art and spirituality

Art and religion have been inter knit throughout western history. Artists such as Michelangelo were commissioned by the Catholic church to create works, as can be seen today in the Sistine Chapel. Many of the works created under this premise are now some of the most important masterpieces of Western Art.
The secularization of culture has influenced the departure from religious themes, though it is still present.
The birth of modernism, deterred the persistence of religious iconography. Early modernists linked organised religion to oppressive authority and seeked to distance themselves. They although maintained a sense of 'spirituality', professing the process of creating art as sacred.
Artists such as Piet Mondrian, Malevich and Marsden Hartley were all influenced by Theosophy.
This detachment from religion enabled avant garde artists to freely choose their subject matter, or lack of. By the aftermath of WW II, artists were being commissioned regardless of religious inclination.
religion in art has been replaced by a somewhat abstract 'spirituality'. In 1979 R.Krauss noted the emergence of an "absolute rift" between art and religion. This rift is most apparent in the work "Piss Christ" by Andres Serrano.

Piss Christ (1987)- Andres Serrano


Here is another sacrilegious delight


Yo Mama's Last Supper (1996)—Renee Cox


There are many arguments that resound, when artists use religious iconography in art. are they expressing their personal faith, are they denigrating religion, or are they making a political statement? Whatever it may be, the relationship between art and spirituality may have evolved over time, but it has not died Art continues to draw on metaphor and images to address universal metaphysical themes, such as "Why are we here?" "What is the meaning of life, of death?" "Is there anything beyond the world we know?"

There is a vast repertoire of visual iconography that contemporary artists can draw from.

Ana Mendieta

Ana Mendieta a Cuban born artists, integrates a hyper-spirituality of Pre-Columbian and Afro-Cuban beliefs into her work. It is through the artistic process that she explores her own spirituality. She has a strong interest in her Cuban heritage, and her work references Afro- Cuban practises like Santeria, Abakue, Palo Monte, Spanish colonial Catholicism and Indigenous worship of nature.

She often examines the connection between matter, spirit and nature. She is best known for doing this in her series of work "Siluetas"
"Silueta Series" (1973–1980) Ana Mendieta


In these works Mendieta immerses her body in nature. She buries her naked form in various landscapes, covering herself in mud, grass and flowers.


Imagen de yagul ("Silueta Series" (1973–1980)- Ana Mendieta

There are references to the cyclical nature of death in her work, where death is symbolic of new beginnings, and endings. Ana Mendieta has said that her works are both wombs and graves, where life is nourished from nature, or left to return to.