Icons

Throughout history, icon painting was one of the oldest forms of Christian art, typically realized through small-scale devotional panel paintings. The icon figure was represented in a manner that emphasized the subject's holiness over their humanity, shadowless figures rejoicing in the eternal light of the Kingdom of God. Not only does iconography offer its viewer a direct communion with the sacred figures it depicts; the medium transcends a painting into a spiritual object. Our Summer group exhibition Icons tackles the lineage of icon painting, particularly the notion that a painting itself can be a spiritual object apart from what it’s depicting. Here, we examine how artists today engage with contemporary modes of worship and the sociological status of painting. How does the past and present concept of “the icon” illuminate different relationships between applied arts, high arts, religion, and commerce? What forms of modern devotion make up our lives, whether that be celebrity, media, technology, or the natural world?