Acts of God
Location
SU 216
Start Date
19-4-2019 12:40 PM
Department
Art
Abstract
Acts of God is an exercise in self reflection for the viewer. Religion is an almost universally shared cultural practice from across the globe and throughout history. While not practiced by everyone even not adhering to a religion is a very conscious and personal choice a person makes. The goal of Acts of God is for viewers to question this choice. Specifically why they personally, or people throughout the world allow Gods to do heinous things they would never allow of themselves or others. Each piece depicts an atrocity committed by a God from various cultures and time periods. The work itself does not seek to lead the viewer to any conclusion about the religion but rather to present a story as it is written. Many of these narratives are very human in their subject matter. They are also shockingly current considering the age of some of the stories. Allowing the topic of religion, beliefs, and morality to remain an ever modern discussion. The use of hard edge lines coupled with a more gestural under-layer invites the viewer to take a closer look at the piece, imitating the introspection they experience when thinking about something as personal as their religious beliefs and morale guidelines, as traditional or untraditional as they maybe. The bold use of color also aids in the draw closer to the work and lends to the suggestion of power in the figures. while allowing room for blanks to be filled by the viewer. However, while the colors are bold a large amount of uncolored portions are left for the viewer to fill in with their own ideas and experiences. The purpose of Acts of God is not to change belief systems or to declare that the belief that these acts are justified to be incorrect, rather the viewer is invited to share their beliefs as openly as they wish to open discussion of what belief is or can mean to themselves and others. Although these stories in some cases are thousands of years old, the themes remain modern and a topic of discussion for all periods.
Acts of God
SU 216
Acts of God is an exercise in self reflection for the viewer. Religion is an almost universally shared cultural practice from across the globe and throughout history. While not practiced by everyone even not adhering to a religion is a very conscious and personal choice a person makes. The goal of Acts of God is for viewers to question this choice. Specifically why they personally, or people throughout the world allow Gods to do heinous things they would never allow of themselves or others. Each piece depicts an atrocity committed by a God from various cultures and time periods. The work itself does not seek to lead the viewer to any conclusion about the religion but rather to present a story as it is written. Many of these narratives are very human in their subject matter. They are also shockingly current considering the age of some of the stories. Allowing the topic of religion, beliefs, and morality to remain an ever modern discussion. The use of hard edge lines coupled with a more gestural under-layer invites the viewer to take a closer look at the piece, imitating the introspection they experience when thinking about something as personal as their religious beliefs and morale guidelines, as traditional or untraditional as they maybe. The bold use of color also aids in the draw closer to the work and lends to the suggestion of power in the figures. while allowing room for blanks to be filled by the viewer. However, while the colors are bold a large amount of uncolored portions are left for the viewer to fill in with their own ideas and experiences. The purpose of Acts of God is not to change belief systems or to declare that the belief that these acts are justified to be incorrect, rather the viewer is invited to share their beliefs as openly as they wish to open discussion of what belief is or can mean to themselves and others. Although these stories in some cases are thousands of years old, the themes remain modern and a topic of discussion for all periods.
Comments
Nate Mathews and Kim Ambriz are the faculty sponsors of this project.