Bucheon Gallery · San Francisco, CA
This exhibition explores religiosity. Religiosity describes the numerous aspects of religious activity, dedication, and belief, through the act of practicing certain rituals, retelling certain myths revering certain symbols or accepting certain doctrines about deities and the afterlife. The artworks in this show suggest some of the ways in which contemporary artists use the iconography and narratives of various religious beliefs in order to express their own relationship to faith. Taking images and ideas that derive from a variety of religions the artworks on display both confirm and critique the spiritual and political position that faith, from Christian fundamentalism, to New Age Spirituality, occupies in todayÁs society. Philosophies are questioned as ancient myths and mysticism are reworked through the critical vision of contemporary art.
At the end of this journey there is the art object. Each painting, drawing, sculpture, performance, etc. becomes a location where belief can be identified in the creation of a concrete object. The artistÁs commitment to producing an artwork is an act of faith in itself. This act and the objects in the exhibition are manifestations of the daily rituals, the hope, despair, and glittering moments of transcendence that fill the lives of everybody. — Jacqueline Cooper