A new exhibit at the Brigham Young University Museum of Art is hoping to build theological bridges by exploring religious devotion, worship, and understanding.
The exhibit, entitled “Of Souls and Sacraments,” features over 40 works of art that all explore themes and symbols found in Christianity. Some of the pieces may be familiar to frequent MOA visitors, but others are never-before-seen acquisitions to the collection and rare masterworks and contemporary images loaned from private collectors.
According to KSL.com, the exhibit includes five separate sections with unique representations of the cross; Mary, the mother of Christ; portrayals of authority; the idea of discipleship; and the body of Christ.
Ashlee Whitaker, the museum’s curator, told KSL.com that this new exhibit is an opportunity to bring different denominations of Christianity together.
"We looked around for contemporary artists who are doing these types of religious themes in a way that shows the continuity of these ideas over centuries, but also how there are endless ways to revisit them with fresh and new expressions," Whitaker explained.
Here are six stunning pieces of art you’ll find in the new exhibition.
Paige Anderson, ‘Again, Glorified (Atonement triptych)’
“You see a lot of depictions of something like prayer, but there's nothing that tells you visually what it feels like to say 10,000 prayers, and to feel like there's nothing happening,” Anderson told KSL.com. “What I do is try to get you a glimpse into how prayer is like—it's a pattern, and it's daily engagement.”
Kirk Richards, ‘Fragile’
“I thought about the crate and the frame as being the body, the outer housing of the Spirit,“ Richards told KSL.com. “I hope that the physical work of art is also a catalyst to transcend thought into larger thoughts, things that transform and renew the soul.”
Jorge Cocco Santangelo, ‘The Sacrament in the Americas’
Benjamin West, ‘Theirs is the Kingdom of Heaven’
Ron Richmond, ‘Triplus, Number 3’
Pietro del Donzello, ‘The Madonna and Child with the Infant Saint John the Baptist’
You can request a tour of this special exhibition on the BYU MOA’s website.
