Art & Faith

Faith has always played an important role in many artworks. In Buddhism there is the representations of the Buddha, in Hinduism there is the representation of their Brahman and in Christianity, the representation of Jesus. These representations can come in painted (2D) forms, or as statues (3D). I am going to look into the importance of Religion and Faith in the 20th/21st Century in comparison to many years before.

I am first going to look at a painting by 'Giotto', called 'Crucifixion' - c.1300. This is a very early painting that depicts Jesus Christ pinned up on the cross with what seems to be his family/friends surrounding him. This is a beautiful example of a Religious Renaissance painting that represents Jesus beautifully. The proportions all look very good and the people in the painting look quite real as well because of the tones and shadows used to create a solid three dimensional look. I believe this to be a very respectful example.

Giotto - Crucifixion, c.1320 [1]

Now I am going to look at another representation of Jesus Christ, but from the 20th Century. This artwork was produces by 'Andres Serrano' and is called 'Piss Christ'. From the first instance you can see how the previous respect towards religion seems to have disappeared. I believe linking a religious figure such as Jesus with urine is very disrespectful. Urine is seen as being dirty, it was once a clean liquid, but now carries the badness from inside our bodies. It seems that artwork in this instance has forgotten to respect religion. I am not very religious myself, but I believe that 'Serrano' did cross the line slightly in the creation of this artwork. However, I must say that I do find the Artwork to be something quite beautiful, in the way it has been light up and photographed.

Andres Serrano - Piss Christ, 1987 [2]

Another example of Religion in Art that I am going to look at, is from when the 'Taliban' (Terrorists) destroyed the Bamiyan Buddhas in Afghanistan in March 2001. There were originally 2 Buddha statues built into the cliffs of the Bamyan Valley, Afghanistan. One smaller one which was built in 507AD and the larger one built in 554AD, which they both represented 'Gandhara Art'. The taliban destroyed the statues as they believe in a different religion called 'Islam'. They say that the reasoning for the destroying of these statues is because there was no longer a Buddhist population, just Islam. In 2001 they destroyed both statues, with one man called 'Mullah Mohammed Omar' was quoted by 'The Times' as saying, "Muslims should be proud of smashing idols. It has given praise to Allah that we have destroyed them".

Taller Bamiyan Buddha - Image From 1963 (Left) and Image from 2008 after destruction (Right) [3]

I would like to compare these religious based attacks to the very recent ones in Paris where the 'Charlie Hebdo' building was attacked by 2 armed Islamic gunmen. The group behind the attacks are called 'Al-Qaida', which is another terrorist group. 'Charlie Hebdo' is a satrical weekly magazine that puts across its religious views very strongly. 'Al-Qaida' blame their cartoonist representations of 'Mohammed' to be the blame for the recent attacks. It seems that 'Al-Qaida' are very strong 'Islamists'. 'Charlie Hebdo' to me created very fun magazine covers through engaging illustrations. In my opinion they must continue to do what they done before the attacks to show strength in the art/illustration community. That also has helped me to believe in myself more, and to just get back up if I am knocked down or set back.

Charlie Hebdo (Charlie Weekly) Logo [4]

The image below showing one of their covers, is believed to be one of the reasons behind the attacks. It shows 'Mohammed' holding the qu'ran to block bullets which are being fired towards him.

Charlie Hebdo Magazine Cover No.1099 [5]

After the horrific attacks from 7th January 2015 to 9th January 2015, Charlie Hebdo showed their strength by putting out their weekly copy of the magazine. This cover showed a teary Mohammed holding up a sign saying 'Je Suis Charlie' (We are Charlie). This sign became very popular across the world as people showed their support for 'Charlie Hebdo'.

'Je Suis Charlie' signs made across the world [6]

Charlie Hebdo - 'Survivors' Issue [7]

Now I am going to take a little look into if certain art in religion is acceptable. I am going to look into Hinduism. In Hindu art they are not phased by the showing many of their 330 million Gods (Deities) being naked. There are many statues/paintings/representations of their Gods, which very often show them unclothed. I question this as there will probably have been a time when nobody had any clothes, so is it showing the Gods in their true naked form? I myself have no issue with the naked art, however I do believe that some people in today's world would find it unnatural and unacceptable. Below is an image showing the Hindu Goddess 'Parvarti'. As you can see she has her breasts on show, which people who follow the Hindu religion will find natural.

Hindu Goddess Parvarti Statue [8]

However I believe that no art is unacceptable completely, some people will believe that it is unacceptable and some will believe that it is acceptable. It will never be just one.

Image References:
[1]http://uploads8.wikiart.org/images/giotto/crucifixion-1.jpg
[2]http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/d/de/Piss_Christ_by_Serrano_Andres_(1987).jpg
[3]http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Buddhas_of_Bamiyan#mediaviewer/File:Taller_Buddha_of_Bamiyan_before_and_after_destruction.jpg
[4]http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Charlie_Hebdo_logo.svg
[5]http://cdn.frontpagemag.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/01/charlie-hebdo-s-est-deja-attire-les-foudres.jpg
[6]http://i2.cdn.turner.com/cnnnext/dam/assets/150107165403-je-suis-charlie-translations-large-169.jpeg
[7]https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjnHQY_QELQRyZvUGzNaRjcA88AiR2yPq5LYrBSItXIkYg5W-aGkaX7N3frxqGnnWn-TY3zsXmtDGpCmx36or8zD7zMdkwRwt9Weo0FFAEhIfUQiRYLIAyzsU_-Uu0AbVR_PmRKlSvtu_-h/s1600/OriginalSize$2015_01_13_08_35_25_242123.jpg
[8]http://www.goddessgift.net/images/parvati-statue-top-SS-PAR.jpg