hope liturgical works : connections

connections

"I often think of the set pieces of liturgy as certain words which people have successfully addressed to God without their getting killed."

--Annie Dillard, Holy the Firm (Harper & Row, 1977)

So what do art and religion have to say to one another? At a time when they seem to be deaf to one another, if not overtly hostile, when each seems to bring out the worst in the other, what can we say about the right relationship between the two? Are they rivals for our reflective time and spare change? Are they spouses hitting a rough patch in their marriage? (Are they divorced?)

They can be said to cover a range of common territory. Each makes claims on our questions of 'ultimate concern,' each seeks to interpret life for us, to enhance our experience of life, to give meaning to our suffering, to console us, to sustain us, even as they show us our monstrous aspects.

Throughout history and to this day, in fact, the fates of art and religion are so intertwined that neither thrives for long without the tacit or overt influence of the other. From the provocative and enigmatic performance artistry of the 5th Century bce prophet Ezekial, to the iconic Marilyn Madonnas of Warhol (who attended Mass and worked in a soup kitchen weekly), traffic between art and faith has always been easiest for the artist and the prophet, and hardest for the commentators to assimilate. The mavericks, rarely able to say so in words, often know in their gut:

That awe is what enables the artist to see the ordinary as if for the first time, and that seeing the ordinary for the first time is a form of metanoia.
That the world is the creative expression of the holy, that the artist looks only to imitate this holy and universal impulse,... and that faith is ultimately the consummate art form. Not content to tinker with stone or pigment or sound, faith takes all of experience, the whole world, and makes something new of it.
That no revelation makes its way into shared human life without first passing through the filter of the creative imagination,... but that "inspiration" means inspiration.
That, just as Rilke's Archaic Torso of Apollo summons us to change our lives, so the Apostles Creed is a poem built to be read deeply and lived;

And so on...

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New York Times
ART REVIEWS; Colonists, With Paintbrushes
By HELEN A. HARRISON
Published: June 13, 2004

"...Although the show's title is more a convenience than a coherent theme, several of the 18 participating artists use materials or create forms that invite viewers to violate the ''do not touch'' rule. The most direct is Erling Hope, whose two woodcarvings of hands studded with brass pins address the question of interpretation through touch. Using Braille, the hands can read words as effectively as eyes do."

Image Update Read this newsletter
Issue #46 | March 15, 2004

"...They illustrate how good liturgical art, ever adaptive, can quicken the visual life of faith. From Melaine Twelves' Black Jesus in the Kalahari to Erling Hope's up-close tangle of lines and limbs, the unfamiliar shapes provoke an instinctive double-take, startling the spirit awake to the long-familiar. Easily accessed, the exhibit makes a lovely supplement to the season's mood of contemplation and penance."