On the strange place of religion in contemporary art

by James Elkins

Religion and serious art have grown apart. While Sister Wendy speaks eloquently about modern art as if it were all religious, art historians distance themselves from the very idea of spirituality. And yet there is a tremendous amount of religious art outside the art world. For millennia, art has been religious - even in times and places when there was no word for "art." Then, in the Renaissance, it became possible for art to glorify the artist, making viewers think more of his skills than of the subjects he portrayed. The modern artist faces a more complex dilemma - one that no art historian has talked about until now. Can contemporary art say anything about spirituality? John Updike calls modern art "a religion assembled from the fragments of our daily life," but does that mean that contemporary art is spiritual? What might it mean to say that the art you make expresses your spiritual belief? On the Strange Place of Religion in Contemporary Art is about the curious disconnectbetween s