Lectures for Cheekwood's "100 Artists See God" exhibition informative and thought-provoking

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Lipscomb University welcomed two of the guest lecturers to campus as part of the lecture series in Cheekwood Museum of Art’s 100 Artists See God exhibition. The Reverend Ethan Acres and Ena Heller delivered insightful and contemplative lectures, addressing a variety of issues involved with producing art that reflects one's religious beliefs.

Ena Heller, director of The Museum of Biblical Arts in New York City , spoke on the subject “Delicate Balance: Modernism and Religion in Museums Today.” Heller has a doctorate in art history from the Institute of Fine Arts , New York University and is editor of Reluctant Partners: Art and Religion in Dialogue.

The Reverend Ethan Acres spoke earlier in the week about the history of “Fools for Christ – Holy Fools who have for thousands of years shown their humility to God through acts considered outlandish and insane,” according to Acres.  At Lipscomb, Acres, whose evangelical Christianity is fused with contemporary art practice, addressed how he believes contemporary artists serve today in that role of Holy Fools. Acres’ art is featured in the 100 Artists See God exhibition at the Cheekwood Museum of Art.

 

“We are honored to have had Ena Heller and the Reverend Acres as guest lecturers speaking at Lipscomb,” said Rocky Horton, assistant professor of art at Lipscomb. “We chose to host these lectures because of the unique and beneficial experience it provides our students as well as the community of Nashville .”

 

Lipscomb is also involved in a seminal collaboration with Vanderbilt and Belmont universities.  The three universities have formed a co-offered course that centers on the 100 Artists See God exhibition at Cheekwood. The course runs for the length of the exhibition, from February 4 to April 16.

 

“This is a fantastic collaboration,” said Laura Lake Smith, chair of the department of art at Lipscomb. “It offers a great opportunity to bring together experts in the field and simultaneously allow students to discuss issues of faith in art.  This is a lifetime opportunity and we are excited for our students to be a part of it.”

 

100 Artists See God is a traveling exhibition that explores different notions of God, spiritual power and religion through the work of 100 artists. The exhibition is organized and circulated by Independent Curators International (ICI).  Guest co-curators are John Baldessari and Meg Cranston.

 

Baldessari and Cranston invited artists in the exhibition according to several criteria: either because they know and admire their work, or because the work possesses the sense of humor and audacity befitting such a project, or because these artists are, in the curators’ words, “likely to surprise.”

 

"Whether or not one believes in God, whether we describe ourselves as theists, atheists, or even anti-theists, we all live in a world that is profoundly influenced by concepts of God,” say organizers. 100 Artists See God brings the topic to the forefront of artistic debate and acknowledges the prevalence of religion and spirituality in contemporary art, culture, and politics both within and outside of the . 

 

100 Artists See God asks such questions as: How do contemporary artists see God?  How, and why, might the point of view of artists reinforce—or stand in contrast to – that of others?  And, what comfort or answers to people seek in spiritual undertakings of varying kinds?

 

All 100 artists were asked to contribute a work to the exhibition that in some way deals with their concept of God.  In some cases, the works are representative of the artists’ own beliefs.  In others, the works deal with faith as a subject, but do not necessarily reflect the doctrines to which the artists subscribe.  In all cases, the artists have agreed to set themselves to a task that is both traditional and uncommon.

 

Religious imagery plays an important role in contemporary culture and even politics, and dominates the history of art.  The works in 100 Artists See God continues in this tradition of faith-based art, but presents subjective interpretations of spirituality rather than conventional illustrations of established religious doctrines.  Be they personal confessions or analytical assessments, depictions of what grounds or inspires, these works put forth a broad view of God and of religious practice, according to organizers.

 

Among artists in the exhibition are Eleanor Antin, Angela Bulloch, Chris Burden, Michael Craig-Martin, Nicole Eisenman, Liam Gillick, Damien Hirst, Rebecca Horn, Christian Jankowski, Mike Kelley, Mary Kelly, Liz Larner, Louise Lawler, Tony Oursler, Paul Pfeiffer, Richard Prince, Gerhard Richter, Ed Ruscha, and Diana Thater. 

 

For more information about Lipscomb’s involvement in the 100 Artists See God exhibition, contact Smith at 615.279.6282 or by e-mailing laura.smith [at] lipscomb.edu ().