COP 03 / Is religious art still relevant?

Although in previous eras religious art was rife, can it still be said that religious art is being created? & Is religious art being produced with new adaptations and meanings?

"In a BBC article published last August 2014, only 2% of the American population has openly declared themselves as atheist. Meanwhile, a 2012 Gallup poll found that 77% of Americans identify themselves as a follower of a Christian faith. With these many followers, a religious art piece (especially of the Christian variety) does not only have the potential to reach a large audience. These works can also strike a chord in the majority of Americans." (source)

It seems that because art is always changing, contemporary religious art could be interpreted as controversial. Not all religious art has to be pro-religion.

"That said, controversial religious pieces can be seen as the artist’s way of grappling with his/her faith. As S. Brent Plate, Visiting Associate Professor of Religious Studies at Hamilton College explains in a Huffington Post article: “The simplistic view would say these are all anti-religious pieces, except for the fact that every one of the artists spoke up about their own faith, and how art became a way of struggle with their spiritual lives.” (source)

“An artwork conceived as a “vehicle” for religious meaning will find itself interpretively derailed and destabilized before the vehicle even gets going–or, more commonly, it will be simply be ignored as unworthy of serious engagement. And, interestingly, this dynamic doesn’t only preclude religious subject matter: Elkins rightly devotes a chapter to articulating why art has that anti-religious message to deliver is disqualified by the same principle. Religious and anti-religious art alike—and really any work with a “message” to deliver—simply misunderstands and is ill-suited for contemporary art discourse.”

As thoughts change and people in this era begin to adopt an open mind towards art, it seems religious art is welcomed with open arms regardless of the way it will be interpreted. Art is now more openly religious and unapologetic for example pieces such as Golgotha and Bill Viola's 'Martyrs'. When you compare these two pieces to one from another time period such as Leonardo Da Vinci's Last Supper, the difference is highly apparent. However, through analysis and gaining an understanding of contemporary existing pieces, it seems that religious art is not suffering to secularisation and is perhaps just adapting and changing, not decreasing.

Buenconsejo, C. (2016) Contemporary religious art | Mozaico Blog. Available at: http://blog.mozaico.com/contemporary-religious-art/ (Accessed: 14 November 2016).