Spring 2024 Gallery Guide

Andy Julo (b. 1986)

digital photograph  |  MOCRA collection • a gift of the artist

Andy Julo is an interdisciplinary artist with a background in printmaking, camera-less photography, and installation-based media. His work draws connections between the human body, the shared past, and the cosmos by reimagining ancient stories, traditional forms, and symbolic codes. Currently, Julo serves as the director/curator of the Verostko Center for the Arts at Saint Vincent College in Latrobe, Pennsylvania. 

The title of this work alludes to the Nicene Creed, a centuries-old statement of Christian belief. In particular, it is an affirmation of Jesus’ coequal divinity with God the Father. The artist notes,

Light from Light imagines the entombment of Christ in anticipation of the resurrection. This is a space of ultimate darkness where the paradox of rebirth is at hand. The photographic negative allows for the near-life-size body to be illuminated from within rather than a halo surrounding the head of the figure to indicate divine presence. By employing a model who identifies as queer and was raised Jewish in a remote part of Oklahoma, I am drawing a parallel with the Suffering Servant described in the Book of Isaiah — a prefigurement of Christ who achieves exaltation through despisement and anguish. Contemporary tensions such as these recall the mysteries and complexities of faith in a God we cannot see or touch, but who is intimately bound within our being and becoming.

Dan Ramirez (b. 1941)

acrylic on canvas, oak  |  MOCRA collection • a gift of Georgia G. James and Richard T. James, Jr.

Chicago-based artist Daniel Ramirez is highly regarded for elegant minimalist works. His work is found in public and private collections throughout America. In 2017 his work was the subject of a major retrospective at the Chazen Museum of Art at the University of Wisconsin-Madison. Ramirez cites as his primary influences Romanesque and Gothic architecture, the writings of Austrian-British philosopher Ludwig Wittgenstein, and the music of French composer Olivier Messiaen.

This work utilizes a shape favored by the artist, the trapezoid. Gracefully arcing lines recall the arches and vaulting of Gothic churches in subtle tonal gradations of greys, blues, purples and light beiges. An almost undetectable shift of perspective throughout the work draws us in and suspends us in space. The work appears to hover in front of the wall, forming an environment of harmony and grace conducive to quiet contemplation.

Jim Morphesis (b. 1948)

oil, magna, wood, cloth, paper, cardboard, and gold leaf on wood panel  |  MOCRA collection

Since the 1980s, Jim Morphesis has been one of the most influential members of the expressionist art movement in Los Angeles. His paintings express a deep, universal concern with the dehumanization of society throughout history. He often produces numerous works on a particular theme, such as Christ’s Passion (influenced by his Greek Orthodox upbringing), nude torsos (inspired by Rembrandt, Velázquez, and Soutine) and universal symbols of mortality, including skulls and roses. His paintings are characterized by sensuous, textured surfaces. 

Skulls have long appeared in art as a form of memento mori, or a reminder of our mortality. According to the Gospels, Jesus was executed on Golgotha (“Skull Place”). While traditional representations of the Crucifixion often include bones scattered on the ground, the skull is the sole image in this work.

The dramatic and gestural handling of paint on a ground of splintered wood causes the image to break down the closer the viewer approaches, echoing the decomposition process. Morphesis notes, “It is important for me that a work be very physical and not just look physical. I employ used pieces of wood because they come with their own history and their own character.” The subtle use of greens and blues suggests a possibility of transformation and renewed existence. 

Frederick J. Brown (1945–2012)

from The Life of Christ Altarpiece
oil and mixed media on canvas  |  MOCRA collection • a gift of the Enid and Crosby Kemper Foundation, UMB Bank of St. Louis, and UMB Financial Corporation

Frederick J. Brown drew on many sources for his paintings, including his African American and Choctaw ancestry, his religious upbringing, and the folklore of the South. He referenced religious, historical and urban themes in his work, but was especially noted for his numerous portraits of jazz and blues artists. His work shows the influence of the German Expressionists and the American Abstract Expressionists, especially that of his mentor and friend, Willem de Kooning. 

In 1992, Brown offered to execute a large, multi-paneled altarpiece based on the life of Christ for the soon-to-open MOCRA. The resulting Life of Christ Altarpiece was completed in 1995 and is comprised of a central triptych (The Baptism, The Descent from the Cross, and The Resurrection) and two side panels (The Madonna and Child and The Descent into Hell)

The Madonna and Child

Madonna and Child is the hallmark piece of this set. The strong, iconic Mary emerges out of a long tradition of portraying Mary as Theotokos (“God-bearer”) and Sedes Sapientiae (“Seat of Wisdom”). She embraces the child Jesus, the most naturalistic of the figures in the altarpiece. The child has a melancholic expression that indicates, even at this early age, an understanding of all that is to come.

The Descent into Hell

According to tradition, just prior to his resurrection, the spirit of Christ entered into the realm of the dead and released the spirits of the important figures of the Old Testament so they could participate in the Resurrection. Christ’s spirit then rejoined his body for his own Resurrection. For Brown, the idea of a “descent into hell” had modern and even personal resonances, a deeply felt understanding of what it is to look into the abyss and to be overwhelmed by the various struggles of life. His return to the style of Abstract Expressionism that he used in the 1970s and the removal of all figural elements heighten the sense of vast, even limitless despair. Yet, there is also a sense of triumph over those difficulties, expressed through the spirits that are ascending. It is the culmination of a significant, modern treatment of the life of Christ.

Luis González Palma (b. 1957)

photograph on linen mounted on board  |  MOCRA collection • a partial gift of Phyllis L. Weber

An awareness of current political and social conditions is evident in the work of Guatemalan artist Luis González Palma, one of Latin America’s most significant contemporary photographers. Frequently his subjects are Guatemala’s indigenous Maya, who have endured centuries of violence and indignity but who fiercely preserve and promote their cultural heritage. González Palma’s often dramatically manipulated prints evoke both history and timeless mystery.

It is common in Guatemalan society for indigenous people to cast their eyes down in the presence of someone of a higher social class. González Palma’s subjects often arrest viewers with their intense gaze (la mirada), asserting a sense of dignity they might rarely experience.

The term Santo Sudario can refer to Veronica’s veil (which miraculously retained an image of Christ’s face when she wiped the blood and sweat from it on the road to the Cross) or to the cloth used to clean and cover Jesus’ head after the crucifixion. In this representation, a mature Maya bearing a thorny crown looks directly at the viewer. We might ask ourselves, are our eyes open to see those who suffer in our midst, and how have we responded?

Michael David (b. 1954)

pigment and wax on panel  |  MOCRA collection • a gift of Zita Rosenthal

Michael David is best known for his use of the encaustic technique, which incorporates pigment with heated beeswax. He notes,

My work has its roots in three great schools of art to emerge out of New York City: Abstract Expressionism, the great jazz of the 1950s, and early 1970s punk rock. For me, the commonality between these three art forms consists of a direct, intense physicality borne of improvisation; a desperate search for content created out of materiality, gesture and process ... I believe painting is a secular spiritual practice and at its highest levels speaks to our better nature. The more the artist is transformed by their process, the more one 'lets go' of control, the more open the experience and the greater the record of that transformation. This experience actualizes the state of being part of something larger than ourselves, something we feel and know but don’t fully understand — something greater than oneself.

The surface of Missing in Action is covered with irregular chunks of red encaustic wax. Described by one commentator as a “red badge of courage,” this work may be perceived by some viewers as being covered with red flowers. But, horrifyingly, the wax can also appear to be human flesh. This work bears witness to the unspeakable suffering of Jewish communities during periods of persecution, especially the Holocaust. Yet in its grand scale, it also testifies to a spirit of perseverance, resilience, and even hope in the face of such evil.

Donald Grant (d. 2016)

acrylic on panel under tempered glass  |  MOCRA collection • a gift of the artist

The late Bay Area artist Donald Grant worked in ceramic, mixed media and painting. He often incorporated references to the human figure in his art, and explored the interconnection among people, mortality, and the possibility that spirituality offers for transcending the pain of being human. 

Vessel alludes to themes of epiphany, destruction, vulnerability, receptivity and transformation. This vessel floats in space like an idealized Platonic object whose calm waters are disrupted where something new and unexpected has been poured in. The suddenness of change is magnified by the shattered glass affixed to the painting — one of the most stable and permanent, yet fragile, of materials explodes in a lively play of light on its facets. We might read this as a metaphor for impermanent human bodies that are temporary containers for a universal and eternal spirit.

Adrian Kellard (1959–1991)

latex on wood  |  courtesy of the estate of Adrian Kellard

Adrian Kellard was a skilled draftsman and artist (he studied art at SUNY Purchase and SUNY Empire State), but he chose to work in everyday materials and in a folk-like style—he came from blue-collar roots and sought to create art that would be accessible to people of all social standings. Throughout his art, Kellard explored his experience as an Irish-Italian, Catholic, gay man loved by God.

The Promise references the legend of St. Christopher, who had the birth name Reprobus and was of gigantic stature. After a period of spiritual searching, he began living a life of service by assisting people across a dangerous river. One day a little boy asked Reprobus to carry him across the river. Reprobus was soon struggling as if he were carrying the weight of the world, but eventually, they reached the other side. The child told Reprobus that indeed he had been bearing all the world, but also the One who created the world. The child then revealed himself as Christ and vanished. From that point on, Reprobus was known as Christopher, Greek for “Christ–bearer.” He became the patron saint particularly of travelers, but also of athletes, and his image was especially popular in the Medieval, Renaissance, and Baroque periods.

In The Promise, made just two years before Kellard’s untimely death from AIDS-related causes, Kellard portrays himself in the role of St. Christopher. The enigmatic text, “I will never leave you,” seems to assert love, hope, compassion, and loyalty. The image expresses endurance and perseverance in the midst of suffering. Yet it remains ambiguous as to which figure is speaking the words, or perhaps they are addressing each other.

The Promise was included in the 1992–1993 international traveling exhibition From Media to Metaphor: Art about AIDS, and in the 1994 exhibition Art’s Lament: Creativity in the Face of Death, organized by the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum in Boston.

Jeffrey Gerard Miller (b. 1970)

mixed media  |  MOCRA collection • a gift of the artist

Multidisciplinary St. Louis artist Jeffrey Miller is equally accomplished in visual art, performance, and design. Miller notes, “Most any artist will tell you that they use what is available to them at any given time to meet the demands of the creative urge,” and in this case Miller assembled various found objects and imbued them with evocative meanings. An eagle, part of a weather vane that used to be perched atop Miller’s childhood home, takes the place of the traditional Christian representation of the Holy Spirit as a dove. A chalk line, used in carpentry to define true lines, suspends a pallino, the target ball in the game of bocce. 

The interaction of horizontal and vertical planes, the chalk line passing through the seat of the chair and balancing the orb, and the references to direction and guidance, all suggest the role of bridging the divine and human traditionally attributed to the Holy Spirit. As Miller observes, “This work is about guidance, trust, patience. It’s about trying to understand the infinite, not so much on my terms, but at least in a language that makes sense to me.” 

Susan Schwalb (b. 1944)

gold leaf, silverpoint, and acrylic on paper |  MOCRA collection • a gift of the artist

New York-based Susan Schwalb is one of the foremost figures in the revival of the ancient technique of silverpoint drawing in America. A silverpoint drawing is made by dragging a silver rod or wire across a prepared surface. (Other metals can be used as well, referred to generally as metalpoint). In contrast to the traditional use of silverpoint for figurative imagery, Schwalb’s work is resolutely abstract, and her handling of the technique is highly innovative.

This work comes from a series inspired by illuminations from the celebrated Sarajevo Haggadah, which dates from around 1350 and contains the traditional texts recited at the Passover Seder, accompanied by illustrations. Schwalb was drawn to the haggadah’s illuminations representing the creation of the world. In this work, images of the sun and the moon, of land and water, emerge from a luminous gold leaf void. Siverpoint tracery undulates across the surfaces, suggesting the creative energies active at the birth of the cosmos.

Salma Arastu (b. 1950)

acrylic on canvas  |  MOCRA collection

Salma Arastu was born in the northern Indian state of Rajasthan, home to sites sacred to both Hindus and Muslims. A major turning point in her life came when Arastu married her husband, a Muslim, and converted to Islam from the Hindu tradition in which she was raised. Eventually, the couple settled in the San Francisco Bay Area, where Arastu continues to create work in a variety of media, including painting, drawing, printmaking and sculpture.

In this work, Arastu brings the beauty and elegance of Arabic calligraphy into dialogue with modern Western art movements like Abstract Expressionism and Color Field painting. Her text is a passage from the Quran, one that she believes reflects a positive, universal message:

... Who listens to the (soul) distressed when it calls on Him, and who relieves its suffering ...  (Al-Quran 27:62)