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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.

Regina DeLuise: Vast Bhutan – Images from the Phenomenal World

Regina DeLuise: Vast Bhutan – Images from the Phenomenal World

January 24, 2015 to May 10, 2015

The images in this exhibition, taken in Thimpu, Bhutan in 2010, center on the ordinary surroundings of a culture both remarkable and mysterious (Bhutan only opened its borders in the 1950s and still strongly restricts tourism). Bhutan’s history is intricately woven with Tibetan Buddhism. There is little separation: Monks and lamas are a vibrant and integral part of the community, elders spend their days in prayer, young and old make their pilgrimage to monasteries that seem to hang from the sides of mountains. The idea of devotion in every aspect of one's life is not exotic or unrealistic.

While planning a sabbatical, artist Regina DeLuise was captivated by both the natural beauty of the Bhutanese landscape and the Bhutanese government’s interest in measuring the country’s Gross National Happiness. Through the Bhutan Foundation, she was introduced to Voluntary Artists’ Studio, Thimphu, popularly known as VAST, which seeks to provide Bhutanese youth with opportunities to develop vocational skills, share social responsibilities, and interact with the national and international art realm. During her extended seven-week sojourn in Bhutan, recalls DeLuise, “I was very fortunate to be welcomed into this remarkable group of artists, mentoring and teaching children about all aspects of creative living.”

DeLuise’s photos attend to the material aspects of a spiritual life. Continuing her investigation into the mundane and sublime aspects of her surroundings, with light as her central theme, the generosity of the culture is at the heart of this work. DeLuise says, “Young artists, monks and ‘householders’ welcomed me into their lives to document and explore a culture so different from my own.”

Regina DeLuise was born in Brooklyn, NY. She received her BFA from SUNY Purchase and an MA from Rosary College, Graduate School of Fine Arts in Florence, Italy, and was awarded a Guggenheim Fellowship in 1993. Her work is in the collection of a number of major institutions, including the Museum of Modern Art and the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York, the Houston Museum of Fine Art, the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art, and the Art Institute of Chicago. Presently DeLuise serves as the Chair of Photography at Maryland Institute College of Art (MICA) in Baltimore, MD. DeLuise has worked as far abroad as Italy, India, Nepal, and, most recently Thimphu, Bhutan. Light is at the heart of DeLuise’s practice, whether she is photographing the body, a landscape, or a still life. In addition to palladium prints, over the last few years she has begun producing archival ink jet prints from her 8×10 negatives, intrigued by the larger image and the access it offers the viewer.

“The physical nature of working with an 8×10 view camera places me solidly in the physical world. The palladium print is another layer of the sensual and tactile reality that has always been at the heart of my work.”

above:
Regina DeLuise, Monks Practicing, Thimphu, Bhutan, 2010. Archival pigment print. MOCRA collection. Photo courtesy of the artist.

Episode 2: Adrian Kellard

Listen to an interview with Regina DeLuise on St. Louis Public Radio's "Cityscape"