told” alongside a rare first edition of the King James Version of the Bible, which has done so much to affect the nature of our society, is too good to miss. Everyone who visits the exhibition will learn much and will, I am certain, go away from the exhibition hugely stimulated by what they will see.’

New College, University of Edinburgh, until Sat 11 Jun. [link]

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Moscow Spotlights Russia's Sacred Roots in Religious Art Show

RUETERS
By Nastassia Astrasheuskaya

Visitor explores religious artworks on display

RUSSIA - Russia opened an unprecedented exhibit of religious art pulled from across the country and abroad at Moscow’s Tretyakov Gallery on Thursday, in a show of Kremlin support for an Orthodox Church growing more powerful since the fall of Communism. The state-sponsored exhibit “Holy Rus” displays art works from the Old Eastern Slavonic state, which existed in the middle ages and united the lands of modern Belarus, Ukraine and the European part of Russia, with its capital in Kiev. Russia inaugurated a new holiday last year to mark its adoption of Christianity in 988 by the leader of the Kievan Rus Prince Vladimir more than 1,000 years ago. “It isn’t the political state called Russia, whose history we are telling here, it’s the historic period of ‘Rus’ we are showing,” Orthodox church representative Father Nikolai Kim said. [link]

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Punk Band Returns Govt Backed Loan Amid Controversy

CANADIAN BROADCASTING CORPORATION

CANADA - Vancouver punk band Living with Lions will return a loan from music agency FACTOR and withdraw its current album that sparked controversy with its artwork. The band and its label, Black Box, announced on Tuesday that they would voluntarily return a $13,248 loan from the Foundation Assisting Canadian Talent on Recordings (FACTOR) to produce its latest album. FACTOR supports the domestic music industry by distributing funding from Canadian Heritage and radio broadcasters. The band's latest album, entitled Holy Shit: The Poo Testament and released on May 17, features album artwork that emulates the look of a faded Bible and portrays Jesus as excrement. [link]

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Major Islamic Art Exhibit Hampered by Russia's Dispute with US Jewish Group

THE LOS ANGELES TIMES
By Mike Boehm

CALIFORNIA - The Los Angeles County Museum of Art is caught in a dispute between Russian authorities and Chabad, a prominent international Jewish group based in New York City. The suit originated in Los Angeles in 2004 could prevent or delay the loan of nearly one-sixth of a major exhibition on Islamic art set to open at LACMA on June 5.
Museum spokeswoman Barbara Pflaumer said Tuesday that she could not comment on LACMA's efforts to assuage the Russians in hopes of securing the artworks; the situation "is incredibly fragile and we are doing our very best not to make waves," she said, adding that "Gifts of the Sultan: The Arts of Giving at the Islamic Courts," will take place with or without the pieces from Russia. The Russian cultural ban already has aborted one U.S. museum exhibition and forced the indefinite postponement of another. [link]

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Camping Says Invisible Judgment Day Did Come on May 21

TIME
By Megah Gibson

CALIFORNIA - After a few days of silence — as thousands reveled in the fact that they hadn't been Raptured on Saturday — Judgment Day-calculator Harold Camping figured out a way to spin his (second!) failed prediction: it actually did happen, you just didn't see it. The 89-year-old Christian radio station owner explained on Monday night, during a Family Radio station broadcast, that rather than a physical Rapture taking place, the judgment was spiritual. But don't worry; the real end of the world is still ahead. [link]

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Apocolypse Prophet Apologizes for Rapture, Sort of..

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Jesus-Turd Album Art Ignites Canadian Political Firestorm

GAWKER
By Seth Abramovitch

Canadian music CD cover

CANADA - This etching of Jesus Christ, re-imagined as a steaming, fly-ridden turd can be found inside the CD packaging for Vancouver punk rockers Living with Lions's brand new release, Holy Shit, whose cover resembles a leather-bound bible. The problem lies with the Canadian government logo located on the back. Canada's Conservative majority government was officially sworn in last Wednesday. First order of business? [link]

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Judgment Day Preacher's 1st Interview

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ART & APOCALYPSE

ARTNET
By Eleanor Heartney

"How this all Ends" (2008) By Matthew Ritchie

NEW YORK - Travelers driving into New York City on the Major Deegan Expressway may notice a huge billboard with the thundering words "JUDGMENT DAY May 21, 2011." And you can find it in contemporary art. For Outsider Artists, Armageddon seems like a natural subject. We must mention Matthew Ritchie whose ongoing narrative is based loosely on John Milton’s epic Paradise Lost. Divided into chapters featuring color-coded characters, these incredibly complex abstract works center around proliferating stories of seven groups of seven characters who are also metaphysical principles or laws of physics. Ritchie maintains that the "ekpyrotic" theory of the cosmos, which holds that the universe came about from the collision of two "branes" (the fundamental units of string theory), is analogous to the epic battle of Paradise Lost, while Milton’s description of Hell as “darkness visible” is another name for what contemporary physics calls "dark matter." This conflict inspires his own work, as can be seen in a painting appropriately titled How This Ends (2008). [link]

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The Apocalypse For Dummies (6pm Today)

NATIONAL CATHOLIC REGISTER
By Pat Archbold

Harold Camping, Radio Evangelist and May 21 Prophet

WORLD NEWS - Jesus said no one, and I am confident this includes Harold Camping, knows the day. Beyond that, we need to read the signs of the times. You don’t need to be a ‘bible scholar’, like Camping (ahem), to know when the end approaches. God gave us these signs to look for, so we will know when the end is near. There is one prophecy I know will come true. On May 22, 2011, Harold Camping will have some ‘splainin to do.[link]

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Will Christ Return Tomorrow, May 21? (1 day left)

ATLANTA JOURNAL-CONSTITUTION
By Sheila Poole

Bus with Billboard Sign about Judegment Day

GEORGIA -You may want to recheck your to-do list for May 21. That’s when, according to some predictions, Jesus will return.
Last year, WeCanKnow.com, a Christian-based website in North Carolina, selected metro Atlanta as the site for dozens of billboards proclaiming Christ’s imminent return and the Rapture of Christian believers. In Nashville, similar billboards were paid for by Harold Camping, a Christian author and radio broadcaster in California, who is pushing the idea that May 21 is the date. He mistakenly predicted the same series of events in 1994. He bases that date on an analysis of Scripture. With so many people skeptical about the date for various reasons, what’s behind the choice of May 21? Tom Evans, media representative for Family Stations Inc., of which Camping is president and general manager, said, “All the signs that Jesus warned of in the Bible that would precede his return have taken place, and are evident in our world. For example, the re-establishment of the nation of Israel; the complete decay of the church; the dismal state of our world; and the moral breakdown of all of society.” The belief holds that not only will the Rapture occur next Saturday, but the end of the world will occur on Oct. 21. [link]

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