INSPIRE ME! Artist of Month for August is Teresa Mas (Again)

ALPHA OMEGA ARTS
By TAHLIB

Baby Krishna by Teresa Mas

Since we began this journey in 2008, we've come across some truly amazing religious artists working in America but Teresa Mas stands out, and especially among Hindu artists. We first saluted her in December 2011 as our INSPIRE ME! Artist of the Month and she continues to fascinate and inspire with her fresh and colorful works. This month however is especially special because this month we are joining the 950 million followers of Hinduism around the world in celebrating the birth of the Hindu god Krishna. The holyday of "Krishna Janmachtami" is August 17th, and we are proud celebrate that "auspicious" day by featuring Florida artist Teresa Mas as our Artist of the Month.

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Garden of Eden Exhibit Takes Artists Back to Where it all Began

THE WASHINGTON POST

By Chris Herlinger | Religion News Service

"Gowanus" (2013) by Alexis Rockman

NEW YORK---Environmental themes are particularly prominent in “Back to Eden: Contemporary Artists Wander the Garden,” which is on view at the museum through Sept. 28. The nearly two dozen pieces on display include paintings, sculptures, works on paper, and installations containing video elements. Of particular interest to the environmentally minded, and those who like large-scale paintings, is Alexis Rockman’s striking and dystopian “Gowanus,” a 2013 work depicting the Gowanus Canal, a long-polluted Brooklyn site that, as museum notes describe it, is notorious among New Yorkers as a “toxic wasteland” reflecting “the disastrous potential for the destruction of nature” by humanity. [link]

Museum of Biblical Art: “Back to Eden: Contemporary Artists Wander the Garden,” (Ends Sept. 28); 1865 Broadway at 61st Street, NYC; mobia.org

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Chinese Artist B. Nomin Uses Traditional Buddhist Aesthetics to Evaluate Current Norms

THE UB POST
Trans. by L.NANDINTSETSEG

"Ersdel Daguulsan Togloom (Naughty Game)" by B.Nomin

CHINA---Mongolia’s leading contemporary art hub, 976 Art Gallery, moved to Best Western Premier Tuushin Hotel, and opened with solo shows from emerging talents B.Nomin and B.Baatarzorig. The exhibitions are on view through August 14. Nomin was trained in traditional painting methods at the Fine Arts School of the Mongolian University of Arts and Culture. She uses the aesthetics of Mongolian and Buddhist art, commissioned by ancient religious and imperial institutions, to comment on contemporary issues, examining the themes of wealth, politics, nature, and human relationships. Nomin’s goal is to displace current conventions and encourage viewers to evaluate cultural norms from the point of view of Mongolia’s ancient history. [link]

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An Indian Sculptor With Monumental Ambition

THE NEW YORK TIMES
By Gardiner Harris

Ram V. Sutar at his studio. Credit Kuni Takahashi for The New York Times

INDIA---He may be history’s most prolific monumental sculptor, and now he hopes to win what may be one of history’s largest artistic commissions. Ram V. Sutar, 89, has already created more than 200 distinct statues, many of them massive. Now, he is a leading contender for the commission to produce the world’s largest statue: a 597-foot-tall rendering — which would be nearly twice as high as the Statue of Liberty — of Sardar Patel, an independence leader who played a crucial role in uniting India’s fractious states. Called the Statue of Unity, the work is to be placed in the western state of Gujarat, where India’s new prime minister, Narendra Modi, was born, grew up and became a powerful politician. Mr. Modi has long pushed for the project, and his party’s landslide electoral victory in May vastly improved prospects for its completion. [link]

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The Forgotten Jewish Painter, Salomon Adler

JEWISH JOURNAL 
By Milad Doroudian

Self-portrait of the German painter Salomon Adler (1630-1709). Exposed in the Budapest Museum of Fine Arts

GERMANY---[Salomon] Adler lived in a period when Judaism in Europe was still clinging to rigid lines of conservatism. Most Jews held on to the idea that any art or imagery not related to the Tanakh was idolatrous and prohibited by the Second Commandment. As a result of this many Jews did not publicly dwell in the arts, in fear of angering their communities. Adler was one of the first secular Jewish artists to have opened the door for Jews who wished to break away from rigid conservatism to the realization  of liberal Jewish artistry. He, and the few others like him, were in essence the beginning of Jewish secular artistry in European form prior to the granting of mass emancipation to Jews. [link]

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Fuller Theological Seminary: Where God and the Arts Meet

THE DAILY AMERICA
By Chandra Johnson, Deseret News

CALIFORNIA---In 1956, a teenage Richard Muow committed a major violation against his Evangelical faith: He snuck off to a movie theater to see John Huston’s “Moby Dick.” As the president of Fuller Theological Seminary in Pasadena, California, in the early 1990s, Muow continued to see a chasm dividing the faith world and Hollywood with the release of films like 1988’s “The Last Temptation of Christ.” Through continued collaboration with industry professionals, Muow spearheaded Fuller’s Theology and the Arts program, which looks to link entertainment and ministry and is now in its 14th year. [link]

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Cleveland Synagogue's Ark is Guarded by Some Fierce Beasts

JEWISH DAILY FORWARD
By Menachem Wecker

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OHIO---The ark at Cleveland’s Orthodox Green Road Synagogue looms on an intimidating platform above the congregation. Alternating tan and umber rays — evocative of the divine lights that emanate from the sun in ancient Egyptian art and of St. Francis’s stigmata in Christian paintings — culminate in diamond-shaped niches above the chairs reserved for synagogue officials. There is, as one would expect, an eternal light, and beneath it, a depiction of the Ten Commandments: the double-humped variety recalling the McDonald’s logo. But the two fierce beasts guarding the ark in the synagogue — which traces its roots back to immigrants from Marmaresher Sziger, Hungary, who built a congregation in Cleveland’s Woodland Hills neighborhood in 1910 — are unusual. [link]

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