A good friend drew to my attention a book I had not encountered before …. Aaron Rosen’s Art and Religion in the 21st. Century. That sounded to be right up my street, so I called into a bookshop in the city this morning to pick up a copy.* Indeed, it does look to be a worthwhile read, but one question puzzles me. Where are the painters? Established media such as photography or sculpture do have a visible presence in the book, but the overwhelming majority of entries are probably best described as “constructions” of one kind or another. Where are the painters (or for that matter, the print-makers)?
Without having undertaken a comprehensive survey of possible candidates for consideration, I would like to nominate Chris Gillon’s The Contemplation of Eve (2011), as worth looking at in this context. I suggest also that had Rosen cast his net a little wider, and taken a look at Islamic art, he might have found a good deal of material worth inclusion in his survey. What about the calligraphy of Mahmud Manning (a relatively unrecognised, but brilliant, Bradford artist)?
I would be really interested to hear from readers whether they would like to nominate pieces by painters which might have a claim for inclusion in a survey of this kind.
I know that there is an awful lot of kitsch stuff around that is offered under the heading of “Christian art”, but surely the situation is not quite the desert that Rosen suggests.
*Thames and Hudson, London, 2015.
I am glad you got hold of a copy of the book. You’re right there is precious little painting in it but it’s full of interesting ideas.