Bridge Projects

Working with our friends at the Visual Commentary on Scripture, London’s National Gallery and Berlin’s Bode Museum and Gemäldegalerie are uniting art and theology.

Ben Quash, the chair in Christianity and the Arts at King’s College London and Director of theVCS, explains the distinction between theology and religion: “Theology is the tradition of thought that allows the God-related questions to be addressed in academic ways. If you’re asking questions about whether it’s reasonable to believe in God at all, what sorts of ideas about God have shaped human civilisations and how they have been expressed in practice, in ethics and in liturgy, you’re asking theological questions and you don’t have to be a believer to do that.”

In April, the VCS inaugurated a collaboration with the Bode Museum and the Gemäldegalerie in Berlin entitled “Unlocking Christian Art.”

And earlier this spring, London's National Gallery opened the exhibition "Saint Francis of Assisi." From early medieval panels, relics, and manuscripts to contemporary films, paintings, sculpture, and a Marvel comic, the exhibition shines a light on how the saint has captured the imagination of artists throughout the centuries, and how his appeal has transcended generations, continents, and different religious traditions, featuring classical works by artists like Boticelli along with contemporary works by Antony Gormley, Giuseppe Penone, Andrea Büttner, and an exciting new commission from Richard Long.

Featured artworks:
Antony Gormley, 'Untitled (for Francis)', 1985, Lead, fibreglass and plaster, 190 × 117 × 29 cm, Tate (T05004) © Antony Gormley / photo © Tate
Andrea Büttner, Vogelpredigt (sermon to the birds), 2010. Woodcut diptych, each: 70 7/8 x 47 1/4 inches (detail)

Giuseppe Penone, Albero porta – cedro (Door Tree – Cedar), 2012 © Giuseppe Penone. (detail)

Congratulations to Lauren Halsey, whose exhibition “portal hoppin hood poppin” has just opened at the FLAG Art Foundation. The Spotlight exhibition series includes a new or never-before-exhibited artwork accompanied by a commissioned piece of writing, in this case an essay by historian Robin D. G. Kelley.

"Halsey’s portal doubles as an altar, a space of mourning: prayer hands, outstretched hands, angels rising phoenix-like, winged black cherubs looking down from the clouds, portraits of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. ‘Too blessed 2 be stressed,’ the title of a popular gospel song, is emblazoned beneath a cannabis leaf. To the right sits a photo of a framed picture of ‘Footprints’ commonly titled (‘Footprints in the Sand’) a well-known allegorical Christian poem extolling God’s absolute and unwavering love. Alongside these sacred tropes small children flash gang signs, a lowrider bounces high toward the heavens, and members of the hip hop group South Central Cartel pose with guns for their 1994 LP ‘Gang Stories.’ To the uninitiated, Halsey’s juxtaposition of Christian iconography and gang culture may appear jarring, but they not only occupy the same urban landscape, both symbolize a state of mourning. L.A. gangs are known for honoring the dead by pouring libations, creating makeshift memorials in the streets, memorializing the martyrs on t-shirts and tattoos. Halsey’s dedication to the many worlds she occupied, her keen powers of observation, her irreverence, and fiery imagination allows her to find warmth and humanity in an otherwise cold reality."

Halsey's work was presented in "Otherwise / Revival," Bridge Projects’ 2021 exhibition celebrating the influential role played by the Black Pentecostal church on contemporary artists.

Featured artwork:
Lauren Halsey, portal hoppin hood poppin, 2023 (detail). Mixed media on foil-insulated foam and wood, 102.5 x 105 x 15 in.

It was on this day in 1906 that African American holiness preacher William Joseph Seymour launched a 24-7 prayer room at 312, Azusa Street in downtown Los Angeles. As this multiracial group grew to crowds of over 1500 people, so did their spiritual hunger. Today, 117 years later, most of the world's 584 million Pentecostal and charismatic Christians trace their heritage directly or indirectly back to this day in 1906, to an unglamorous building on Azusa Street, and the unlikeliest of global statesmen, William J Seymour.

At its core Pentecostalism is radically culturally diverse. Those gathered at Azusa Street remembered how the Spirit had first been poured out at Pentecost to bless different cultures, and this is what they were experiencing for themselves as Africans, Latinos, Asians, and Europeans.

Bridge Projects' 2021 exhibition "Otherwise / Revival" was a group exhibition that visualized the impact of the Black Pentecostal movement on contemporary artists. Sculptures, paintings, video, and performances celebrate the significance of music, praise, breath, and community as the participating artists reflect on their traditions, heritages, passions, and talents to cultivate a space where art thrives and expresses a unifying language for all.

Featured images:
Nathaniel Mary Quinn, Love You Nephew, 2018.
Nery Gabriel Lemus, This is the Air We Breathe, 2020.
Letitia Huckaby, Barbara, 2020.
McArthur Binion, Healing Work, 2020.
Lava Thomas, Freedom Song No 5 - We Shall Not be Moved, 2019.
Caroline Kent, A Kind of Witness, 2015.
Sedrick Huckaby, Estuary, 2021.
Lezley Sarr, Never Let the Devil See You Cry, 2020.
Genesis Tramaine, Last to Get my Hair Done, 2020.
Willie Cole, Mother and Child, 2012.

Passover, which starts this evening, is perhaps the most celebrated Jewish holiday and the seder, a home-based ceremony and meal, occurs on the first night of the eight-day holiday. At the heart of this ritual is the seder plate that holds the various ritual foods that symbolize the holiday. The seder commemorates a key event in Judaism: the redemption of the Jewish people from bo***ge in Egypt. In contemporary times, the Passover seder has more broadly come to represent themes of renewal and rebirth, freedom from oppression, and social justice and activism.

Nicole Eisenman’s 2010 painting "Seder" captures an emotional as well as a physical likeness of her friends and family, including some invented characters. Most distinctively, she places the viewer as a central figure in the Passover ritual — a strategy not seen in more traditional depictions. She illustrates universal emotions of love, anxiety, and loneliness with a touch of humor, even irony. Eisenman’s paintings are known for their macabre themes, dark humor, and canny critiques of pop culture and art history. Among her influences in Seder are the opulent Impressionist and Post-Impressionist luncheon scenes of Pierre-Auguste Renoir and Pierre Bonnard.

Featured images:
Nicole Eisenman (American, b. France, 1965), Seder, 2010, oil on canvas, 39 1⁄16 × 48 in.
Installation view of the exhibition Masterpieces & Curiosities: Nicole Eisenman’s Seder. The Jewish Museum, NY.