Inside
NCR NCR art adventure: Search for a contemporary
Jesus
The National Catholic
Reporter announces an international visual art competition to find an image
of Jesus for the new millennium.
;When Y2K is raised in conversation, most people seem to think of
computer glitches or parties. There is little or no mention of what the
millennium is fundamentally about -- the arrival, 2,000 years ago, of Jesus
Christ among us.
;Its extraordinary what impact Christs life had. He
founded a church and its extraordinary what impact that church, in turn,
had.
One could argue that the church was never more alive and powerful
than now. Or one could argue that its in the doldrums, irrelevant in this
hectic, hedonistic, materialist culture.
One could go on to argue why this is so, or why people are looking
elsewhere for solutions and solace and ultimate meaning, why so many churches,
once full on Sundays across the world, are closed or nearly empty now.
There are various reasons why Jesus is perceived to be less
central to the culture than in the past. Today, he seems remote, elbowed aside
in the secular worlds hectic pursuit of success and good times. The
popular image is vague, not compelling as he must have been on Galilean
hillsides or at the Last Supper. If the Christian religion is, as we insist,
some amazing relationship with its founder, with this savior whose 2,000th
birthday anniversary, approximately, it is, then the picture we have of Jesus
becomes paramount.
But we have lost touch with this Jesus, a down-to-earth person who
at the same time incarnated divinity and pointed to a transcendent world.
Scripture scholars and theologians have written endlessly about
this Christ. Millions of words have been published. Yet the image is fading.
The image of Jesus has always come primarily from pictures. Even
the most sophisticated and literate people usually concede their abiding
consciousness of the divinity comes not from words but from visual images,
whether holy pictures or statues or yesterdays masterpieces. Here most of
all a picture is worth a thousand words.
Christs presence in history remained alive to the faithful
through such representations as the Good Shepherd or the Pantocrator, Byzantine
or Renaissance, the infant in a manger or the man on a cross. Each image had
its day. In the 19th century Jesus became romanticized, whether suffering in
the garden or ascending into heaven.
In our century many artists competed to grab Christianitys
imagination, from the dramatic but pallid works of Salvador Dali to the
intense, brooding art of Georges Rouault. But finally, at centurys close,
no image has been created, or re-created, to catch the spirit of the age
dawning ahead of us.
Can it be that the spirit of the age excludes messiahs and
saviors? Or that the mainline churches, wrestling with their various demons,
have smothered the founder? Perhaps that is why our world fails to link the
millennium to the person of Jesus Christ.
Or perhaps its the moment for some artist to transcend these
times and say, in whatever medium: Look! This is the one you have been waiting
for.
We invite art works in any and all visual media, including
painting, drawing, watercolor, mixed media, sculpture, photography, stained
glass, computer art, silk screen, ceramic or other. The search is for a work --
a face, a persona, an image -- that best represents Jesus at 2000.
We will accept slides only, at least in the initial phase; it may
later be necessary to request some works of art.
There will be a first prize of $2,000. There will be three further
prizes of $200.
More important than the prizes will be the distinction of creating
a significant work of art at a privileged and vital moment in our history. Even
in this weary culture there remains a hunger for the divine and an urge to
search for transcendent life. The artist who can seize this moment will have a
bigger reward than money. NCR, with subscribers in 93 foreign countries,
aims to make a wide and deep impression on peoples perception of the
millennium, and we invite artists of all stripes to be partners in this.
While the project is, first and last, a visual art competition,
its nature and purpose require that the theme be paramount. There are
theological and philosophical considerations in this search for an image that
will capture the hopes of a hankering humanity as we walk over the threshold
toward another thousand years together on earth.
Deadline for receipt of slides is Oct. 18. The winners will be
announced and featured in the Christmas (Dec. 24) issue of NCR. A
special issue of the paper will, in addition to the award winners, feature the
work of 30 to 50 of the top entries.
Judging will be by a jury of professionals in art and religion, to
be announced later.
There is a nonrefundable entry fee of $20 for up to three
slides/works, the maximum allowed per artist. Checks and money orders should be
made payable to National Catholic Reporter.
Entry in the competition implies submission to the rules and
decisions of the judges and NCR, and includes permission to use the
winners name and art in NCR; to reproduce the art for publicity
purposes; for any further publication that might be realized; or for possible
public exhibition later. Copyright remains with the artist.
Entries should include slide(s); attached to each slide a label
with title of the work, date of work, precise dimensions and description of
artwork (such as, 20 inches by 60 inches, acrylic), top of work marked clearly;
no glass-mounted slides, please; check; artists name, address, phone
number or e-mail address. We will acknowledge receipt only of those entries
that enclose a stamped, self-addressed card. For eventual return of slide(s),
please enclose stamped, self-addressed envelope. While NCR will take
maximum care of artists work, we cannot be responsible for lost, late or
damaged slides.
Ongoing information about the progress of our search will be
available on NCRs Web site: www.natcath.org
Send entries to ArtSearch, National Catholic Reporter, 115
E. Armour Blvd., Kansas City MO 64111.
We welcome in this issue a
distinguished coterie of new readers: former subscribers to NCRs
erstwhile sister publication, Praying.
Since its founding in 1983, Praying was a spiritual beacon
for a loyal band of readers, but due to the vagaries of the marketplace it
ceased publication with the June issue.
The good news -- we hope -- is that our new readers will find
NCR a compatible and refreshing substitute. Praying wasnt
our sister publication for nothing. Since its inception 35 years ago, this
company has embraced the conviction that the spiritual and the rest of life are
tied in a knot that the world can never quite untie. Life is full of
clichés and lines of poetry to the effect that spirituality is
everywhere we turn a stone or talk to a neighbor. Readers will find this spirit
lurking throughout the pages of our newspaper.
There is, of course, an additional NCR slant on all this.
Its a care about the world, reflected, for example, in this weeks
cover story on ecotheology; its an emphasis on peace and justice, so that
we dont get selfish about spirit; its the lyrical, ebullient lilt
of life as reflected, for example, in our surprisingly popular new poetry page.
Theres more good news. Former Praying editor Rich
Heffern has a column in this issue.
Furthermore, Heffern, an inspiring writer and author of several books, will
continue to write occasional columns in these pages on the themes that made him
so popular in Praying.
And speaking of art, this
weeks cover is yet another reminder of the power of pictures to make a
point. The Sisters of Earth network may well represent the leading edge of a
movement that in the new century will transform our vision of ourselves in the
cosmos. The cover and the illustration on page 3 are the work of St.
Joseph Sr. Mary Southard, LaGrange, Ill. She can be contacted at Ministry of
the Arts: 1-800-354-3504.
-- Michael Farrell
National Catholic Reporter, July 30,
1999
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