Customer Reviews

On the Strange Place of Religion in Contemporary Art

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James Elkins (Professor of Art History and Theory at the School of the Art Institute in Chicago), presents On The Strange Place Of Religion In Contemporary Art, an in-depth exploration of the complex dilemma of the modern artist concerning to what extent his art should reflect his faith. Even as art historians separate art from spirituality, the long history of art has been intertwined since long, long before the Renaissance. On The Strange Place Of Religion In Contemporary Art explores the dichotomy through the stories of five individuals, and turns over key terms and ideas scholars express when analyzing religious themes and motifs found in the art world. Highly recommended reading especially for art critics and art history students, seeking to better understand both their knowledge base and their descriptive vocabulary of the great works they view.

Read this book with care! I recently took a class on religion in contemporary art. In the class, we used Elkins' book as duscussion fodder, and the general consensus was that the author's already rigidly formed ideas about the ideal placement of spirituality in contemporary art informed every story and it's explanation. Note the use of the word "spirituality" rather than "religion" in the above statement. Like most modern authors, Elkins confuses the definition of the two. This is a book about SPIRITUALITY in art, not religious influence or flavor. On the whole, the five stories contained within its pages are interesting illustrations of varying artists' methods and meanings, but in the last half of the book (where Elkins deconstructs each story from a decidedly skewed point of view) I found the explanations trite and tedious, and somewhat forced into the broader spectrum of art history. In short, read the book if you will, but read with care.

This book has an interesting title and an interesting cover, but that's basically where it ends. I am returning this book and I do not recommend that you buy it. The fact that Walmart also sells it should have been a give away.