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Religious Themes in Contemporary Art

Religious Themes in Contemporary Art

Codrina Laura Ionita
Copyright: © 2017 |Pages: 31
ISBN13: 9781522519553|ISBN10: 1522519556|EISBN13: 9781522519560
DOI: 10.4018/978-1-5225-1955-3.ch009
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MLA

Ionita, Codrina Laura. "Religious Themes in Contemporary Art." Multiculturalism and the Convergence of Faith and Practical Wisdom in Modern Society, edited by Ana-Maria Pascal, IGI Global, 2017, pp. 188-218. https://doi.org/10.4018/978-1-5225-1955-3.ch009

APA

Ionita, C. L. (2017). Religious Themes in Contemporary Art. In A. Pascal (Ed.), Multiculturalism and the Convergence of Faith and Practical Wisdom in Modern Society (pp. 188-218). IGI Global. https://doi.org/10.4018/978-1-5225-1955-3.ch009

Chicago

Ionita, Codrina Laura. "Religious Themes in Contemporary Art." In Multiculturalism and the Convergence of Faith and Practical Wisdom in Modern Society, edited by Ana-Maria Pascal, 188-218. Hershey, PA: IGI Global, 2017. https://doi.org/10.4018/978-1-5225-1955-3.ch009

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Abstract

The relationship between art and religion, evident throughout the entire history of art, can be deciphered at two levels – that of the essence of art, and that of the actual theme the artist approaches. The mystical view on the essence of art, encountered from Orphic and Pythagorean thinkers to Heidegger and Gadamer, believes that art is a divine gift and the artist – a messenger of heavenly thoughts. But the issue of religious themes' presence in art arises especially since modern times, after the eighteenth century, when religion starts to be constantly and vehemently attacked (from the Enlightenment and the French or the Bolshevik Revolution to the “political correctness” nowadays). Art is no longer just the material transposition of a religious content; instead, religion itself becomes a theme in art, which allows artists to relate to it in different ways – from veneration to disapproval and blasphemy. However, there have always been artists to see art in its genuine meaning, in close connection with the religious sentiment. An case in point is the work of Bill Viola. In Romanian art, a good example is the art group Prolog, but also individual artists like Onisim Colta or Marin Gherasim, who understand art in its true spiritual sense of openness to the absolute.

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