Some Cool Art

I was reading about art from the Stone Age today, and the earliest cave paintings were apparently painted for religious purposes (cave paintings are usually found in the darkest recesses of caves, but I don't know that it's enough evidence to assume their purpose.)

There's no way for us to know, so let's not worry about that.

It's certainly possible that cave paintings are ceremonial--we've made a lot of art for religious purposes. Votive sculptures. Temple reliefs. The... Renaissance.

Michelangelo. The Last Judgment. 1541. Sistine Chapel, Vatican City.

No big. 

And we generally find it easy to visualize old religious art. What about new religious art? I couldn't think of anything.

Well, except--

Giménez, Cecilia. Ecce Homo. 2012. Sanctuary of Mercy Church, Borja.

(I kid, I kid.)

I was curious, so I googled it. And then I spent the rest of the afternoon looking at contemporary religious art. Here are some interesting artists I found:

1. Patrick Graham captures the Irish religious experience, particularly of the Catholic faith, but wants his work to appeal to those who struggle with issues of identity, freedom, or faith.

Patrick Graham. Somewhere Jerusalem, 1996 Jack Rutberg Fine Arts

2. Jordan Eagles creates art out of preserved blood to evoke the connections between life, death, body, spirit, and the universe.

Jordan Eagles, 2009, Blood preserved on Plexiglas, UV resin

3. Seema Kohli's art is layered, symbolic and laced with mythological narrative and Tantric thought.

Seema Kohli (b. 1960). "Untitled," 2007.

And there's a whole lot more where that came from.