Controversial Indian Painter is Subject of New Documentary

HINDUSTAN TIMES
By Priyanka Jain

BOLLYWOOD - Ketan Mehta’s ambitious project Rang Rasiya has been in the cans for almost a year and a half. However, after receiving accolades at the London Indian Film Festival, the biopic based on controversial painter Raja Ravi Varma, will be finally be released this September. Ketan says, “The film charts Raja Ravi Varma’s life, from his early days under the patronage of a king in Kerala to his time in British Bombay in the late 1800s, where he makes his fortune. Here, he gives birth to Indian modern art and helps inspire the freedom movement and Indian cinema with his depictions, which bring to life Hindu Gods and Goddesses.” [link]

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A&O Prize for Young Artists Seeking Central Indiana Talent

AOA NEWS

INDIANA - The Indiana Interchurch Center will name its first central Indiana high school student recipient of the Alpha & Omega Prize for Young Artists on November 12, 2011, but first they are spreading the word to congregations, schools and arts organizations to help identify the best in the region's multi-faith talent.

The A&O Prize, a $750 scholarship for the winners of an interfaith arts competition is part of the 16th annual Spirit & Place Festival and run collaboratively by Indiana Interchurch Center, the Center for Interfaith Cooperation and Alpha & Omega Project for Contemporary Religious Arts. It gives high school students the opportunity to explore inter-religious themes through visual art.

This first year’s exhibition & competition title, Beyond Dead: A Student Response will showcase the art work from central Indiana high school students, both those attending private and public schools. The title, Beyond Dead was selected in response to the Spirit & Place Festival's 2011 theme, The Body.

Mel Jolliff, executive director of Indiana Interchurch Center formed this partnership to harness the power of the arts to connect Indiana communities of faith and to respond to the social needs of Indiana youth.

“Young people today, of all faiths, are wrestling with far more complex issues than the youth of my day, and we wanted to provide a visual arts forum for them to express their feelings through both art and dialogue. Jolliff said. “Indiana Interchurch Center wants to represent the diversity of all faith traditions in central Indiana, and this is another important opportunity to build that interfaith connection.”

Ernest Britton, director of the Alpha & Omega Project for Contemporary Religious Arts, said the A&O Prize is an expression of the deep and abiding relationship between the visual arts and religious beliefs.

“We are seeking young people who will create wonderful artworks so that we all gain deeper insights into the ideas and issues that students contemplate as they negotiate their complex worlds,” he said. “The A&O Prize demonstrates the importance of having a belief system and of a visual arts education to express that faith.”

Entry forms and more details for the fine arts competition are available onsite at the Indiana Interchurch Center's main office at 1000 West 42nd Street, Indianapolis or online at http://www.alphaomegaarts.org/. Space at the IIC gallery is limited so registrations are currently being accepted for all entries at aoprize@alphaomegaarts.org or 317-755-8400. The exhibit will run from November 1 through December 31, 2011.

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Church Tells Artist to Remove Mural of Christ

The Philadelphia Inquirer
By David O'ReillyPENNSYLVANIA - Luminous and translucent, commanding earth and sky, the risen Christ is too vast to be contained within the borders of artist Lothar Speer's mural. When he finished his headless Jesus in 1995, Speer believed his "ethereal vision" would reside "for a long, long time" in Bustleton's Calvary Evangelical Lutheran Church. After Calvary Lutheran dissolved in the fall due to dwindling membership, a Ukrainian Baptist congregation bought the church. Early this month, the leadership of First Ukrainian Evangelical Baptist Church informed him that it wanted the painting gone.[link]

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San Diego's "Space 4Arts First Open-Call Includes "Must Sees"

BLOGCRITIC
By Kevin FreitasCALIFORNIA - [A] must-see work is entitled Dewdropic by Lea Anderson. It's a stunning work, one of many that can be found on her website. Dewdropic is impressive for its size (a large oval) and uncanny ability to rest passively on the wall (it’s not the first piece your drawn to in the show) until you come closer. I’m not much for artist statements but Anderson’s, like her work, is succinct yet elusive enough to respect the viewer’s intelligence and imagination. “Through my creations, I convey the heightened sense of inspiration and wonder one feels when encountering the beauty and complexity of the natural world. (See detail below) [link]

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Art Review: "Lilith" by Siona Benjamin | NYC

JEWISH PRESS
By Richard McBeeNEW YORK - Siona Benjamin's exhibition Finding Home: The Art of Siona Benjamin is simply beautiful. Set in the spacious lobby gallery of the JCC Manhattan, it allows for a peaceful contemplation of this complex artist's meditations on biblical women, war, exoticism and contemporary society. The painted walls range from soft ochre to a pale turquoise, setting off Benjamin's palette to maximum effect, each work sensuously vibrating with the atmosphere of Benjamin's native Mumbai, India. (Above) "Finding Home #102 'Lilith' (Fereshteh)" 2008. The exhibit will run through July 30. [link]

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Vandal Sprays Paint on Poussin at London's Natl Gallery

THE GUARDIAN
By Cherry WilsonUNITED KINGDOM - A 17th-century painting by Nicolas Poussin was vandalised at the National Gallery in London after a 57-year-old man reportedly sprayed it with red paint before being arrested by police (above). The Adoration of the Golden Calf, completed by the French classicist in 1634, along with a smaller painting on the adjacent wall in the Poussin Room, was attacked at around 5pm. The oil-on-canvas painting depicts the worshipping of a calf by the Israelites during the absence of Moses as he climbed Mount Sinai to receive the tablets of the Ten Commandments(See unaltered below).[link]

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Christian Art Gallery Selected to Assist in Pope's Art Exhibit

AOA NEWS

PENNSYLVANIA - Philadelphia's White Stone Gallery was selected to assist in the multi-denominational exhibit, Art & Faith, for Pope Benedict XVI's visit to Madrid, Spain. Contemporary artists from around the world will be featured in this historic exhibit for World Youth Day. For the first time in Europe, contemporary artists from different countries are gathered together to exhibit art influenced by Christian faith. The exhibit is scheduled for August 9-26, 2011 at the Fundación Pons headquarters. White Stone Gallery, a leading gallery in contemporary Christian art is writing an introduction for the exhibit catalog as well as providing a selection of artwork for the show. Photo: Reaching by Ruth Naomi Floyd. [link]

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