“XIV STATIONS” Exhibition
Green Door Gallery
This event has ended.
Curated by Father Paul Anel
“Let us see once more, Veronica
The face of the Holy Wayfarer
In the linen you have gathered it into.”
Paul Claudel, Stations of the Cross
The Green Door Gallery presents ‘XIV Stations’, a group show featuring 14 artists coming to terms with a subject that is arguably the most iconic, inspiring and provocative subject in art history: the Stations of the Cross.
In a piece published last year in the Brooklyn Rail, Ann Mc Coy, a teacher at the Yale School of Drama, wrote that “exhibitions dedicated to Christianity in any positive way are still the ultimate taboo.” (NOTE) Here is an interesting paradox: while it is true that the public display of such artworks by contemporary artists may be taboo, the Passion narratives continue to be a major inspiration for contemporary artists. The artworks featured in ‘XIV Stations’ — many of which have never left their creators’ respective studios — are there to testify it.
Why is it that our post-modern, secular culture did not succeed in uprooting this most religious subject from the artists’ imagination?
First, because of the unique place that it occupies in art history. The Passion has inspired some of the greatest works of art ever produced by mankind, from Michelangelo and Grünewald, to Rembrandt, Matisse and even Rothko. Regardless of their religious affiliation, contemporary artists cannot overlook the fact that it constitutes one of the richest and most elevated artistic tradition in which to root their own practice.
There is, however, a deeper reason why it keeps inspiring artists today as it has for the past two millenia. The event of the crucifixion both synthetizes and polarizes, with unparalleled intensity, the contradictions of reality — contradictions which every work of art wrestles with. The crucifixion exposes moral ugliness — evil, the suffering of the innocent — and, at the same time, the utmost expressions of beauty — love, compassion, freedom. It is wholly incarnate, earthly, and yet wholly spiritual and divine. Finally, the figure of the crucified Christ elicits both figurative art and abstraction, inasmuch as he embodies humanity at its most humane, but also, contemporaneously, at its most disfigured: “His appearance was so marred [that it was] beyond human semblance.” (Isaiah 52, 14)
In ‘XIV Stations’, 14 artists offer us 14 distinct, contemporary and compelling perspectives on this ancient, universal, and never-exhausted drama.
The Stations of the Cross
The Stations of the Cross are 14 stops on Jesus’ last day, from his condemnation by Pontius Pilate to the deposition of his dead body in the tomb. They include such iconic moments — not related in the gospels — as the three falls of Jesus and his encounter with the elusive woman known as “Veronica” (literally, “the true icon”), who stepped out of the crowd to wipe Jesus’ bleeding face with her veil.
Painted or sculpted, the Stations became an integral part of church architecture during the Renaissance, but their roots stretch much further in history. We learn from 18th century German mystic Anne-Catherine Emmerich that this tradition goes all the way back to Mary, the mother of Jesus, who would regularly walk the original “via dolorosa” in Jerusalem (until she left for Ephesus with the apostle John at the beginning of the persecutions in 36/37), pausing in silence whenever her memory lingered on a particular event that occurred along the way.
Featured artists
Chris Alles, Masaru Bando, Alfonse Borysewicz, Michael David, Martin Dull, Bruce Gagnier, Bill Jensen, Elisa Jensen, Pavel Kraus, Margaret Krug, Margrit Lewczuk, Tine Lundsfryd, Joerg Madlener, Laurence Swan
Media
Schedule
from April 12, 2019 to May 05, 2019
Opening Reception on 2019-04-12 from 18:00 to 20:00