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Bernard Maisner: The Hourglass and the Spiral
February 3, 2017 to April 2, 2017
Bernard Maisner (b.1954) is regarded internationally as one of the greatest contemporary masters of calligraphy. Maisner first became familiar with illuminated manuscripts during his studies at The Cooper Union in New York. He went on to teach Medieval and Renaissance manuscript illumination methods and techniques and was a guest lecturer and researcher at such prominent institutions as the Biblioth猫que Nationale in Paris, the Cloisters Museum of the Metropolitan Museum of Art, the Getty Museum in Malibu, California, and the Morgan Library and Museum. His work is represented in some of this country's most prestigious private and public collections, including the Morgan Library and Museum and the Philadelphia Museum of Art.
An accomplished painter as well as a master calligrapher and manuscript illuminator, Maisner brings together materials and design in unexpected ways. He engages texts from diverse, sometimes surprising sources (Kierkegaard, Nin, Kafka, and Heraclitus, to name just a few) and arrives at a vibrant compositional and scribal expression strongly rooted in the past but conveyed with a fresh contemporary visual vocabulary. Maisner's simultaneous search for meaning through his art takes him in the direction of the infinite, of opposites, of things mystical and unanswerable. The result is stunning works of art that are ravishing in their beauty and intriguing in their mystery. More recently Maisner has made a foray into social calligraphy, creating elaborately embellished styles of writing for clients including Oprah Winfrey, Alicia Keys, and Sir Elton John. He is also on-call for Hollywood; his hands have played Johnny Depp in
Long-time visitors to MOCRA may recall that in 1998, MOCRA organized an exhibition of Maisner's work titled Entrance to the Scriptorium that traveled nationally to five venues. That exhibition was made possible through significant financial support and loans of artwork from Peter and Helen Du Bois. Helen recalls that they enjoyed exploring the New York galleries together, and discovered Maisner's work at the Cavin Morris Gallery. According to Helen, they both were "immediately impressed with the intricacy and beauty of Bernard's works. Peter seemed always to be drawn to artists who expressed some kind of spiritual feeling. This is certainly true of Bernard's works." Peter Du Bois died in March 2015. Later that year, Helen donated to MOCRA six of Maisner's large-scale paintings, which the artist describes as "giant miniatures." We are pleased to display these works, alongside a number of smaller scale works by the artist, also from the Du Bois collection. MOCRA Director Terrence Dempsey, SJ, notes that, "Through this exhibition we wish to thank Helen for her generous gift, and honor Peter's memory."
I believe those of us that are puzzled by our own existence are the ones that are called spiritual. Art that acknowledges or points to these unanswerable questions is seen as spiritual. Some people see life as a mysterious, unknowable gift, unexplainable and undefinable. One can marvel, focus, pay attention to and honor the unknowableness of life. One can study the mystery of life without a desire for explanation. Herein lies the spiritual for me. | Bernard Maisner
above:
Installation view of Bernard Maisner: The Hourglass and the Spiral at MOCRA, 2017. Photo by Jeanie Stephens.
Related programming
鈥淭he Hand Acts Out a Joyous Dance鈥: Celebrating the Art of Bernard Maisner
Bernard Maisner: 鈥淭he Art of the Illuminator鈥
Two Lectures: Ellen Dissanayake and Jack Renard
Watch on the MOCRA Voices Vimeo channel
Exhibition |
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Bernard Maisner: The Hourglass and the Spiral |
Georges Rouault: Miserere et Guerre |
Erika Diettes: Sudarios |
Regina DeLuise: Vast Bhutan 鈥 Images from the Phenomenal World |
Calligraphic Art of Salma Arastu |
Thresholds: MOCRA at 20 - Part Two, The Second Decade |
Rebecca Niederlander: Axis Mundi |
Jordan Eagles: BLOOD / SPIRIT |
Thresholds: MOCRA at 20 - Part One, The First Decade |
Archie Granot: The Papercut Haggadah |
A Tribute to Frederick J. Brown |
Patrick Graham: Thirty Years 鈥 The Silence Becomes the Painting |
Adrian Kellard: The Learned Art of Compassion |
Good Friday: The Suffering Christ in Contemporary Art |
James Rosen: The Artist and the Capable Observer |
MOCRA at Fifteen: Good Friday |
Michael Byron: Cosmic Tears |
Miao Xiaochun: The Last Judgment in Cyberspace |
MOCRA at Fifteen: Pursuit of the Spirit |
Oskar Fischinger: Movement and Spirit |
The Celluloid Bible: Marketing Films Inspired by Scripture |
Arshile Gorky: The Early Years 鈥 Drawings and Paintings, 1927鈥1937 |
Andy Warhol: Silver Clouds |
Junko Chodos: The Breath of Consciousness |
DoDo Jin Ming: Land and Sea |
Rito, Espejo y Ojo / Ritual, Mirror and Eye: Photography by Luis Gonz谩lez-Palma, Maria Magdalena Campos-Pons, and Pablo Soria |
Radiant Forms in Contemporary Sacred Architecture: Richard Meier and Steven Holl |
Daniel Ramirez: Twenty Contemplations on the Infant Jesus, an Homage to Oliver Messiaen |
Avoda: Objects of the Spirit 鈥 Ceremonial Art by Tobi Kahn |
Tony Hooker: The Greater Good 鈥 An Artist's Contemporary View of the Tuskegee Syphilis Study |
Andy Warhol: Silver Clouds, an encore presentation |
Andy Warhol's Silver Clouds: A Fortieth Anniversary Celebration |
Lewis deSoto: Paranirvana |
Robert Farber: A Retrospective, 1985鈥1995 |
Bernard Maisner: Entrance to the Scriptorium |
Tobi Kahn: Metamorphoses |
MOCRA: The First Five Years |
Steven Heilmer: Pietre Sante | Holy Stones |
Utopia Body Paint Collection and Australian Aboriginal Art from St. Louis Collections |
Manfred Stumpf: Enter Jerusalem |
Frederick J. Brown: The Life of Christ Altarpiece |
Edward Boccia: Eye of the Painter |
Consecrations Revisited |
Keith Haring: Altarpiece 鈥 The Life of Christ |
Ian Friend: The Edge of Belief 鈥 paintings, sculpture, and works on paper, 1980鈥1994 |
Eleanor Dickinson: A Retrospective |
Post-Minimalism and the Spiritual: Four Chicago Artists |
Consecrations: The Spiritual in Art in the Time of AIDS |
Sanctuaries: Recovering the Holy in Contemporary Art, Part One |
Body and Soul: The Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater |
Transformations: Highlights from the MOCRA Collection |
Georges Rouault: Miserere et Guerre |
Georges Rouault: Miserere et Guerre |
Georges Rouault: Miserere et Guerre |
Georges Rouault: Miserere et Guerre |
Visible Conservation |
Highlights from the MOCRA Collection |
Highlights from the MOCRA Collection |
Highlights from the MOCRA Collection: The Romero Cross |
Highlights from the MOCRA Collection |
Highlights from the MOCRA Collection |
Highlights from the MOCRA Collection |
Highlights from the MOCRA Collection |
Highlights from the MOCRA Collection |
Highlights from the MOCRA Collection |
Highlights from the MOCRA Collection |
Sanctuaries: Recovering the Holy in Contemporary Art, Part Two 鈥 Three Major Installations |
Beyond Words: Three Contemporary Artists and the Manuscript Tradition |
MOCRA: 25 |
Gary Logan: Elements |
Gratitude |
Surface to Source |
Quiet Isn't Always Peace |
Tom Kiefer: Pertenencias / Belongings |
Double Vision: Art from Jesuit University Collections |
Lesley Dill: Dream World of the Forest |
Jordan Eagles: VIRAL\VALUE |
This Road Is the Heart Opening: Selections from the MOCRA Collection |
Vicente Telles and Brandon Maldonado: Cuentos Nuevomexicanos |
Open Hands: Crafting the Spiritual |
Selections from the MOCRA Collection |