“Man’s conquest of Nature turns out, in the moment of its consummation, to be Nature’s conquest of Man.”
—C.S. Lewis, Abolition of Man
The artworks shown here are by multiple artists working between 1901 and 1976.
The photograph was taken on the streets of Bangkok. I was stunned by these plastic Buddhist monks sitting in a shop window. The statues are of famous Thai monks and are rendered with remarkable realism.
The exhibition was inspired by the work of physician and scholar, Andrew Newberg, and it is his brain scans of individuals engaged in religious experience that form the centerpiece of the exhibit.
I make work about desire, change, and living in pursuit of wholeness despite fear, anxiety, and obstacles. In these particular pieces, desire and yearning manifest themselves as physical thirsts for dirt and tears: gritty, basic, and pure.
My directive as an artist is to engage and communicate the meaning that lies before our eyes, and yet we do not see. I attempt to point to the “numinous,” which is characterized by the quintessential qualities of the sacred: mystery, awe, fascination, satisfaction, and inspiration.
With giant Saturn hanging in the blackness and sheltering Cassini from the sun’s blinding glare, the spacecraft viewed the rings as never before, revealing previously unknown faint rings and even glimpsing its home world.
I take it upon myself to photograph the disappearing legacy of our sacred artists and craftsmen—as it is likely, with the way religion is going and the arts as well, that we will never see the power of these structures again to the same extent and fervor.