Gregory writes:
'Since 2008, we: Ernest and I, have been introducing others to the joy of religious-themed works. We include both sacred art and art that is a response to the sacred. It all began with Kehinde Wiley, and his "Dead Christ in a Tomb," which inspired us to establish the Alpha & Omega Prize. Led by Luke 12:34, "For where your treasure is, there will be your heart also," we've also shared what we collect as part of this Alpha & Omega Project for Contemporary Religious Arts.'
The Alpha Omega Prize is a contemporary art recognition for the promotion of religious dialogue in America during the past year which has been awarded since 2008. First awarded to
Kehinde Wiley, the most recent winner is UK-artist Michael Cook for "Christ Weeps Over Lazarus."
Bridge Projects is a contemporary art gallery and curatorial project based in Los Angeles, featuring experimental, research-driven exhibitions by local and international artists. Each exhibition project includes a series of parallel public events – lectures, workshops, performances, salons, conferences, community programs, etc. – in which we gather prominent scholars and artists to help situate these exhibitions within broader art-historical, philosophical, and religious contexts. Their programming is especially aimed at fostering more advanced and more open interdisciplinary explorations of the relations between contemporary art, spirituality, and religious traditions.
Current exhibition 'A Composite Leviathan' draws its title from Yang Jian’s monumental sculpture, “A Composite Leviathan.” The term “leviathan” appears in the Biblical books of Job, Psalms, Isaiah, and Amos. It’s etymological connotation of “joining” suggests the tightly knit scales of a sea dragon. Biblical literature associates this leviathan with chaotic forces which are evidently at odds with the divine, creative order. On account of its apparent etymology, Thomas Hobbes used the term “Leviathan” for the title of his famous political treatise which suggested that national government was a necessary aggregate of social power. Many of the artworks in the exhibition reflect the dynamics of the composite social structures of contemporary society. In A Composite Leviathan, each work emerges from the complex fissures of the artists’ own lived realities, both spiritual and political.
Forthcoming exhibition 'Otherwise/Revival' is a group exhibition that visualizes the impact of the historic Black church— specifically the Black Pentecostal movement—on contemporary artists. Inspiration for the exhibition is drawn from reflecting on the event of the Azusa Street Revival. On April 9, 1906, from a home on Bonnie Brae Street in downtown Los Angeles, Rev. William J. Seymour preached a sermon on the spiritual gift of speaking in tongues that would change the course of spiritual history. People from diverse races and economic classes congregated to hear Seymour’s sermons—sparking the Black Pentecostal movement.
Author and artist Ashon T. Crawley has written extensively on this movement. His concept of “otherwise possibilities” as a reverberation of the Black church experience informed the curatorial query and title of Otherwise/Revival. “Otherwise, as word—otherwise as possibilities, as phrase—announces the fact of infinite alternatives to what is.” For Crawley, the elements of the Black Pentecostal Church—the Hammond organ, emphatic breath, shouting, and glossolalia—create space for “otherwise possibility” to emerge.
The works in the exhibition respond to these “otherwise possibilities” embodied by the Black church. Sculptures, paintings, video, and performances celebrate the significance of music, praise, breath, and community. Exhibited artists reflect on their traditions, heritages, passions, and talents to cultivate a space where art thrives and expresses a unifying language for all.
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Thomas Dorsey - Precious Lord.
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