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Past Exhibitions

Browse the chronological list of past exhibitions at the Saint Louis University Museum of Contemporary Art (MOCRA), or search for a specific exhibition. Click “View” for more information about an exhibition. If you need further information about an exhibition, please contact us.

Sanctuaries: Recovering the Holy in Contemporary Art, Part Two – Three Major Installations

Sanctuaries: Recovering the Holy in Contemporary Art, Part Two – Three Major Installations

April 18, 1993 to August 29, 1993

MOCRA's two-part inaugural exhibition features more than 100 works from an wide-ranging roster of artists working in styles ranging from traditional Western figuration to minimalist and geometric abstraction. The artists, generally in their 30s, 40s, and 50s, tend to be disillusioned with the celebrity mentality prevalent in the art world today, and in response are seeking the “spiritual.” Their faith or religious practices are not always particularly orthodox, and in fact many draw from various beliefs and philosophies. While pervasive, the movement is not organized, and for the artists the pursuit is risky, personally and professionally.

MOCRA Founding Director, Terrence Dempsey, SJ, notes that, "For some of them, having faith is tough. They have to struggle. These are not commissioned works-they are the work of an artist pursuing personal vision or questions. . . .These artists have often been met with indifference and sometimes suspicion by religious and cultural institutions. Yet they have pursed this exploration even when it was financially unwise. They have done so because they perceived something was in danger of being lost: a sense of mystery, ritual, tradition—a sense that a major dimension of being human was being ignored."

The title "Recovering the Holy" in part alludes to the rediscovery by many contemporary artists of the power of art with a spiritual dimension to engage the viewer affectively. Their art is compelling precisely because of the struggle.

Part Two features major installations by Paul Kos, Thomas Skomski, and Michael Tracy. Other artists include:

Seyed Alavi | Lita Albuquerque | Craig Antrim | Eleanor Dickinson | Donald Grant | Steven Heilmer | Tobi Kahn | Frank LaPena | Stephen Luecking | Jim Morphesis | James Rosen | Susan Schwalb | Brian Tripp

Sanctuaries offers an overview of a movement that gained momentum in the 1980s and has grown in strength in the early 1990s. A generation of artists have begun to renew their interest in the religious and spiritual dimensions of art, and within the last dozen years or so they have achieved recognition in the mainstream art world for the spiritual concerns which form the substance of their work. | Terrence Dempsey, SJ

above:
Installation view of Sanctuaries: Recovering the Holy in Contemporary Art, Part Two at MOCRA, 1993. Photo by Cheryl Ungar.

Related programming

The Artist and Sacred Space

Episode 6: Ralph Peterson and Jane Daggett Dillenberger

Episode 10: MOCRA Memories - The Early Years

Episode 14: MOCRA Memories - Berkeley

Episode 15: MOCRA Memories - Sanctuaries