'Located at the corner of Princes Street and Lothian Road under the watchful gaze of Edinburgh Castle, the silent, shadowy calm of this church provides an evocative location for work by an artist who consistently explores such universal human experiences as spirituality, birth, and death.'
The second piece previews the marvellous Corita Kent: Get With The Action exhibition at Ditchling Museum of Art + Craft:
'In the sometimes fraught and fractious relationship between the Church and visual art, the story of Sister Corita Kent is one of the most inspiring, surprising and unusual.
In 1936 the eighteen-year-old Frances Kent entered the religious order Immaculate Heart of Mary order of Catholic nuns in Hollywood. She became Sister Mary Corita, IHM, and revelled in the changing urban environment of post-World War II Los Angeles finding inspiration in signs and advertising for her vibrant screen-printed banners and posters. As early as 1952 her printmaking was recognised as best in show by the Los Angeles County Museum of Art, but it was a visit in 1962 to the Ferus Gallery in LA to see Andy Warhol’s breakthrough exhibition of Campbell’s Soup Cans that transformed her practice. ‘Coming home,’ she said, ‘you saw everything like Andy Warhol’.
From that point on, she drew playfully on pop and modern consumer cultures in a unique calligraphic style that incorporated advertising images and slogans, popular song lyrics, biblical verses, and literature and addressed contemporary issues of poverty, racism and war by asking, ‘What would Jesus do?’'
The third piece is my latest interview for Artlyst, with Katrina Moss, founder of Chaiya Art Awards:
'I think spirituality is very important to many people, and there didn’t seem to be any major platforms where artists could explore this in their work and for that work to be seen in a high profile gallery. One artist emailed me saying “I have struggled to find people in the visual arts today who are interested in the subject of God. So as a young artist who has chosen to explore faith in my work, being a part of this has provided me with a great sense of hope and encouragement.”'
My other Artlyst articles and interviews are:
- Picasso To Souza: The Crucifixion Imagery Rarely Exhibited
- Apocalypse Now: Michael Takeo Magruder Interviewed
- Jonathan Anderson: Religious Inspirations Behind Modernism
- Michael Takeo Magruder: De / coding the Apocalypse – Panacea Museum
- Giorgio Griffa: The Golden Ratio And Inexplicable Knowledge
- Arabella Dorman Unveils New Installation At St James Church Piccadilly
- Can Art Transform Society?
- Art Awakening Humanity Conference Report
- Central St Martins in the Fields Design Then And Now
- The Sacramental And Liturgical Nature Of Conceptual Art
- Caravan – An Interview With Rev Paul Gordon Chandler On Arts Peacebuilding
- Art Awakening Humanity Alexander de Cadenet Interviewed
- Polish Art In Britain Centenary Marked At London’s Ben Uri Gallery
- Michael Pendry New Installation Lights Up St Martin In The Fields;
- Mark Dean Projects Stations of the Cross Videos On Henry Moore Altar;
- Refugee Artists Learning from The Lives Of Others;
- The Religious Impulses Of Robert Rauschenberg;
- The Christian Science Connection Within The British Modern Art Movement;
- Artists Rebranding The Christmas Tree Tradition;
- Art Impacted - A Radical Response To Radicalisation;
- The Art of St Martin-in-the-Fields; and
- Was Caravaggio A Good Christian?
Hothouse Flowers - Thing Of Beauty.
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