RELIGIOUS ART | NEWS OF WEEK - Giovanni Battista Tiepolo

ALPHA OMEGA ARTS
By Gregory & Ernest Disney-Britton

Giovanni Battista Tiepolo's "Madaonna of the Rosary With Angels" (1735). Sale estimate in excess of $15 million. 

Collecting is something we love to do together, and we love getting to know the artist first. But you can't meet an Old Master, and one of them has work at auction this week. Born in Venice in 1696, Giovanni Battista (Giambattista) Tiepolo was a painter and printmaker who painted with the emotion of Titian and Tintoretto. Sotheby's estimates that Tiepolo's "The Madonna of the Rosary with Angels" will sell for over $15 million on Thursday. We won't be bidding, but we will be watching  and that makes Giambattista Tiepolo, our artist of the week.

RELIGIOUS ART | NEWS OF WEEK - Samuel Levi Jones

ALPHA OMEGA ARTS
By Gregory & Ernest Disney-Britton

Malcolm X from '48 Portraits (underexposed)', 2012 Ink jet print on pulped encyclopedic paper 22 × 24 1/2 in 55.9 × 62.2 cm Edition 2/2

We met Samuel Levi Jones, a major star in contemporary art on Thursday at an Indianapolis public school where he installed his striking "48 Portraits (Underexposed)." The work is a direct response to Gerhard Richter's "48 Portraits" (1971) that depicts only white males. Trained as a photographer, Jones is best known for reconstructing  historical texts into patchwork paintings of equality. Samuel Levi Jones talked with kids at Edison School of the Arts, and that makes him, our artist of the week.

RELIGIOUS ART | NEWS OF WEEK - Christopher Udemezue

ALPHA OMEGA ARTS
By Gregory & Ernest Disney-Britton

Christopher's Udemezue's "Brian Williamson" from Top-A-Toppa series

Faith. Creativity. Equality. Diversity. Courage. Ernest shared his five most important values during a recent two-day civic leaders retreat. Those same values seem to describe the work of photographer Christopher Udemezue (aka Neon Christina). Born in Long Island, NY, he has turned the trope of "religious martyrdom" into an exploration of the tension between his Jamaican heritage and his queer identity. Confronting oppression is a recurring theme. Art in America recently profiled him, and that makes Christopher Udemezue, our artist of the week.

RELIGIOUS ART | NEWS OF WEEK

ALPHA OMEGA ARTS
By Gregory & Ernest Disney-Britton

Nick Cave's "Untitled" (15-303) 2015; Single-color lithograph, dusted with photostatic toner; Paper Size: 8 1/2 x 11 inches; Paper Type: White Somerset satin; Collaborating Printer: Bill Lagattuta; Edition 29 of 45

Each year, we celebrate the 12 Days of Christmas with gift-giving from December 25 (Christmas) and ending on January 6 (Three Kings Day), and this year it includes a lithograph purchased to mark the 2019 birth of our grandson "Tru." The image is of one of Nick Cave's Soundsuits "meant to empower the person wearing them through concealing their race and gender." As a 2015 visiting artist at the Tamarind Institute, he created a lithograph now included in a suite with 17 other artists. Tru's birth makes Nick Cave's "Untitled" our art of Christmas week.

RELIGIOUS ART | NEWS OF WEEK - Kent Monkman

ALPHA OMEGA ARTS
By Gregory & Ernest Disney-Britton

Cree artist Kent Monkman

We'd not heard of Kent Monkman until last week, but all it took was seeing one of his polemics to know we'd love to bring one of his realistic, grim but humor-filled landscapes back-home with us to  "Mike Pence's Indiana." Born in Canada in 1965, Monkman is a Cree artist who uses his gender-fluid alter ego Miss Chief Eagle Testickle in superheroic roles to challenge accepted notions of religion, sexuality, and race. This week, The Metropolitan Museum of Art unveiled his commission "Wooden Boat People," and that makes Kent Monkman, our artist of the week.

RELIGIOUS ART | NEWS OF WEEK - Anila Quayyam Agha

ALPHA OMEGA ARTS
By Gregory & Ernest Disney-Britton

Anila Quayyum Agha in Studio. Photo by Esther Boston for No Mean City.

We're bringing home another piece by Anila Quayyum Agha this week, the third in our small collection of 121 pieces. As an interdisciplinary artist, Agha creates artwork that explores the barriers of race, religion, and gender.  In the last year, she's been our artist of the week thrice, because of the news she generates, including this week's story about the "Transcendent Spirituality" exhibit in Vermont. This week you too can also find a tiny 5"x5" painting by Agha at the Arts Council of Indianapolis, and that's why Anila Quayyum Agha is our artist of the week.

RELIGIOUS ART | NEWS OF WEEK - Alicia Zanoni

ALPHA OMEGA ARTS
By Gregory & Ernest Disney-Britton

Alicia Zanoni in her artist studio at the Harrison Center for the Arts in 2017

I am a bigger fan of landscapes than Ernest, but we are both huge fans of the ethereal weather paintings of Indianapolis-based artist Alicia Zanoni. By painting elements of weather, she invites us on a spiritual journey. We first became fans of her crashing ocean blue waves in 2017-2018 during her Arts Council of Indianapolis fellowship. Today, those same spirit-filled brush-strokes are blended into landscapes with orange, green, and yellow. We brought home her “The Opposite of Hesitant” on Friday, and that makes Alicia Zanoni our artist of the week.

RELIGIOUS ART | NEWS OF WEEK - Francesco Clemente

ALPHA OMEGA ARTS
By Gregory & Ernest Disney-Britton

Francesco Clemente talking about his exhibition "India" at Vito Schnabel Projects

When painter Francesco Clemente first visited India in 1971, he left so inspired that he studied Hindu spiritualism for the next four decades. Clemente’s example has been instructive to Ernest who remains spellbound by his one visit to Senegal in 2004. For his newest exhibition, Francesco Clemente: India at Vito Schnabel Projects, the artist created four large map paintings of India using Hindu symbols including skulls, fish, marigold flowers, and a traditional sari. Francesco Clemente's forty-year study of Hinduism makes him our artist of the week.

RELIGIOUS ART | NEWS OF WEEK - Laylah Amatullah Barrayn

ALPHA OMEGA ARTS
By Gregory & Ernest Disney-Britton

Laylah Amatullah Barrayn, photographer /curator

Ernest worked with Indianapolis-based performing artist Baba Khabir Shareef for the last seven years, and his recent passing both haunts and inspires us to be better children of God. Like our Baba, for decades, NYC-based documentary photographer Laylah Amatullah Barrayn has been celebrating the Muslim-inspired spirit of communities of the African diaspora that she also honors. Her “Cheikh Bamba's Tomb” is included in an exhibit closing today at BRIC that honors the Muslim experience, and that is why Laylah Amatullah Barrayn is our artist of the week.

RELIGIOUS ART | NEW OF WEEK - Anila Quayyum Agha

ALPHA OMEGA ARTS
By Gregory & Ernest Disney-Britton

Artist Anila Quayyum Agha looks at her piece "Intersections," which is part of the Philbrook special exhibit "Shadow of Time." digital editor Tim Landes

IF IT'S SUNDAY, then there's a major museum somewhere in the world opening another exhibition of the work of Anila Quayyum Agha (2014 winner of Alpha Omega Prize). Today in Tulsa, Oklahoma, her show "Shadow of Time" opens at the Philbrook Museum of Art. "I think that the more I show in places considered conservative states, the better. I think those are the people that we need to reach to tell them that we are no different than you," says Agha. Because her work is now in red state Oklahoma, Anila Quayyum Agha is our artist of the week.

RELIGIOUS ART | NEWS OF WEEK - Nick Cave

ALPHA OMEGA ARTS
By Gregory & Ernest Disney-Britton

Artist Nick Cave poses with Gregory Disney-Britton during Chicago Expo 2019

Nick Cave was named the artist of the year this week by the Alpha & Omega Project for Contemporary Religious Arts, but we want to talk about Naudline Pierre. Like Nick Cave and even Kanye West, she’s an artist on a mission, and isn't that exciting? Both Cave and Pierre are masters of mixed colors, but Cave is an Old Testament messenger, while Pierre is more New Testament. This Sunday, we celebrate Nick Cave as our artist of the year for his righteousness, but also Naudline Pierre as our artist of the week for restoring our faith in gentle blessings.

RELIGIOUS ART | NEWS OF WEEK

ALPHA OMEGA ARTS
By Gregory & Ernest Disney-Britton

"Shaper of Beauty (Al-Musawwir)" by Andrew Kosorok (2011); Etched, painted, fired glass sewn with hemp, with pomegranate; 11 1/4″h x 14″w x 14″d

I spent a few days this week with honorary Mullah Andrew Kosorok, a master glass sculptor and stain-glass creator. Following 9/11, he began creating flat glass sculptures, like "Shaper of Beauty," to explore spiritual and cultural diversity/convergence, and questions of personal identity. Kosorok isn't a Muslim. He's a Latter-day Saint and lives in Provo, Utah, where he teaches. He is soft-spoken and builds bridges with his gentle magnetism. Andrew Kosorok was in town this week to award artist grants, and that makes his "Shaper of Beauty" my art of the week.

RELIGIOUS ART | ARTIST OF YEAR: Finalists for Artist of Year 2019

ALPHA OMEGA ARTS
By Gregory & Ernest Disney-Britton

Voting now open through October 31, 2019

The Alpha & Omega Project for Contemporary Religious Arts is pleased to announce the 2019 finalists for the Alpha Omega Prize - artist of the year. This year's five finalists are Indianapolis-based Anila Quayyum Agha; London-based Barnaby Barford; New Mexico's Patrick McGrath; and New York-based artists Saya Woolfalk and Naudline Pierre. The Alpha Omega Prize was created in 2008 as an annual recognition of the impact of artists on America's religious dialogue. Voting is now open through October 31, and the Artist of Year honoree will be announced on November 1. [Click here, to vote]

RELIGIOUS ART | NEWS OF WEEK

ALPHA OMEGA ARTS
By Gregory & Ernest Disney-Britton

Titus Kaphar, “Ascension” (2016) oil on canvas with brass nails, 108 × 84 × 1 ½ in.

Earlier this week, we RSVP'd for an artist talk by Titus Kaphar on November 7 at the University of Indianapolis. He is best known for appropriating images from Early American Art to "white-out" the history of white supremacy. His Ascension painting is now on view through November 3 at the Museum of Contemporary Art Chicago in "Fragments of a Crucifixion." Ascension depicts a basketball player's leap into the air before a crowd of fans. His presence in both Chicago and Indianapolis makes Titus Kaphar our artist of the week.

RELIGIOUS ART | NEWS OF WEEK

ALPHA OMEGA ARTS
By Gregory & Ernest Disney-Britton

“Virgin and Child With Saint Elizabeth and Saint John the Baptist” by Agnolo Bronzino (1503-1572) has been acquired by the Getty Museum. (The Getty)

Agnolo Bronzino (1503-1572) was a major Italian Mannerist in the middle of the 16th century, who mentored under Jacopo Pontormo. He is best known for his Medici portraits with arrogant expressions, while his religious works have more complex compositions and contorted body positions. Most of his religious paintings lack Pontormo's passion, but the Getty Museum's new acquisition is an exception. "Virgin and Child With Saint Elizabeth and Saint John the Baptist" makes Agnolo Bronzino, our artist of the week.

RELIGIOUS ART | NEWS OF WEEK

ALPHA OMEGA ARTS
By Gregory & Ernest Disney-Britton

Kehinde Wiley, 42, at the statue's unveiling on Friday at Times Square in NYC of Richmond, Virginia addition to its Monument Avenue to be installed in 2020.

Kehinde Wiley's 27 feet high bronze sculpture of an African American man riding a horse is headed to Richmond, Virginia's Monument Avenue, a 1.5-mile boulevard of equestrian monuments honoring Confederate traitors. Richmond is home to America's only monumental urban expression of white supremacy, and soon Kehinde Wiley's "Rumours of War" statue will integrate that boulevard. “Today,” he said, “we say yes to something that looks like us. We say yes to inclusivity. We say yes to broader notions of what it means to be an American.” A love for equality makes Kehinde Wiley, our artist of the week.

RELIGIOUS ART | NEWS OF WEEK

ALPHA OMEGA ARTS
By Gregory & Ernest Disney-Britton

Anila Quayyum Agha. Image courtesy of Arts Council of Indianapolis - Creative Renewal Arts Fellowship 

Anila Quayyum Agha is best known for her mystically immersive installations that challenge viewer perceptions. She’s inspired an international following with work that challenges systems of oppression, including sexism and fundamentalism. We’ve traveled the nation to see her shows including yesterday’s drive to Expo Chicago, and Ernest hosts an artist talk with her on Thursday in Indianapolis. Spotlighting oppression makes Anila Quayyum Agha our artist of the week.

RELIGIOUS ART | NEWS OF WEEK

ALPHA OMEGA ARTS
By Gregory & Ernest Disney-Britton

Hank Willis Thomas (b. 1976, Plainfield, NJ; lives and works in Brooklyn, NY)

Hank Willis Thomas is a conceptual artist, and we hung his "Plate" in our home this week. Working in photography, sculpture, mixed media, and video, his works are in public and private collections around the world. We are slightly newer fans because of his 2018 "For Freedoms" photo series, and we just saw his "Raise Up" sculpture at Alabama's lynching memorial. Thomas' first comprehensive survey, Hank Willis Thomas: All Things Being Equal… opens on October 12 at the Portland Art Museum, and that's why Hank Willis Thomas is our artist of the week.

RELIGIOUS ART | NEWS OF WEEK

ALPHA OMEGA ARTS
By Gregory & Ernest Disney-Britton

Saya Woolfalk (Japan, 1979) is a New York-based artist created a transhuman world of Empathics.

When we entered the Tube Factory gallery that contains Saya Woolfalk's installation "Empathic Cloud Divination," we thought we'd transported into the Black Panther's Kingdom of Wakanda, but everyone was a blue female Emphatic! Saya Woolfalk is a mixed-race artist (Asian, Black, white) best known for her Afrofuturism style that explores science, spirituality, race, and sex. Her installation opened this week in Indianapolis, and that makes Saya Woolfalk our artist of the week.

RELIGIOUS ART | NEWS OF WEEK

ALPHA OMEGA ARTS
By Gregory & Ernest Disney-Britton

Courtesy of Instagram account of the artist, Beatrice Vasquez. Background: “Immigrant Family” 5ftx5ft. 2019

Did you know that Monarch butterflies cross the border each year to migrate between Mexico and the U.S.? We didn't. Mexican-American artist Beatrice Vasquez carved a series of portraits of immigrants with migrating butterflies that were on view this past Friday at Start with Art, a celebration of the arts in Indianapolis. Her modern approach to using traditional "papel picado" (cut paper), seductively makes a case for open borders. The Indy-based artist created this year's ARTI Awards, and that's why Beatrice Vasquez is our artist of the week.