Spirituality

A break occurred during the birth of Modernism, in the late 19th century, from religious imagery, as artists sought to convey less the strict subject of faith and more the rhetoric of the transcendent. Artists began to recognize art as religious or spiritual in itself and promoted 'individual revelation, universal brotherhood and spiritual ecstasy'[1].

This break from canonic religious subject matter gave artists the freedom to choose their own subject or, alternatively, non-subject. Post WWII the split that had occurred between religious form and subject matter had open the windows for artists to produced religious or spiritual works irrespective of their faith. This was the beginning of a huge leap that gave the possibility of a universal understanding or tolerance of what is essential or sacred to all 'beings' - spirituality and faith.

Houshiary and Pip Horn's Breathe II, 2004-2005

In my opinion a beautiful example of this amalgamation of artistic revelation and religious or spiritual essence is Shirazeh Houshiary and Pip Horn's Breathe II, a site specific work installed in Battery Park New York from May 2004 to April 2005. The works essence is drawn from the artists Sufi beliefs - the inner, mystical dimensions of Islamic belief, yet its aesthetic qualities seems to adhere to the principles of minimalism - a product or language of western art. Breathe II can also be seen to reference both Constant Brancusi Endless Column 1937 -1938 and the high prismatic tomb towers and minarets of Islamic Architecture[1].

Constant Brancusi, Endless Column, 1937 -1938

The minaret of Mas’ud III at Ghazni, Afghanistan, c1100

This binding of Eastern belief and Western practice gives to the work the possibility of transcending dogmatic classification, it becomes a geometric study into essence and being.

Houshiary and Horm have not only simplified the structure into a sinuous and flowing sculptural form, but have also stripped bared and recreated something that is essential to all of us in a way that is spiritually enthralling yet untainted by religious stigma or classification - the breathe, a most universal aspect of living.

"I set to capture my breathe, to find essence of my own existence, transcending name, nationality, cultures" [2]

- Houshiary draws formal vocabularies from diverse and specific origins, then lets them flow into common forms. [3]

[1] Eleanor Heartney, Art and Today - Art and Spirituality. (London: Phaidon Press Limited, 2008)

[2] Shirazeh Houshiary, Text - Fereshteh Daftari, http://www.shirazehhoushiary.com/

[3] Shirazeh Houshiary, Text - Fereshteh Daftari, http://www.shirazehhoushiary.com/

[4] Shirazeh Houshiary, Text - Fereshteh Daftari, http://www.shirazehhoushiary.com/

Images;

• Houshiary and Pip Horn's Breathe II, 2004-2005, NY - http://i1.exhibit-e.com/lehmannmaupin/e6501a9b.jpg
• Constant Brancusi, Endless Column, 1937 -1938 - http://www.lausterradu.com/index.php?cat=1&sec=6&prj=22
• The minaret of Mas’ud III at Ghazni, Afghanistan, c1100 - http://www.historywiz.com/galleries/minaretofmasudIII.htm