RELIGIOUS ART | NEWS OF WEEK

ALPHA OMEGA ARTS NEWS
By TAHLIB

Why do we memorialize? A new altarpiece for St Paul’s Cathedral in London is a video quadriptych of unnamed figures engulfed in flames, doused in water, buried by soil and strung up by the ankles. Installed during a week when death felt close at hand, this digital work "Martyr's" (above) by Bill Viola is my NEWS OF WEEK. Critics predict Viola's universal work will change the future of religious art. During this week, when a family member passed away; 3 shot dead at a Jewish Museum of Belgium; 7 killed in a rampage in California; and a museum opened for 2,977 who died in NYC; we ask, how should art memorialize?

In other religious art news from across the USA, and around the world:

• Buddhist Art of Week: Korea's iron Buddha gets NYC star status at home [More News]
• Christian Art of Week: El Paso Museum of Art announces retablo exhibition [More News]
• Hindu Art of Week: Houston's Asia Society exhibit spotlights Hindu deities [More News]
• Islamic Art of Week: New art by Negar Ahkami at Jen Bekmann's 20x200 [More News]
• Judaic Art of Week: Gifts of Jewish art from the Jewish heartland [More News]
• Interfaith Art News: Deadline for Butler University's Religion, Spirituality and the Arts

Join the journey. We are all members of one spiritual family united in the search for human meaning through art from the religious imagination. For us, it's more than Art. It's Religion. We follow artists who explore religious ideas with their creativity. When you follow religious artists, you join others who do the same. Some of us join as "Collectors" and make policy decisions; others join as "Friends" who gather for the dialogues; and most of us join as "Subscribers" to this "free" weekly newsletter; (or follow on: Tumblr, Twitter, Facebook, or Soundcloud).