Past Exhibitions SLU

Browse the chronological list of past exhibitions at the 老司机福利网 Museum of Contemporary Art (MOCRA), or search for a specific exhibition. Click 鈥淰iew鈥� for more information about an exhibition. If you need further information about an exhibition, please contact us.

Name

Lewis deSoto: Paranirvana

Dates

April 15, 2000 to November 05, 2000

Description

Lewis deSoto鈥檚 Paranirvana, a 25-foot long image of the reclining Buddha made of a nylon skin and inflated with air, based on a well-known Sri Lankan sculpture. Paranirvana was created especially for the 1999-2000 Bay Area Now 2 exhibition, the second in a planned series of biennial exhibitions at San Francisco鈥檚 Yerba Buena Center for the Arts highlighting the significant artists of the Bay Area. MOCRA is only the second venue to exhibit Paranirvana. Subsequently it is scheduled to be shown in New York and Berlin.

Tradition has it that Shakyamuni, the Buddha, remained on the earth after attaining enlightenment in order to teach others his insights into achieving salvation. At the age of 80 he came to Kushinagara where he preached his final sermon and died. This episode is the Paranirvana, the physical death of the historical Buddha and his entering into Nirvana, the state of oneness and perfection. Occasioned by the recent loss of his father, deSoto has superimposed his own face on the Buddha as he asks the universal question, how will we all face the moment of our death?

Born in 1954, Lewis deSoto maintains studios in both San Francisco and New York. He has had more than 35 solo exhibitions and has been in more than 40 group exhibitions. He has also received commissions for 10 major public projects. His installations have been exhibited in museums and galleries throughout the United States as well as museums in England, Italy, Mexico, Portugal, Spain, and Sweden. Known primarily as a sculptor, deSoto blends the conventional with the unconventional, incorporating into his sculptural installations such varied elements as video, theatrical lighting, sound, photography, slide projection, oscilloscopes, maps, and ice. He infuses his work with a strong interest in archeology, anthropology, cosmology, and world religions.

MOCRA thanks the Yerba Buena Cultural Center, San Francisco, and the Bill Maynes Gallery, New York, for their assistance in presenting this exhibition.

above:
Installation view of Lewis deSoto: Paranirvana at MOCRA, 2000. Photo by Jeffrey Vaughn.

Exhibition
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James Rosen: The Artist and the Capable Observer September 26, 2010 to February 13, 2011 Over his six-decade career, James Rosen has produced a body of visually arresting paintings, watercolors, and drawings, that gently invite viewers to stay a while. Rosen seeks "capable observers" who bring to bear their own intellect and imagination in order to observe poetic images that are cond...
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Michael Byron: Cosmic Tears September 13, 2009 to December 13, 2009 In the evocative paintings of the Cosmic Tears series, Michael Byron explores the relationship of the individual to the universal. The works are based on a text by the artist that meditates on the inevitable mix of emotions that accompanies the act of creation; pain and joy together elicit...
Miao Xiaochun: The Last Judgment in Cyberspace February 3, 2008 to May 18, 2008 Chinese artist Miao Xiaochun asked himself an interesting question: "How would Michelangelo鈥檚 The Last Judgment appear from behind?" To explore this premise, Miao Xiaochun rendered a 3-D digital model of his own body. Then he mapped this model onto all 400-plus of the figures in Michelan...
MOCRA at Fifteen: Pursuit of the Spirit September 21, 2008 to December 14, 2008 On February 14, 1993, the world鈥檚 first interfaith museum of contemporary art opened its doors. Fifteen years later, 老司机福利网鈥檚 Museum of Contemporary Religious Art (MOCRA) continues to serve as a forum for the ongoing dialogue between today鈥檚 artists and the major faith tradi...
Oskar Fischinger: Movement and Spirit March 31, 2007 to June 24, 2007 Oskar Fischinger (1900鈥�1967) was a significant figure in the early days of filmmaking, attracting attention for his technological innovations, imaginative anim...
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Andy Warhol: Silver Clouds November 9, 2001 to February 10, 2002 MOCRA is pleased to bring Andy Warhol's Silver Clouds to St. Louis for the first time, in one of the largest-ever installations of this charming 1966 work. Silver Clouds is a visual, auditory and tactile experience that appeals immediately to the child in everyone. ...
Junko Chodos: The Breath of Consciousness March 18, 2005 to July 31, 2005 The Breath of Consciousness is Japanese-American artist Junko Chodos' first Midwest exhibition. It surveys the predominant themes and media in her oeuvre. The exhibition title references a recurrent image in her work, the lungs. In part originating in her personal history (a childhood batt...
DoDo Jin Ming: Land and Sea September 15, 2005 to December 18, 2005 "Respecting the awesome power and drama found only in the sea," writes curator Catherine Evans, "DoDo Jin Ming creates violent black and white images that transport the viewer to a precipice about to be submerged under a cascade of water. Printing her pictures from a combination of two negatives,...
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Radiant Forms in Contemporary Sacred Architecture: Richard Meier and Steven Holl September 10, 2004 to February 27, 2005 Radiant Forms in Contemporary Sacred Architecture is MOCRA's first exhibition dedicated to architecture. By means of photographs, drawings and plans, it brings together two of today's most important architects in an examination of their approaches to designing two houses of worship, one a ...
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Lewis deSoto: Paranirvana April 15, 2000 to November 05, 2000 Lewis deSoto鈥檚 Paranirvana, a 25-foot long image of the reclining Buddha made of a nylon skin and inflated with air, based on a well-known Sri Lankan sculpture. Paranirvana was created especially for the 1999-2000 Bay Area Now 2 exhibition, the second in a planned series of biennial exhibitions...
Robert Farber: A Retrospective, 1985鈥�1995 November 18, 2000 to April 01, 2001 New York artist Robert Farber turned to art in his mid-30s and pursued it until his death in 1995 at the age of 47. His work has been shown in such distinguished insti...
Bernard Maisner: Entrance to the Scriptorium November 14, 1998 to June 28, 1999 The late art historian George Kubler wrote in The Shape of Time, "[Works of art] are like gateways, where the visitor can enter the space of the painter, or the time of the poet, to experience whatever rich domain the artist has fashioned. But the visitor must come prepared: if he brings a...
Tobi Kahn: Metamorphoses March 8, 1998 to May 8, 1998 Curated by the distinguished art historian Peter Selz, Tobi Kahn: Metamorphoses brings together 37 paintings and 20 sculptures of an artist who extends an American tradition-the distillation of the natural world into elemental forms. Kahn's antecedents in landscape painting include Albert ...
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Steven Heilmer: Pietre Sante \| Holy Stones February 7, 1997 to March 16, 1997 Expertly carved in Carrara and Vermont marble, the sculptures of Steven Heilmer juxtapose raw stone with highly finished sculpted fabric. In a dramatic partnering of surfaces, the 鈥渃loth鈥� variously presents, wraps, confines, conceals and reveals roughly hewn marble, tangibly evoking the myste...
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Manfred Stumpf: Enter Jerusalem September 26, 1997 to December 21, 1997 Born in 1957, German artist Manfred Stumpf studied in Frankfurt, New York, and Vienna. He is a versatile artist whoo has worked in the media of drawing and painting...
Frederick J. Brown: The Life of Christ Altarpiece December 2, 1995 to April 19, 1996 In 1992, prolific expressionist artist Frederick J. Brown offered to execute a large, multi-paneled altarpiece based on the life of Christ for the new Museum of Contemporary Religious Art. A generous gift of UMB Banks and the Crosby Kemper Foundations helped make that project a reality. ...
Edward Boccia: Eye of the Painter June 30, 1996 to June 30, 1996 When appraising the long career of an artist, we tend to focus on the mature style, or the works best known by the public. Edward Boccia: Eye of the Painter seeks to render another view of the artist's career, by presenting not only the large-scale allegorical works for which Boccia is kno...
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Keith Haring: Altarpiece 鈥� The Life of Christ April 8, 1995 to May 7, 1995 Keith Haring's work is known throughout the world for its unique and immediately recognizable pictorial language. His often light-hearted art reaches beyond the confines of museums. It can be found in subways, churches, schools, on T-shirts and watches, and even at one time on the Berlin Wall. Ha...
Ian Friend: The Edge of Belief 鈥� paintings, sculpture, and works on paper, 1980鈥�1994 May 19, 1995 to July 2, 1995 MOCRA is honored to present the first American retrospective of Australian artist Ian Friend. Common concerns thread their way through the diverse works in the exhibition: a sense of awe for landscape; an appreciation for ritualistic and protective instruments (e.g., the spears from New Guinea, t...
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Consecrations: The Spiritual in Art in the Time of AIDS October 15, 1994 to February 19, 1995 Consecrations is the first group exhibition that seeks to put AIDS within a spiritual framework. The 28 artists in Consecrations represent the religious, ethnic, cultural, sexual and geographical diversity of this country. Several of the artists are expressing first-hand experience ...
Sanctuaries: Recovering the Holy in Contemporary Art, Part One February 14, 1993 to April 11, 1993 MOCRA鈥檚 two-part inaugural exhibition features more than 100 works from an wide-ranging roster of artists working in styles ranging from traditional Western figuration to minimalist and geometric abstraction. The artists, generally in their 30s, 40s, and 50s, tend to be disillusioned with the c...
Body and Soul: The Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater October 24, 1993 to December 19, 1993 Body and Soul celebrates 35 years of the Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater and its exceptional contributions to contemporary culture. ...
Transformations: Highlights from the MOCRA Collection April 26, 2017 to April 8, 2018 Transformation is an essential element of the creation and experience of art. Artists manipulate materials and perceptions in ways that bring their work, viewers, and themselves to new physical, psychological, and spiritual states of existence. Recognizing and talking about the spiritual and reli...
Georges Rouault: Miserere et Guerre March 8, 2011 to July 31, 2011 Georges Rouault was born in working-class Paris in 1871, and apprenticed as a youth to a stained glass workshop. In late 1890, he enrolled in the 脡cole des Beaux-...
Georges Rouault: Miserere et Guerre March 2, 2003 to May 11, 2003 Georges Rouault was born in working-class Paris in 1871, and apprenticed as a youth to a stained glass workshop. In late 1890, he enrolled in the 脡cole des Beaux-...
Georges Rouault: Miserere et Guerre January 18, 2000 to April 2, 2000 Georges Rouault was born in working-class Paris in 1871, and apprenticed as a youth to a stained glass workshop. In late 1890, he enrolled in the 脡cole des Beaux-...
Georges Rouault: Miserere et Guerre March 21, 1994 to April 26, 1994 Georges Rouault was born in working-class Paris in 1871, and apprenticed as a youth to a stained glass workshop. In late 1890, he enrolled in the 脡cole des Beaux-...
Visible Conservation September 22, 2017 to April 8, 2018 In 2016 MOCRA acquired Michael Tracy's powerful 1981 work Cruz to Bishop Oscar Romero, Martyr of El Salvador. With Visible Conservation, we gave visitors a rare behind-the-scenes glimpse of the process of documenting and cleaning the work prior to its reassembly and first presentation at MOCRA. ...
Highlights from the MOCRA Collection July 25, 2016 to September 3, 2016 Enjoy a look at some of the most popular works in the MOCRA collection, along with lesser known gems. Featuring works by Romare Bearden, Dawoud Bey, Maria Magdalena Campos-Pons, Doug DePice, Robert Farber, Luis Gonz谩lez Palma, DoDo Jin Ming, Dean Kessman, Chris McCaw, Daniel Ramirez, and Susan S...
Highlights from the MOCRA Collection May 30, 2015 to August 2, 2015 Enjoy a look at some of the most popular works in the MOCRA collection, along with lesser known gems. Featuring works by Romare Bearden, Dawoud Bey, Maria Magdalena Campos-Pons, Junko Chodos, Doug DePice, Luis Gonz谩lez Palma, DoDo Jin Ming, Dean Kessman, Frank LaPena, Daniel Ramirez, and Susan S...
Highlights from the MOCRA Collection: The Romero Cross April 21, 2018 to July 28, 2018 Seven months of conservation work culminate in the first public showing at MOCRA of Cruz to Bishop Oscar Romero, Martyr of El Salvador, a major mixed media sculpture by Michael Tracy (b. 1943), who first achieved international recognition in the 1980s, exhibiting in the 1982 Venice Biennal...
Highlights from the MOCRA Collection March 28, 2006 to July 30, 2006 Enjoy a look at some of the most popular works in the MOCRA collection, along with lesser known gems. Featuring works by Seyed Alavi, Luis Gonz谩lez Palma, Steven Heilmer, Anne Minich, Shahzia Sikander, Kazuaki Tanahashi, and other artists. above: Sr. Helen David Brancato, Crucif...
Highlights from the MOCRA Collection June 20, 2004 to August 29, 2004 Enjoy a look at some of the most popular works in the MOCRA collection, along with lesser known gems. Featuring works by Peter Ambrose, Gryphon Blackswan, Daniel Goldstein, Steven Luecking, Gary Passanise, Susan Schwalb, Michael Tracy, and other artists. above: Anne Minich, Annie...
Highlights from the MOCRA Collection November 4, 2003 to March 5, 2004 Enjoy a look at some of the most popular works in the MOCRA collection, along with lesser known gems. Featuring works by Seyed Alavi, Nancy Fried, Donald Grant, Tobi Kahn, Virgil Myers, Shahzia Sikander, and other artists. above: Virgil Myers, Noah's Ark, 1999. Latex on wood ...
Highlights from the MOCRA Collection January 7, 2003 to February 23, 2003 Enjoy a look at some of the most popular works in the MOCRA collection, along with lesser known gems. Featuring works by Craig Antrim, Michael David, Sue Eisler, Adrian Kellard, Dean Kessmann, Anne Minich, Daniel Ramirez, and other artists. above: James Rosen, Sta. Cecilia, 1...
Highlights from the MOCRA Collection May 6, 2001 to November 8, 2001 Enjoy a look at some of the most popular works in the MOCRA collection, along with lesser known gems and some works on loan. Featuring works by Peter Ambrose, Lori Bert, Sr. Helen David Brancato, Daniel Goldstein, Carolyn Jones, Stuart Klipper, Horatio Hung-Yan Law, Thomas Skomski, and other arti...
Highlights from the MOCRA Collection July 29, 1999 to December 22, 1999 Enjoy a look at some of the most popular works in the MOCRA collection, along with lesser known gems. Featuring works by Michael David, Eleanor Dickinson, Steven Heilmer, Charlotte Lichtblau, J. W. Mahoney, Jeffrey Miller, and other artists. above: Michael David, Missing in Actio...
Highlights from the MOCRA Collection January 15, 1998 to February 22, 1998 Enjoy a look at some of the most popular works in the MOCRA collection, along with lesser known gems. Featuring works by Gryphon Blackswan, Heidy Sumei Chuang, Greg Edmondson, Jeffrey Miller, Carl Tandatnick, and other artists. above: Gryphon Blackswan, Chasuble for Mass in the T...
Sanctuaries: Recovering the Holy in Contemporary Art, Part Two 鈥� Three Major Installations April 18, 1993 to August 29, 1993 MOCRA's two-part inaugural exhibition features more than 100 works from an wide-ranging roster of artists working in styles ranging from traditional Western figuration to minimalist and geometric abstraction. The artists, generally in their 30s, 40s, and 50s, tend to be disillusioned with the cel...
Beyond Words: Three Contemporary Artists and the Manuscript Tradition May 24, 2018 to November 12, 2018 MOCRA, in collaboration with the Special Collections division of the 老司机福利网 Libraries, presents an exhibition in the Lambert Gallery at St. Louis Lambert International Airport as part of the ...
MOCRA: 25 September 16, 2018 to March 3, 2019 The Museum of Contemporary Religious Art began with an audacious assertion: many of today鈥檚 visual artists engage with the religious and spiritual dimensions in their work鈥攅ven if they sometimes go about it in ways quite different from prior generations. Despite skepticism from mem...
Gary Logan: Elements March 19, 2019 to June 30, 2019 Trinidadian-American artist Gary Logan explores humanity鈥檚 relationship with the Earth and its elements through dramatic lighting, atmospheric ambiguity, vivid colors, and rich textures. He finds visual and conceptual inspiration in two rich sources that utilize landscape as a means of explorin...
Gratitude September 15, 2019 to December 15, 2019 Terrence Dempsey, S.J., Founding Director of MOCRA, retired from 老司机福利网 on June 30, 2019, after nearly thirty years as a professor of Art History. With the exhibition Gratitude, he desires to express a deeply felt 鈥渢hank you鈥� 鈥� for the opportunity to establish a museu...
Surface to Source February 05, 2020 to November 22, 2020 For his first show curated as Director of MOCRA, David Brinker delves into the MOCRA collection, bringing out works that haven鈥檛 been shown in a number of years and juxtaposing them with perennial favorites. The works from the collection are joined by several works on loan. Meanwhile, the remov...
Quiet Isn't Always Peace February 03, 2021 to May 20, 2021 People everywhere were captivated as Amanda Gorman delivered her poem The Hill We Climb on the steps of the Capitol on Inauguration Day. Her cascading cadences of imagery alluded to orators of the past but unequivocally asserted her own voice in addressing the present moment. A short phrase from...
Tom Kiefer: Pertenencias / Belongings September 03, 2021 to December 19, 2021 In July 2003, fine art photographer Tom Kiefer started working part-time as a janitor and groundskeeper at a U.S. Customs and Border Protection processing facility near Ajo, Arizona. In mid-2007, he was given permission to collect food confiscated from migrants and asylum seekers and donate it to...
Double Vision: Art from Jesuit University Collections February 16, 2022 to May 22, 2022 Three museums and seven centuries of art Double Vision: Art from Jesuit University Collections speaks to the unique role of art in Jesuit teaching as an instrument for finding meaning in life through imagination, feelings and reflection. The exhibition features 28 works ...
Lesley Dill: Dream World of the Forest August 24, 2022 to October 16, 2022 MOCRA is pleased to present three new collage-paintings by Lesley Dill, an American artist who works at the intersection of language and fine art in sculpture, printmaking, installation and performance, exploring the power of words to cloak and reveal the psyche. Dill transforms the emotions of t...
$Jordan Eagles: VIRAL\VALUE$ Jordan Eagles: VIRAL\VALUE October 26, 2022 to December 18, 2022 Medium and Message Jordan Eagles is the master of a most unlikely medium: blood. His signature preservation technique permanently retains the organic material鈥檚 natural colors, patterns, and textures. In recent years, he has produced works made with donated human bloo...
This Road Is the Heart Opening: Selections from the MOCRA Collection August 24, 2022 to December 18, 2022 The COVID-19 pandemic has illuminated harmful systemic inequities and our responsibility to name and respond to them. Simultaneously, we are recognizing the importance of attending to our own well-being in mind, body, and spirit, a holistic vision of human wellness that Ignatian spirituality refe...
Vicente Telles and Brandon Maldonado: Cuentos Nuevomexicanos March 19, 2023 to June 25, 2023 Engaging a Living Tradition Artists Vicente Telles and Brandon Maldonado are forging new links in the chain of the continuing story of the people of New Mexico. Telles is firmly rooted in the Santero tradition (the making of santos, or images of saints), w...
Open Hands: Crafting the Spiritual January 28, 2024 to May 19, 2024 Open Hands: Crafting the Spiritual assembles the work of six intergenerational artists from across the country who use everyday materials, found objects, and elements of craft production to explore issues related to faith and spirituality, personal and cultural identity, and tradition and ...
Selections from the MOCRA Collection September 06, 2023 to December 17, 2023 Enjoy a look at some of the most popular works in the MOCRA collection, along with recent acquisitions and lesser known gems. In particular, we pay tribute to the late James Rosen (1933鈥�2023). In a career spanning more than six decades, Rosen demonstrated a keen under...