Saints and tragic martyrdom, magnificent icons, the metaphysical abyss of the sublime, academic pilgrimages, sacred tongues and a corrupted hierarchy controlled by the most influential figures: forgive me father but the modern art gallery—the sanctified white cube space that succeeds in defining the epitome of high art—is beginning to sound more like the Catholic church. I will explore the key resemblances between the gallery and the Church as a reaction to the testament that the gallery has replaced the church for a society that has departed for the most part from theology (Kosuth, 1969: 9). This essay will explore the following points in order to show how the gallery is like a church in the way that it is built to emulate the sublime and is treated as a place of worship; in how the gallery’s walls are adorned with the icons; how artists are imbued with a saint like status by the art world; the gallery has orthodox followers who, like devotes of the church, exercise ritualistic devotion to the art world and use a similar, cryptic language, and finally how the gallery is like the church in that it has profited from society’s dedication to it. This essay argues that art like religion has become a power structure defined by its wealth and not what it seemingly offers: a place to explore the history of wo/man’s search for the true, the good and the meaningful. With the secularisation of western society, philosophies brake from theology and the banished nature of theological discourses is now to be found among art’s devotees. The gallery has come to be a post-modern place of worship that adheres to the modern cry for something to believe in. Through critical research based on Brian Doherty’s (1978) Inside the white cube on the ideology of the gallery space and the concept of the gallery space as consecrating, I examine the way art is assigned value through research into the history of visual art’s connection to theology and spirituality. The aim of this essay is to draw comparisons between the gallery and the church so as to highlight the value of art in a secularised society. It is also the aim of this essay to draw attention to the overly serious nature in which the gallery presents this. It will not draw any definite conclusions about what it is that is worshipped in the gallery, however I hope that the four sections of this essay: The gallery as a place of worship, Saints and Martyrs, Orthodox followers of the gallery; the worship of Academia and the final section on Money and Power, will be thought provoking in the comparisons that they draw and lead readers to scrutinise the true nature of the contemporary gallery and its ramifications on our view of art.
The gallery as a place of worship
In both the church and the gallery we are offered a sensory and metaphysical glimpse into the sublime that stems from sublimis, which means height or climax (Kirk, 2008: 8). The word is taken literality within the church’s high ceilings that are designed to draw attention to the sky or ‘heavens’. Through what the gallery and church both offer conceptually, and through the specific ways in which these buildings are architecturally designed with the sublime in mind, they present us with a sense of greatness and of power that we associate with the notion of ‘gods’. The church is a timeless place, separate from the outside world to provide a space that denotes eternity beyond our sinful lives and mortal bodies. Upon entering the gallery however we are engulfed into a different sort of sublime. For O’Doherty (1978: 42) the gallery is the space that “offers the thought that while the eyes and minds are welcome, space occupying bodies, are not.” The infinite comes from the jarringly spotless white walls propelling us into a space that alienates our bodies and creates what some might call “a place for the mind in a world that is fundamentally physical” (Jaegwon, 2000: 5). The eternity suggested in an exhibition space provides an unworldly environment similar to that of the church and as a result we accept it a place of devotion and of ritualistic contemplation: a context where “a standing ashtray becomes almost a sacred object” (McEvilly, 1986: 15).
Figure 1. Sarah Morris Bye Bye Brazil at the White Cube Gallery, London (2013)
O’Doherty observed that in a gallery the outside world is banished, so windows are sealed off. The almighty fluorescent lights give power to and illuminate the objects, which adorn the gallery’s pure and transcendent belly. As we walk through the gallery we will act in a way very similar to how we would in a church. We will whisper, we will act respectfully and we will not touch what is deemed divine. These are rules we intrinsically adhere to because the gallery’s design demands that we recognise it as a place of great importance where access to a higher metaphysical realm seems available. Kosuth (1969: 9) wrote that after philosophy and religion, art might possibly fulfil what another age might have called our spiritual needs. Spirituality is one way of finding the meaning we naturally seek in a secularising world. Arguably art has replaced religion and the gallery has evolved into place of worship because it is a place to go in search of meaning.
Saints and martyrs
Figure 2. Raphael ‘Disputation of the Holy Sacrament’ (1510)
The gallery becomes a compensation for the decline of religion when its walls are adorned with icons. What lies behind the sanctified objects in the gallery: who are the saints and martyrs of the art mythology? I would contend that what we worship now may well be the artists themselves and what it is they represent. We know that the early ‘Church’ had paintings in the Roman catacombs before the first churches were built. Glorifying iconography depicts the religious figures and art has therefore been intrinsically tied with religion as a form of worshipping and understanding as a
conveyer of the proclamation (Hofman & Friedhelm, 2012: 3-9). The icons in the church take a human form and we respond to signs of subjects—things that apparently return our gaze (Bell, 1998-41). The human as a sign in an anthropocentric manner represents the embodiment of transient, spiritual and metaphysical complexities, to communicate moral teachings. This desire to worship an anthropomorphic form has resulted in the imbuing of sanctified prestige onto artists themselves and not necessarily just their creations. God created us in his image then we created gods in ours.
Figure 3. Jackson Pollock Mural (1943)
Arguably the most well known name in art, Picasso, is granted the heroic status by the art world elite, to become the art world icon. The status appointed to the Titans of art history goes beyond celebrity and beyond genius and contemporary artists are well aware of this fact. Brian O’Doherty said himself “I am now a saint” (O’Doherty: 2018). An example of glorified martyrdom is the myth of Jackson Pollock and its attendant anecdotes. These represent the persuasive allure of the romantic story associated with the contemporary ideal of what an artist should be—myths are enticing after all (Mancusi-Unargo, 2017: 111). Jackson Pollock’s myth is of a tortured man, who driven by ‘divine inspiration’ painted through the night to deliver the product of his moon lit voyage (Mural, 1943) to the high priestess, Peggy Guggenheim (Mancusi-Unargo, 2017: 111). His Alcoholism contributed to his image as a tortured artist and the drink driving accident that ended his life perpetuated his status of sainthood in the art pantheon. The aura of this legacy is the art world’s glorification of artistic martyrdom and much like the church, this saint status grants the artist immortality, for his presence will forever be preserved and glorified in the gallery.
Orthodox followers of the gallery: the worship of academia
Much like with the church, we have in the art world hard core devotes and orthodox followers for which their beliefs in the sanctity of academic contemporary art offer them redemption from the human condition. Since the 1960’s Conceptual and Minimalist art works attempted to exist in a realm devoid of the sin of aesthetic pleasure to focus on the dematerialization of the art object (Wallace, 2014). Their creators are embarking on ascetic epistemological pilgrimages to the shrine of academic ratification and enlightenment. In the same way a committed devoted nun or a priest will resist temptations of the body, debaucherous in nature, Conceptualists and art world academics rid their work of aesthetic value in the hope of elevating it to a promised position of sanctity and the purity of aesthetic chastity. The anchorite and the artist follow promises made by the holy canons that they live in accordance with.
Figure 4. Carl Andre Last Ladder (1959)
Both worlds rely on a cryptic language: ‘International Art English’ is the sacred language for the gallery that elevates the viability of their faith by utilising “linguistic elaborations to mark itself off from the common herd” (Leach, 1954). It asserts a sense of knowing and of authority because what the gallery values is symbolic, interpretable: hence the ability to interpret—the power to sanctify certain things and ideas is significant and critical—precious even (Rule & Lavine: 2017). International Art English consists of self-initialised contradictions that will make very little sense to most people and potentially even the people speaking it. The main point of its presence is to assert authority. This elitist language, which you often hear accompanied by the consumption of wine at a typical exhibition opening gives the allure of prestige and because of its rootedness in academic language, connotes the presence of money. It is similar in this way, to Latin.
Latin is internationally recognised as a holy language, one that is spoken in the Vatican in the presence of sacred Raphael art works. The ancient language connotes sanctity and even more so now that it is only taught in private education, to the most privileged groups of people. This makes it a language not only of power because of its associations with the church, but also of Wealth. Which brings me to my next final point.
Money and power
If the gallery has become a place of worship, that is adorned with icons and home to a sacred language, O’Doherty (1978: 19) also tells us that the gallery is similar in that it not only offers people contact with something regarded as magically joined with eternity that it is thus able to provide access to it or contact with it, —but also, however, it financially profits from this greatly.
Art, along with philosophy in my opinion, has been a quest to understand the meaning and repercussions of existing. Hofman & Friedhelm (2012: 5) go back to the discoveries of the cave paintings in Altamira, France and at Ayers Rock in Australia, to draw attention to the human quest for the meaning of life and coping with it in works of art created more than 20,000 years ago. Dedication to the creation of art remains a constituent of worship and the creation of such art can be said to give life a sense of meaning. Believing in something larger and more important than ones’ self is a very important part of life for most. However the gallery much like the church has inevitably profited from this: “money is everywhere art is” (Lovell, 2009:1).
However, just like within the church, most of this wealth belongs to a tiny group of the most elite and powerful, the high priests and popes so to say, of the art world. The commodity has truly become a fetish when symbolic spiritual value is assigned a
monetary value. Much of the symbolic value we attach to art is transubstantiated into its monetary value. What makes the gallery so powerful is a form of consecration: its ability to convert someone into being desirable and worshipful is based on the enormous amounts of money the art works on display represent. What is presented in the gallery does not represent ‘the best’, although this is a disputable term, what is undisputable remains that what is in actuality being displayed, in most cases, is what is most likely to sell and increase reputation accordingly (Arselan : 2018). Prestigious and sanctified art works are deemed ‘priceless’ which otherwise means very expensive. Some might construe this as also meaning very important.
Ninetto (1998: 279) thought that capitalism had succeeded in defining the meaning of art. The collection of money is important to discuss when looking at the gallery as a place of worship because of what it is that money represents within a capitalist society: it is an everyday, inseparable and unavoidable companion that inevitably affects the quality of life. It could may well be agreed that to a lot of people money represents a sense of the adulation of the promise of freedom (Luburić, 2017: 4). When in the gallery, we come face to face with some of the most expensive objects in the world; they represent some of the deepest yearnings and creative outpourings of humanity. However the fact remains that they also represent enormous amounts of wealth. Within the gallery, money and capital has succeeded in defining the true value of works of art. The art works collected and curated within the gallery are usually done so under the aegis of capitalism. The gallery much like any institution that gains enormous power and wealth has inevitably become corrupt. The church and gallery are corrupted industries. However this does not minimize the value of worship and spirituality. It is crucial to remember that the church does not define religion and neither too, does the gallery define art. Capitalism has in my opinion succeeded in defining the true nature of the gallery but this does not mean capitalism defines the meaning of art. Perhaps it is time for art’s break with the religious doctrine of the mainstream gallery.
To conclude, as a catalyst for connecting with a sense of eternity and the metaphysical, art has gained new meaning particularly so since its break with the church (De-Botton: 2012). It is important to discuss the similarities between the gallery and the church when you hear statements like “museums of art are the new churches” being made regularly (De-Botton: 2012). We have seen from this essay that in four crucial ways the gallery is much like the church. Firstly we have seen that the gallery has evolved into a seemingly unchallengeable white cube format, which described in detail by O’Doherty provides a setting that’s purpose is similar to that of religious buildings in that they contain like religious verities, art works that appear untouched by time. The design of the gallery, white walls and bright lights that illuminate from above, alludes to the sublime in a similar way to the design of the church. The church achieves its sense of sublime through height and grander, the gallery through illusion. The art world mythology mirrors the celebration of icons in the church just as the legacies left behind by artists such as Jackson Pollock have been glorified by the art world, even marketed as something that grants sainthood and immortality in the gallery despite their underlying tragic nature. I have also shown that the gallery has devotees who, in accordance with the art world canon, in a manor similar to that of anchorites have taken on a form of chastity in the hope of elevating their faith and receiving beatification. The sanctified value of academia in the art world mirrors some of the more ancient associations with the church. The use of International Art English in the gallery promotes prestige and wealth in a way similar to that of Latin. From this we have seen the importance of authority and money in the mainstream white cube gallery. This has become increasingly corrupted by the influence of money, and gives a very narrow view of contemporary art because so much of what it values now has little to do with the spiritual and human value of works of art, but more to do with marketing, popularity and monetary worth. The gallery has succeeded in making contemporary art seem so sacred, that to most people it seems daunting. The modern gallery has some thought provoking similarities to the church. At its core, the gallery should be a place we can go in search of meaning, for art throughout history has been a central discipline in our understanding of reality and the human condition much like the worshipping of ‘god’s’.
Bibliography
Bell, Julian (1999). What is Painting? Representation and modern art. Thames and Hudson Printing Limited.
Burke, Edmund (1958). A Philosophical Enquiry into the Origin of our Ideas of the Sublime and Beautiful. Great Britain: Routledge and Kegan Paul Limited
C. Mancusi-unargo, Carol (2017) On Myth and Physical Fact. Getty Research Journal, Vol. 9, pp111- 117. JSTOR,
DeBotten, Allain (2012) Why Our Museums Of Art Have Failed Us And What They Might Learn From Religions Available from: https://www.huffingtonpost.com/alain-de-botton/why-our- museums-of-art-ha_b_1327694.html (Accessed 3rd November 2018)
Elefterin, Zoe. “Meet the Female CEO who’s creating change in the art world” V Magazine (2012) Available from: https://vmagazine.com/article/meet-this-female-ceo-whos-creating-change-in-the-art- world/?fbclid=IwAR3ji8P1ShyILAEdjuMuVpVKFn1MIlUOKv1zW0D_QEiJGy1ijByW AiIvyto (Accessed: 28 November 2018)
Jaegwon Kim, Mind in a Physical World—An Essay on the Mind-Body Problem and Mental Causation (A Bradford Book, MIT Press, Cambridge, MA, 2000), 2.
Hofmann, Friedhelm. (2012) Church Art and Faith for Our Times.” The Furrow, vol. 63, no. 11, pp. 523–531.
Kosuth, Joseph (1969) Art After Philosophy, reprinted from Studio International (October, 1969)
Lovell, Margaretta M. (2009) “Money.” American Art, vol. 23, no. 1, pp. 4–7. JSTOR
Sherrie Levine Artist Overview and Analysis. (2018.) TheArtStory.org Content compiled and written by The Art Story Contributors Edited and published by The Art Story Contributors Available from: https://www.theartstory.org/artist-levine-sherrie.htm (Accessed 25 Nov 2018)
O’Doherty, B. (1978). Inside the white cube: The ideology of the gallery space. Berkeley: University of California Press.
Rule, Alix & Levine, David International Art English (2017) Available from: https://www.canopycanopycanopy.com/contents/international_art_english (Accessed 12th November 2018)
Wilkinson, Judith (2018) ‘I Am Now a Saint’: Brian O’Doherty Turns 90’ Available from: https://frieze.com/article/i-am-now-saint-brian-odoherty-turns-90 (Accessed 12th November 2018)
Ninetto, Amy. “Culture Sells: Cézanne and Corporate Identity.” Cultural Anthropology, vol. 13, no. 2, 1998, pp. 256–282. JSTOR, JSTOR, http://www.jstor.org/stable/656552.
New Minds Eye 