Archive for the 'Hinduism' Category
Many works by Frida Kahlo (Was she a Jewish artist? See here & here) may be fakes, according to this AP story.
Frank Gehry — no doubt he is Jewish — won’t be designing Atlantic Yards in Brooklyn, the Nets new home, Slate reports. According to Witold Rybczynski, that’s good news.
Forget Al-Andalus, Andalus publishing is bringing Israelis and Arabs together by translating Arabic books into Hebrew. Or one hopes this will further bring the two parties together…
“One of the greatest motifs in religious art, the symbolism embodied in the dance of Shiva has been both a challenge and/or a source of utter confusion when treated thematically in dance.” So begins a great piece in The Hindu by Leela Venkataraman.
I was interviewed by Aaron Roller of the Mima’amakim journal on a variety of topics related to art and faith. The interview is posted here, and it addresses (at least in part) mostly Judaism, but also Christianity, Islam, Buddhism, Hinduism, and LDS. (The photo, which Aaron selected without consulting me, is from my trip to South Africa a couple of years ago, but maybe it’s appropriate because the thing over my right shoulder looks like a cross.)
I am very grateful to Rick Holton (Twitter/site) for bringing Patricia Cohen’s NY Times article “Yale Press Bans Images of Muhammad in New Book” to my attention.
Cohen starts with an understanding of why Yale UP decided not to reprint the notorious Danish cartoons in Jytte Klausen’s book “The Cartoons That Shook the World.” But the article approaches the topic with a simplistic approach to the issues. For example, claiming that Muslims throughout the world saw the cartoons as “blasphemous” without defining the nature of the blasphemy (or even what blasphemy means in the context of the Koran), is not very useful. Also, applauding Yale for diligently consulting “two dozen authorities, including diplomats and experts on Islam and counterterrorism” (who said [surprise!] that the cartoons should be excluded) without at least wondering aloud why someone like Oleg Grabar was not included, immediately places the story in the context of international affairs rather than art.
There is some great comic relief in the article when Reza Aslan (Twitter) reminds everyone that it’s “an academic book for an academic audience by an academic press … There is no chance of this book having a global audience, let alone causing a global outcry … It’s not just academic cowardice, it is just silly and unnecessary.”
As I’ve said many times before, I’m not sure what the “blasphemy” is here. Cohen is right to point out that
Although many Muslims believe the Koran prohibits images of the prophet, Muhammad has been depicted through the centuries in both Islamic and Western art without inciting disturbances.
But I’d be very interested to hear more insight into whether those realistic traditions of Muhammad representation are largely in the Persian miniature style, as opposed to other traditions in Islamic art. I also have yet to hear any imams or other Islamic legal scholars weigh in on what exactly a representation of the Prophet entails. Does idolatry exclusively mean a realistic depiction, or can a cartoon constitute representation? What of a Cubist Muhammad (as in the rough image below, with thanks to this post) or a Fauvist Aisha?
It would surprise me if many imams had thought this through. Of course, that is hardly an indictment of their legal imagination, as studying art history is hardly a prerequisite to becoming a scholar of imam. When I asked several rabbis at a major Israeli yeshiva whether Cubist human figures or Fauvist celestial bodies violated the second commandment, I got blank stares (sort of like this joke, second-to-last blockquote on the page).
It remains my hope that a conference might be convened of Islamic legal and religious scholars, in which presentations would be made on what exactly the Koran permits for artists and what it forbids. This would be a great opportunity also to examine differences between Jewish, Christian, and Islamic interpretations of the Second Commandment, and also to include Buddhist and Hindu leaders, some of whom have told me that they resent the fact that their art is considered idolatrous and primitive.
Until then, we will continue to see more and more nonsense like this story.
Zoe Murdock is author of Torn by God: A Family’s Struggle with Polygamy (my review here). I first got in touch with Zoe on Twitter (follow her here). She mentions a lot of her bio and her Mormon upbringing in her answers that follow, so I won’t reproduce them here.
MW: Most of my readers know very little about Mormonism and have never been to Utah. What do you think are some of the misconceptions about Mormonism that should be cleared up from the start?
ZM: My first-hand knowledge of Mormonism is based on my childhood experience. I pretty much stopped attending church when I left home at 19. However, I did a fair amount of research while I was writing my novel, and I have read and thought a great deal about the LDS Church, and its various fundamentalist off-shoots, in recent years.
When I see Mormons represented in the media, or in film, or in programs like HBO’s Big Love, I recognize the image and the storyline, but it is almost always a limited and stereotypical view. The problem arises because Mormons are generally portrayed in the context of their past. Mormons today are a diverse group of individuals, much more so than in the past. I recently read that today only 12 percent of Mormons live in Utah, and less than half live in the United States. My novel, Torn by God: A Family’s Struggle with Polygamy takes place in the late 50s. Utah was much more homogeneous at that time, especially in a small town like the one I grew up in where very few people were non-Mormon.
I think the reason these stereotypes persist is because when it comes to the LDS Church, the past is much more interesting than the present, especially for today’s media which always looks for something titillating or controversial. The Church has been trying to move away from some of its more controversial originating doctrine. They have tried to play down the media’s incessant tendency to draw a connection between the mainstream Church and off-shoot groups such as the FLDS, but they can’t seem to escape the past. I think I know why. What we have is a modern day church trying to evolve. The problem is, they are trying to evolve away from doctrine (for example, polygamy) that were originally represented as coming directly from God. Polygamy was presented as an essential practice if a man was to reach the highest degree of heaven (in Mormon lingo, the Celestial Kingdom). Here’s a link to a site that covers Joseph Smith’s revelations regarding Celestial Marriageand polygamy.
I’ve heard they don’t talk about polygamy in Mormon Sacrament Meeting and Sunday School anymore. In fact, I’ve talked to a number of past members who became angry and disenchanted when they found out they’d been lied to about such things. For example, some grew up thinking that Joseph Smith had only one wife, Emma.
When I was a child, we knew all about polygamy. We knew it was practiced in the past, and we knew it would be practiced in the next life. But we also knew it was grounds for excommunication (and against the law) if you practiced it in this life. It was kind of an odd concept because we lived around people who practiced polygamy: the main enclave of the FLDS (Warren Jeffs’ group) was just up the road. We saw the FLDS kids as weirdos, and yet they represented our past and our future, so in that sense we were weirdos too. Even among good Church members, there seems to be some confusion as to what to believe, but most of them accept and live according to what the current prophet tells them. This issue of doctrine changing in the Mormon Church is central to my novel; the father, Michael, represents a member of the church awash in the confusion caused by the Church’s attempt to change.
If the LDS Church ever does overcome its polygamist past, they may become just another religion. If so, the Media may well lose interest in covering them to the extent that they now do. But then, there’s always their stand on homosexuality, which is bound to keep them in the news for some time.
Continue reading ‘Interview: Zoe Murdock, LDS, polygamy, religious fiction writing’
I “met” Clarke Scott (monk name Loden Jinpa, pictured above with HH Dalai Lama) on Twitter (follow him here). According to his website, Scott is a graduate student in philosophy at the University of Tasmania (Australia). His research areas include Madhyamaka philosophy, personal identity, epistemology, and philosophy of mind. Scott is a Buddhist monk ordained in the Tibetan tradition, and he has been studying with the Tibetan lama Geshe Thubten Loden at The Tibetan Buddhist Society meditation center in Melbourne Australia since 1995. Scott discussed the term “idolatry,” the intersection of new media and Buddhism, and the religious nature of Buddhist art.
MW: What does it mean to be a Buddhist monk ordained in the Tibetan tradition?
CS: It means to hold the 253 vows of a fully-ordained Buddhist monk. It means to be part of the oldest monastic tradition in the world. One that is very much alive and practiced to this very day. It means to take seriously the claims of the Buddha but to investigate these claims via experience and meditation, and just like in science, these experiments must be repeatable by any individual that performs the same meditations.
Therefore, I believe Buddhism is not simply a religious doctrine founded by a long-dead ancient culture with little connection to contemporary life. I would claim it is the investigation and articulation of natural laws. I would also suggest that at its core it is not mysticism, but rather empirical data garnered through investigation into such things as the nature of mind.
MW: What are some of the unique aspects of being a Buddhist in Australia?
CS: Generally speaking Australia is a very open country. Its people are open minded and respectful of other traditions, as Australia was born out of immigration.
So, I don’t think there is anything unique about being Buddhist in Australia. Although, teaching kangaroos to meditate has worked out to be very difficult.
MW: I see that you are very active on a variety of social media sites. Many Americans no doubt think of technology as antithetical to Buddhism. What’s wrong with that way of thinking?
CS: Anyone who thinks that Buddhism and technology cannot co-exist does not understand Buddhism. Technology is merely a tool for communication, improving the lives of millions of people. Who would be against that? The Buddha taught that all living beings have a natural disposition to seek happiness and the wish to avoid even the slightest suffering. Not only that, he said we also have the right to be happy. It is not selfish to want happiness. Unfortunately we sometimes employ erroneous methods thinking that happiness will be found in things and events. In this sense technology can sometimes get in the way of spiritual development, but it is not inherently like that — we make it like that.
MW: Many pastors, imams, and rabbis refer to Buddhist sculptures as idolatry in their sermons. Are they right in assuming that sculptures of Buddha are worshiped? How do you respond to that use of the term “idolatry”?
CS: With all due respect, it seems to me to be the other way round. In fact, the Buddha himself warned his followers not to take his words literally, simply out of mere respect, but to analyze what he had to say, to test his words, to investigate them for oneself. Even then if his experience does not makes yours, it is up to you whether you accept or reject his teachings.
Continue reading ‘Interview: Clarke Scott (Loden Jinpa), Buddhist monk’
Dresden is delisted. The Cleveland Museum of Art has Hindus singing its praises. An original Gutenberg bible goes on display in the Jersey City Heights (and the BL has put the world’s “oldest bible” online). Now that Michael Jackson has passed, there is still Orlan, and here’s a sort-of Catholic angle on her “art.” A profile of Mormon Artist magazine. Artists are trying to save the world (Wilde be damned). Wendy Rosenfield continues to promote Twitter. And Malaysia: the new fashion center of (you guessed) “Islamizing clothes.”
The abhaya mudra gesture from Buddhist and Hindu art figures prominently in William Safire’s “On Language” column, though Buddhist scroll-painting techniques are elsewhere facing threats from modernity.
“Art museums have two central roles they can serve when the world is going to hell in a handbasket,” is just one of the lovely aspects of this great piece on museums and edginess/self-censorship.
MFA Boston gets to a keep a Kokoschka (I grew up loving), which a court said had outlived the statute of limitations, and might have been “legitimately” acquired by the Nazis. (There is also other good news in the Mass. art world.)
First porn literature festivals, and now asking for more sex in the arts? The eroticism of UK-based arts coverage. This reminds me of what may art teacher says is the test of good painting: something you’d want to take to bed with you.
An attempt to explaining what’s the big deal about the Mona Lisa, without once invoking the code.
I recently posted the following question on LinkedIn: “Boston College recently introduced religious art into its classrooms. To what extent should religious art be allowed in the workplace? Do you have religious art in your office/workspace? If so, what kind? Do you support its presence at work, or is it offensive?”
Here’s a great response which I received from Steve Mattero (LinkedIn profile), president at Dezine Line Screen Printing, Embroidery and Promotional Products. Steve gave me permission to post his answers and to edit them for style.
This may get fun, but let’s go anyway. The short answer is whose business is it, who signs the checks, etc. It is a free country, and this isn’t regulated in a private business, but you do need discernment.
I think if the art is from a classic artist, like a realist painter depicting a famous religious scene, that is fine. The history of our nation is Judeo-Christian, so anything related to the bible should be fine. Anything that is derogatory in nature toward any religion is out. Also, guidelines should be established about what would be offensive to some. The art in the office will be a reflection of the business. I have the Ten Commandments on my wall, in my office. If people are Christian, they say “Good to see that,” if not they may write me off as a Holy Roller, but as long as the prices are right, it’s not an issue.
In a generic environment the art should be tasteful, but not radical. A picture of Jesus beaten and bloody on the cross may be fine for a pastor’s office, not a business hallway. Some may not want a picture of Jesus because the bible doesn’t have a picture of Him, and it says not to make any “graven” image of Him. I don’t have a problem so much, some may.
Other religious art that is done well should be acceptable. Mormons have a statue of Cain and Abel in their town square. I don’t agree with them, but I would be fine with it from an art standpoint if it was good. I may not want a picture of anything from an Eastern religion. Even if it is wrong to stereotype, people do. ( I didn’t even like the cover of “Dark Horse” by George Harrison because he had this blue guy from his Hare Krishna faith. That’s just me.)
[Steve later clarified: “I believe it is a statue of Cain, and his sacrifice to God. The significance of this is that they seem to endorse the offering that God found unacceptable, since no blood was involved. I don’t support it theologically, but I can appreciate art if it is good. I always kid with my secretary, when during Christmas we play Josh Groban’s “Noel,” and I cringe when the song Ave Maria comes on. I start commenting that I don’t pray to Mary, but it’s a great song, well written and performed.
You can’t have equal time or space for all of the religions — you would need a big office — but much of the classic artwork is Judeo-Christian in nature because that was the prominent religion in their day. Michelangelo’s statute of David, van Gogh’s “Still Life with Open Bible,” and Rembrandt’s “Return of the Prodigal Son” all reflect where we were as a society at the time. Now we have so many isms I don’t think a contemporary work would be safe in the same way. “Stand-off at Waco” or “Jim Jones Kool-Aid” art, ya know, may be a reach.
I don’t know if the ACLU is a visitor at your place, if that is the case, stick to Ansel Adams or Kinkade.
Thanks so much Steve for letting me post this. Responses are welcome, as always, and I will post other replies I received if those who posted them give their permission.
I first connected with Amit Puri on LinkedIn. According to Puri’s LinkedIn page, Sai Objet d’Art (which doesn’t seem to have a website) “has been established primarily to inculcate a sense of pride by becoming multifaceted company with an aim for promotion of traditional products, artifacts, handicrafts such as Madubani Paintings, Marble Art pieces, Brassware, Wooden Artifacts etc. which are appreciated all over the world.” I asked Puri about religious art in India, about his company, and about censorship in India. I haven’t edited his answers for grammar, though I have occasionally copy edited for spelling. To connect with him, see his LinkedIn page here.
MW: How and when did you first become involved in the arts?
AP: I am associated with the art since 2003.
MW: What is Sai Objet d ‘Art?
AP: It’s my company’s name. I own this company here in India and it is registered in this name in India for business.
MW: What is tribal art in your mind, and how, if at all, does it overlap with religious art?
AP: Tribal art is the one which is practiced by a tribe in a traditional manner and in no way it overlaps the religious art. Rather traditional art is kith and kin of religious art itself.
MW: Do you recognize a different in your work between art and kitsch?
AP: The art we practice and deal are very lively and they are part of our society and they are the one which reflects the history and culture. These exist here in our part of the country for centuries together but still people are practicing it because these are lively, interesting and depict part of culture and society. This art is a rich gift and inherited from our ancestors and the society. It reflects the knowledge and expression of the past and present traditions and form an integral part of our society and culture.
These are followed by the people because one has to safeguard the gift in good hands for future generations to come and let them feel how enriched our past was and how different we are from rest of the world in this field.
MW: What are some of your favorite pieces that have come through Sai Objet d ‘Art?
AP: Tribal arts from Bastar in the form of Dhokra art, Iron craft and Tumba shilp.
MW: How important is religious or sacred art in Indian culture?
AP: It’s very important for us as things are always connected through one or the other form where religion is always there. Art is also the one way of pray to god. Nothing begins here without God. It’s an integral part of culture and art.
MW: What do you think are some of the most important aspects of Indian art of which Americans are unaware?
AP: The association of art and religion is close knit form in general in our country’s tradition. I feel that it’s really important to understand the beginning of Art. It started from the prayers and ways, and things which are integral part of that time and later on they came to be known as art form in one way or the other. You talk about any dance form of art that started with prayer and related and was related to the religion which was carried forward as a tradition. Any creation which inspired was linked to the living things and nature. The relation with living is always important here. The customs and rituals have given birth to different arts and their forms. Our art is mainly related to human being and the environment.
MW: M F Husain’s work has met recent opposition in India, to say the least. What is your feeling about his art? How open is the Indian public to contemporary art?
AP: M F Husain’s work as an artist I appreciate but not at the values and sentiments of the people. He cannot play with the beliefs and customs of people here. He no one to interfere in the religious matter here. He is from different religion [MW: Husain comes from a Muslim family] and cannot understand the belongingness to the culture and God.
Indian’s are very open to contemporary art, they feel that its art of the present thinking and time. They are people who are very famous in this art and people are adapting to new concepts and developing to the idea with pace of time. The people here in India always ready for new things but not at the cost of their base structure, but with the adoption of new idea with the presence of mind and respect of old values and customs. We are living in very open society that you can see from the progress India is doing in any field and anywhere in world.
According to her website, Salma Arastu was born in Rajasthan, India, into the Sindhi and Hindu tradition, but later embraced Islam through her marriage. She has been painting for more than 30 years and earned a fine arts degree from Maharaja Sayajirao University in Baroda, India in 1974. Her native culture and residence in Iran and Kuwait influenced her “continuous and lyrical line.” She move to the United States, where she still lives, in 1987. Please also see her site for Islamic greeting cards.
MW: Are you comfortable being identified as a religious or spiritual artist? What do the terms mean to you?
SA: I would rather be known as spiritual artist and not religious because in my opinion, spirituality is the essence of any religion. Religion, if not understood correctly, could create differences, spirituality brings together.
MW: Your Islamic greeting cards take a style that involves painstaking detail and a strong emphasis on materials and convert them to digital images. How do you ensure that nothing gets lost in translation?
SA: The technology today is wonderful. Scanners, digital cameras and Photoshop… all this is amazing! I do not have any problems at all in translation. I love doing detailed work as it is kind of a meditation for me. It releases the stress.
MW: In the Allah Tiles series, to what extent is it the artist’s responsibility to ensure that those who purchase series with God’s name treat the tiles respectfully?
SA: I trust the person who is purchasing the tiles to give due respect to Allah’s name. On my part, I do advise if asked, about the display possibilities. If there would be any malicious and disrespectful use and display of the tiles I have the artist’s copyright laws to protect me. So far there has been no occasion for me to invoke those laws.
MW: You write on your site that the tiles were responses to global doubt and disbelief toward Islam. Do you feel that the series helped? Is it dangerous as an artist to measure your success in activist terms? Continue reading ‘INTERVIEW: Salma Arastu, designer & artist’
Despite the economic woes, this piece cost $900. Generally, religious art just suffers from being ignored, but this kolam somehow became “unapproved modifications.” more.
Recovered: Caravaggio’s Kiss of Judas. more.
A German museum asks what traces Jewish artists have left in 19th and 20th centuries. more.
A show in California studies the art of “one of the world’s oldest yet least known religions,” Jainism. more/images.
Move over Sufism; this artist is creating Islamic-art surfism, a.k.a. “Inshallah surfboards.” more/YouTube.
Rosa Martinez:
“A reporter recently asked Anish how it was that he could be Hindu and Jewish and a practitioner of Buddhist meditation, and at the same time have this ‘Islamic’ mirror installed inside a Christian convent — he wanted to know what is coming out of all this. Anish said: ‘Art.’” more.
“Religious Arts of Asia” at Art Gallery of Greater Victoria. more.
Folk art collector Dorothea Rabkin (Jewish father, fled the Nazis) has died at 87. more.
Qatar’s new Islamic art museum: a mixed bag (e.g. no daylight), reports the IHT. more.
America Magazine has announced the winner of its essay contest (see here), which had the topic:
At a time when atheism and religious belief have become prominent issues of discussion and debate in both our nation and our church, the editors chose as the general theme: “A Case for God.”
Clearly my essay didn’t win, but I include it below:
An Artful Case for God
A successful case for God must begin with God’s role as the creator rather than an outdated disciplinarian. If faith is to have any chance in the modern era it must convince young people, the unaffiliated, and atheists alike that it is still relevant in an age of iPods, blogs, sophisticated video games, alternate cyber-realities, and high definition television. One reason many people are not voting for God with their feet and filling church pews is because they see so much optimism, potential, and ingenuity in their technology and media and so much responsibility and antiquated repression in religion. Many religious institutions are increasingly turning to technology to disseminate their messages, but they are using new media to preach old messages and are effectively crossing their fingers and hoping an interested audience miraculously materializes and keeps coming back just because there are JPEGs, megabytes, and podcasts involved. God could surely help that square peg find its way into that circular hole, but we should not rely on Him to intervene when we are quite capable of developing a fresh strategy that can repair it ourselves.
Continue reading ‘My Submission to America’s Essay Contest: “An Artful Case for God”’
My article about why I study and write about religious art appears in World Jewish Digest.
Rules India’s Supreme Court. Story: NY Times. Husain, whose painting shows “a nude goddess in the shape of India,” says, “This is not a victory for me only, but one for the Indian contemporary-art movement.”
“Now it’s been given a new perception,” says R. Jeganathan, whose work appears in “Sacred Structures: An Exhibition of Artistic Renditions of Indian Temple Architecture in Malaysia.”
Iconia solicited some quotes from Rush Vizette, who created “Bloody Madonna” (see here). NOTE: I have cleaned up the grammar and spelling a bit (English is not Vizette’s native language), but I have left some other parts where I did not feel comfortable editing for fear of changing the meaning. Both images are courtesy of Vizette.
MW: A lot of religious people will respond to this work by being offended. What would you say to them to assure them you did not intend to be offensive?
RV: When I painted “Bloody Madonna” I did not want to hold back the essence of what makes Madonna. I think purely on my response toward her attitude, her religious Catholic background, and how she rebelled against it. The love/hate relationship with herself and her religion throughout her life. I simply translated that mean into my language. Whether that is offensive or not depends on each individual’s view. I certainly do not think it offensive. This work is not designed to do that.
MW: The bible often called for shedding both human and animal blood, and indeed cows were often sacrificed. How, if at all, does that figure into your work?
RV: Yes, perhaps that sacrifice thought was on my subconscious. I used cow blood since cow was mentioned in one chapter in the bible as “False God” and also an animal of importance in one of my closely studied religions, Hinduism. I think it references the whole idea of the two ways of looking at Madonna, one can be viewed as “False God” as far as the celebrity culture is concerned. And the other as the real and an absolute icon, who challenges all aspects of idealism on womankind and the way we think about human sexuality. Blood and fertility seemed perfect to express my thought on this subject.
MW: Given some of the violent (both literal and verbal) responses controversial religious art has received from the Danish cartoons to the Piss Christ to the Chocolate Jesus, are you are all worried about how your show will be received?
RV: I had no doubt that this series of works will raise some eyebrows. But I will say that as an artist I cant not afford to be untrue to myself when creating work. I cant not worry about how it would please or upset others. Great art, in my view, should reflect the honest and direct response from the artist to the the subject and the judgment is up to its audiences.
MW: Why did you include a bible in your work? How would the piece have been different if the bible did not appear?
RV: The bible has given the series the depth it requires in order to sum up what Madonna is all about. Her existence without her faith in her religion would be like my painting George W. Bush without mentioning the war.
MW: How, if at all, does the experience of creating a work that pays homage to an icon (especially one of Madonna’s stature) differ from creating art that speaks just to you and to your own experiences?
RV: I don’t think it separate at all. I’m obviously not into painting someone I don’t like or subjects that do not interest me. Although I must admit that needs challenging. On the whole, my works are all very personal, and creating what is true to myself and how I see it is vital. So the experiences are all the same to me when seen in a public space, its euphoria!
“The funding … is important because the US is among the countries known to have received looted Khmer antiquities in recent years,” reports The Art Newspaper (HT: ARTINFO).
The Republican running on an “anti-Sharia” platform tells FrontPage:
Our education system is bankrupt at all levels. Our universities do not prepare our young minds to see anything bad about Islam. Here in Nashville at Vanderbilt University you can get a degree in Islamic Studies and never read the life of Mohammed—and never read the entire Koran. You study Sufi poetry, Islamic art and Islamic history viewed as a glorious triumph. No kafirs suffer in this program and there is no history of Jew, Christian, Hindu or Buddhist suffering under Islamic rule for the past 1,400 years. A graduate from this program then goes out into the world professionally trained to be an apologist for Islam, a dhimmi. And this program is standard at all schools, not just Vanderbilt.
K. R. H. Dharmodipuro secretly sold six ninth-century Hindu statues and replaced them with fakes.
The National Palace Museum’s (Taipei, Taiwan) dilemma, along with not being able to afford Hindu art.
- Police are searching for a painting (slashed on Kristallnacht) stolen from a Holocaust survivor who has since died
- The Vatican announces that it will set rules for “good cinema”
- “I love art and, to me, my skin is the canvas … I’m not taking my skin to heaven,” says “tattooed preacher” Todd Bentley
- Nawal Gebreel started a clothing label in 2000 inspired by “the geometric patterns in Islamic art and the rhythm of nature”
- Here’s a list of the 10 “most incredible art heists of the modern era,” with religious art overrepresented
- The Vatican reopened “the largest and most luxurious of the pagan tombs”
- Many practicing Muslims have “a variety of popular devotional images” like calendar art, reports Yousuf Saeed
- Al Qaeda may be behind an attack near the Danish embassy in Pakistan, perhaps protesting the Danish cartoons
- Joseph Graber’s biblical chalk drawings focus on “heaven, and how to get there”
- Happy 3,048th birthday dear King David; read about it here
- Buddhist artist Ikuo Hirayama discusses his “huge, 6-paneled canvas called ‘The Holocaust of Hiroshima’”
- Daniel Grant writes on the Christian art market
- Richard Silverstein solicits Jewish graphic design for his blog; a storm ensues in the comments
- Religion and art historian Maureen Korp was surprised to find Pakistani students fascinated by Hinduism
- Is “Ardeshir Mohassess: Art and Satire in Iran” offers “a unique artist’s perspective on a tumultuous period in Iran’s history art”
My column “Gods and Idols,” a review of “Idol Anxiety” at the University of Chicago’s Smart Museum of Art through November 2, appears in the National Catholic Reporter (online here).
Here’s a selection:
Idolatry is a dirty word in academic and artistic circles, where it is viewed as a term imposed on objects that cannot resist the pigeonholing. One person’s idol is by definition another’s god. The Smart Museum’s show “Idol Anxiety” at the University of Chicago explores this complicated relationship between worshiped objects, the artisans who create them and the audiences who experience them.
Sree posts on SAJAforum about TIME’s White House Photo of the Day of the contents of Obama’s pockets and “the things he carries around for good luck,” like “a bracelet belonging to a soldier deployed in Iraq, a gambler’s lucky chit, a tiny monkey god and a tiny Madonna and child.” Writes Sree:
That “tiny monkey god,” of course, appears to be a statue of the Hindu monkey god, Hanuman. I wish the photographer and editors had bothered to be as specific with the Hindu reference as they were with the Christian one. John McCain, as you will see below, doesn’t have as many lucky charms.
A witty commenter added, “he walks around with all that crap in his pocket? rather telling …. obviously there’s no room for ‘change.’”
- M.P. Prabhakaran reviews two Indian artists’ Hindu dance and painting collaboration
- Mordy Shinefield exposes a “growing cult” of ultra-Orthodox Jewish students risking expulsion for listening to “anti-yeshiva student” David Draiman of Disturbed
- Lilith Hope writes on Rachel Ray’s keffiyeh and the “stigmatization of anything Palestinian or Arab”
- Bar-Ilan University is putting thousands of searchable, Hebrew sacred texts (a.k.a. “the Jewish digital book stand”) online
- An Islamic scholar has found a “holy tree” with Muhammad’s name on it in Skokie
- Ben Harris writes on an “exciting” month for “Jewish art on the coasts”
Rev. Ken Yamada is a minister at Berkeley Higashi Honganji Buddhist Temple in Berkeley, Calif. He began with the following caveat: “As a Buddhist minister, I’m not an expert on art, but I do have a personal interest in Buddhist art and I sometimes refer to art as a means to teach Buddhism, which is the whole point of ‘Buddhist art.’ So that is my humble perspective in trying to provide feedback to your questions.”
MW: To what extent, if at all, is creating art a religious experience in Buddhism, as opposed to simply an act of creating works that then take on religious significance?
RKY: Both approaches represent two sides of the same coin. Artists create work meant to take on religious meaning. And the creation of art is also meant to be a religious experience.
For example, an artist skilled in his craft, may carve a statute or paint a picture meant to depict a Buddha or a scene of a story in a sutra, which are then seen by others for their religious meaning.
For those people who see the art only in terms of a beautiful object (such as viewers at a museum), the artwork is not really “Buddhist” in my opinion.
The creation process ideally also is a religious experience. When a carver works on a statue, one form of practice is to perform a simple chant, such as “Nam Am Da Bu” while carving, over and over. This practice cultivates a calm, clear mind of appreciation. Consequently from this mind, a peaceful-looking Buddha emerges from the block of wood. The mind of the carver is just as important as skill in creating a statue of the Buddha.
MW: Is there a such thing as Buddhist art per se? If so, what does it entail? Are there any subjects that are off limits to Buddhist artists?
RKY: Traditionally, Buddhist art are representations of the symbols and images found in the sutras, which are the scriptures based on the historic Buddha’s sermons. For example, they will be different Buddhas, specific symbols such as lotus blossoms (which represents “wisdom”), or devil-like images (which represent anger and ignorance).
However, Buddhism is very liberal in the sense that anything can be a teaching (Dharma) to us. Therefore, nothing is really off limits in terms of what subject or image form the basis of the art, as long as it expresses Truth as taught by the Buddha, such as “interdependence” or “nirvana” or “impermanence,” etc. Sometimes these teachings are deeply buried in the symbolism expressed by the art, so artwork must be studied, analyzed and meditated upon before these truths are realized by the viewer. This process too, of using art to move a person to think about life in a deep and profound way, is another means by which art serves its religious purpose. Mandalas are an obvious example of this process, as they are meant to be stared at and reflected upon continuously.
Continue reading ‘Interview: Rev. Ken Yamada’
[New Voices] Ashley Bagan writes on “every undergraduate thesis-writer’s dream come true,” Gabriel Greenberg’s “Islamophobia: Making Muslims the Enemy,” which he co-wrote with his adviser Peter Gottschalk. The book is a study of American political cartoons and their depictions of all things Islamic.
[ArtDaily] Bharti Kher’s work, like “Solarum Series” (below), “[transforms] the gallery into a hallucinatory space of myth and synthesis.” Solarum has to do with “the symbol of the tree as an oracle figure or magical device” and is accompanied by panels with the Hindu bindi.
[ArtDaily] Two of the American Association of Museums‘ four national winners of the Excellence in Exhibition Competition are Jewish shows: Daring to Resist: Jewish Defiance in the Holocaust (Museum of Jewish Heritage) and Noah’s Ark (Skirball).
[Dallas Morning News] Another great religion and art story from the DMN. “Traditional Asian art draws little distinction between religious observance and artistic creation,” observes Kevin Richardson, “and there are Buddhists, Hindus and others who believe that a deity’s spirit resides in sculptures or carvings of his likeness.”
[Stamford Times] The Jewish Community Center (JCC) of Stamford is showing the work of “17-year-old artist Stanislav (Stass) Shpanin,” who “was listed in the Guinness Book of World Records as the youngest professional artist in the world.” Evidently Guiness hasn’t read about Freddie Linsky.
[mynews.in] Vidya Bhushan Rawat writes on “Art as medium of protest against powerful Brahmanical values” in Savi Savarkar’s work. The article is a bit dense.
Image: “Photo: Savi Sawarkar painting– Ambedkarite Monk.” From Vidya Bhushan Rawat’s article.
[WorldNetDaily] Wisconsin is still ironing out why its schools permit drawing Buddhist and Hindu symbols and the devil, but not Christian ones. This explanation will be fun to see.
[Press Enterprise] Big claims from Leslie A. Brown, director of the Quad Art Gallery (whose site seems to be down): “I’ve read every major religious book from the Bible to the Torah to the cabala to books about Buddha. That’s what I read. That’s what turns me on … I love Hindu imagery. The supreme being in Hindu mythology is a black woman holding the head of rationality, a man, in her hand.”
[Bostonist] The Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum is showing “Luxury for Export,” which tells how “Indian goods and art were being shipped to Portugal, and Mughul rulers began collecting European/Christian art. The Indians and Portuguese cultures influenced each other for a few centuries, then many from both regions eventually settle in Massachusetts.” (More here.)
[Express India] Filmmaker Nidhi Tulli’s “Art in Exile” explores “the art styles of Tibetans that are slowly dying out or are fighting a losing battle against extinction.” Incidentally, “Tibetan art is primarily sacred art, with an overriding influence of Tibetan Budhism.”
[Jewish Press] Richard McBee reviews Archie Rands 613 canvas series.
Continue reading ‘Gardner Museum, Nidhi Tulli, Archie Rand, Qatar’
