29 Photographs, CONTEMPORARY RELIGIOUS ART - Photography from the Bible, with footnotes #3

Bettina Rheims

Le chemin de croix, juin 1997

Majorque

How can it be represented Christ today? How can his life, his actions and his teachings to be communicated through modern means, words we know and that can instill a sense of immediacy? In other words, how can you convey that sense of eternity as it is contained in the words of the Gospel: "I am always with you, until the end of the world"

We have set our work on a careful reading of the texts, working on original sources and trying to combine history and legend, as if they both belonged to these confused times we call the present, and as if we discovered them for the first time. We have therefore followed the example of the artists of the past who have transposed without hesitation sacred stories in their own time, using, for example, the surroundings of Florence as a background. (from a text by Serge Bramly and Bettina Rheims)

Bettina (Caroline Germaine) Rheims is a French photographer born in Neuilly-sur-Seine on 18 December 1952. Bettina's photographic career began in 1978, when she took a series of photos of a group of strip-tease artists and acrobats, which would lead to her first exhibitions. This work would unveil Bettina Rheims’ favourite subject, the female model, to which she would frequently return during her career.

At the beginning of the 1990s, Bettina Rheims worked on one of her major series, entitled Chambre Close (1990-1992). This was her first in colour and marked the start of her collaboration with the novelist Serge Bramly, in a work which saw her photographs coupled with the writer’s fiction. In its form, Chambre Close is a parody of the first pornographic photos — rooms with faded walls, old fashioned wallpaper — yet, in its substance, it endeavours to stage amateur models in poses playing on the eroticism and the confusion between those who are looking and those who are showing themselves.

In 1995, Bettina was invited by Jacques Chirac at the end of his presidential campaign to work behind the scenes on a series of photographs following the final stages of the election. After the election, the Presidency of the French Republic commissioned Bettina Rheims to take the official portrait of Jacques Chirac. 

The decade drew to a close with the 1999 publication of the book I.N.R.I. and its eponymous exhibition. Once again uniting the gaze of Bettina Rheims with the prose of Serge Bramly. I.N.R.I. builds a philosophical dialogue on the history of the crucifixion through photographs of scenes of the life of Christ. In France, the publication of this work was highly controversial.[8]

In 2002, Bettina Rheims created a series on Shanghai during two long stays in the city. In 2005, at the Galerie De Noirmont, Bettina exhibited Héroïnes, a work that was primarily a homage to sculpture. She collaborated with the designer Jean Colonna to dress the women in original clothing. “Old haute couture dresses were thus re-assembled on each of these contemporary icons.

At the end of the 2000s, Bettina worked with Serge Bramly again and exhibited Rose, c’est Paris in 2010 at the National Library of France. The photographic tale was again built on a thread of fiction that Bettina Rheims and Serge Bramly created from autobiographical elements. More on Bettina Rheims

Ethan Knight Photography

A religious ceremony in the church of the holy sepulchre

Old city Jerusalem


Ethan Knight Photography
Religious ceremony in the church of the holy sepulchre
Old city Jerusalem

Ethan Knight is an international commercial / documentary photographer. With ten years experience, his commercial and documentary work has taken him to many places around the world such as Sierra Leone, Liberia, Rawanda, Sri Lanka, Kenya, Maldives, Seychelles and most recently Burma and Thailand. His images have been published internationally in numerous editorial publications including New York Times, National Geographic Magazine, Wall Street Journal, Sydney Morning Herald, Australian Geographic and New Zealand Geographic. More on Ethan Knight

This picture by US photographer John Stanmeyer of African migrants on the shore of Djibouti city at night, raising their phones in an attempt to capture an inexpensive signal from neighbouring Somalia, was World Press Photo of the Year last year. BBC

John Stanmeyer (born March 1964), is an American photojournalist based in Otis, Massachusetts. He is one of the founders of VII Photo Agency. Stanmeyer has received the World Press Photo of the Year, Robert Capa Gold Medal, Magazine Photographer of the Year from Pictures of the Year International, and a National Magazine Award for Photojournalism. More on John Stanmeyer

Marco D’AmicoThe Way of Bizantinum Vogue Italia Fashion Story

Marco D'Amico, born in 1977. After graduating in Sociology, works in the world of communication and advertising. A Self-taught photographer,  Discovered photography quite late.  He has had several collaborations with italian and international magazines. He lives and works between Rome and Milan. More on Marco D'Amico

A model dressed as the Virgin Mary poses during a performance in Santiago January 13, 2009. A prominent fashion designer has sparked outrage in Chile by dressing up models like the Virgin Mary -- in some cases with ample, near-naked breasts. The Roman Catholic Church condemned Ricardo Oyarzun's plans for a show featuring the models, and a conservative group tried unsuccessfully to block it in court. REUTERS/Rodrigo Nunez/Handout more

Ricardo Oyarzun always knew that he wanted to be an artist. He studied design at INCACEA Institute and later at the University of Chile, in Graphic Design and Advertising, for five years. After graduating, he worked on various advertising campaigns, corporate images and graphic design in general. Later he developed projects covering almost all areas of design.

In 1994 he decided to try in the field of fashion design, and was invited to show his creations in the largest venues in the country. He was invited to design gowns to represent Chile in various beauty pageants like Miss World and Miss Universe, winning first place in Miss America and third in Miss Universe 2001. More on Ricardo OyarzunMore

Shoots full of religious motifs and nun’s habits, by Greg Gex

Now if all you’re clutching is a cigarette and some rosary beads, it won’t be the most pious of looks – but then again this shoot featuring Ashley Smith is probably not meant to be about piousness. 

 Greg Gex

Ashley Smith

Is there a woman less interested in fashion than a nun? With full knowledge rejects the variety of colors, resigns bags, pins and patterned fabrics. In his closet closes only raw white and deep black virtues of faith, instead of pearls proudly wears the rosary beads. Appointment exclude her from the circle of women desired, trusting trends, marriages fashion. He can not stand or throw in the eye - covers more because himself in all its glory only shows God. So why in the world of high fashion, full-oriented exhibitionism, so hot interest in religious figure, locked behind the walls of hard flesh, indomitable faith and image uniformity? More

Giampaolo Sgura

Cheia De Graca (Full of Grace) Vogue Brasil

Giampaolo Sgurawas was born in Puglia, Italy, into an agricultural family that produced olive oil. He moved to Milan at eghteen to study architecture. He credits the course with introducing him to the creative scene, that gradually led to a self education in fashion and finally photography. More on Giampaolo Sgurawas

Giampaolo Sgura

Cheia De Graca (Full of Grace) Vogue Brasil

Marithé et François Girbaud
Last Supper

Marithe and Francois Girbaud redesigned the Last Supper in their ad for jeans, portraying most of the diners as women in a billboard launched in March 2005, with the character of John portrayed as the only man, wearing jeans and naked from the waist up.More on this photograph

This image offended the religious sensibilities of all citizens. It trivializes the intense and dramatic moment during the Last Supper in which Christ anticipates his crucifixion in order to liberate humanity from their sins by appropriating religious symbols - such as loaves and fish - for commercial purposes and by replacing the apostles with female fashion models. More

Marithé et François Girbaud, sometimes styled Marithé+François Girbaud, was an international clothing company based in France. It was founded in 1964 by François Girbaud and Marithé Bachellerie. Theses French stylists are well-known to be inventors of the Stonewash, baggy jeans. In June 2012 it was reported that Girbaud had filed for bankruptcy and that its websites were down. In 2014 two pop-up shops, each lasting less than two months, sold Girbaud products in the Hôtel de Villeroy in Paris. In 2015, they created a new brand : Mad Lane. More on Marithé et François Girbaud

The Last Supper, Celebrities

Unknown

Elvis Presley, Clark Gable, John Wayne (replacing Robert Mitchum), Charlie Chaplin, Marilyn Monroe, James Dean, Humphrey Bogart, Fred Astaire, Cary Grant, Boris Karloff alias Frankenstein's Monster (replacing Groucho Marx) and Marlon Brando.

Imagine. Your a 15th century artistic legend, who has hopped into a DeLorean and could choose what time to go to and who to paint. Would it be 13 smelly bearded men or some of the most famous movie stars of Hollywood? More on this photograph

Alistair Morrison
The Last Supper

John Alderton, Sir Richard Eyre, Steven Berkoff, Tim Pigott-Smith, Sir Antony Sher, Julie Walters, Robert Powell, Colin Firth, Tom Conti, Sir Michael Gambon, Simon Callow, Peter Eyre and Anthony Andrews recreate The Last Supper

Alistair Morrison said: 'My first two choices were Robert Powell who had to be Jesus, recreating the famous role played in Franco Zeffirelli's Jesus of Nazareth, and Julie Walters, who was asked to play Mary Magdalene (there has been speculation about whether it was Mary Magdalene or John the Apostle who was seated next to Jesus) and they both readily agreed.

'Their enthusiasm and influence helped to bring together this outstanding group of actors.'

The photo has been inspired by Da Vinci's original work, which was painted as a mural on the refectory of the Convent of Santa Maria della Grazie in Milan. More

Afferbeck Lauder was the pseudonym used by Alastair Ardoch Morrison (21 September 1911 – 15 March 1998), an Australian graphic artist and author who in the 1960s documented "Strine" in the song With Air Chew and a series of books beginning with "Let Stalk". Morrison illustrated the books and also used the pseudonym Al Terego.

"Let Stalk Strine" was followed by "Nose Tone Unturned" (1967), "Fraffly Well Spoken" (1968), and "Fraffly Suite" (1969). The first two presented Australian written phonetically to appear as another language, the next two lampooned the clipped, almost strangled variety of upper-class English speech in the same way. The titles, and the author pseudonym, are all examples in themselves.

In October 2009, Text Publishing Company, Melbourne re-published all four books in the series in an omnibus edition, Strine The complete works of Professor Afferbeck Lauder.

In the early 1960s Morrison was appointed chairman of the Currency Note Design Group, an advisory committee which assisted with the design of new banknotes which were issued when Australia replaced its pounds, shillings, and pence with "dismal guernsey" (decimal currency) on 14 February 1966. More on Afferbeck Lauder

Alistair Morrison
The Last Supper (detail)

Breaking bread: Julie in conversation with Steven Berkoff, Tim Pigott-Smith and Sir Antony Sher (left), while Simon Callow, Peter Eyre and Anthony Andrews look particularly animated

The Last Supper ?

by unheimlich

"I didn't put George W. Bush in the middle cause I think he's too stupid to be there.The father though,definately deserves the spot." More on this photograph

Bronwyn Lundberg

The Last Supper,

Painting Features Ellen DeGeneres And Other Gay Icons

Jane Lynch, Sandra Bernhard, Rachel Maddow, Linda Perry, Shane McCutcheon as Judas, Portia de Rossi, Ellen Degeneres, Heather Matarazzo, Wanda Sykes, KD Lang, Lily Tomlin, Melissa Etheridge, and Rosie O'Donnell.

Bronwyn Lundberg is a digital artist and painter based in Los Angeles. Her work focuses on pop aesthetics, campy/queer sensibilities, and portraiture in her signature style.

She creates GIF Art and Animation as the co-founder of YoMeryl, a Pop Art Studio. As an independent artist, she creates large scale public art, digital illustrations and paintings.

Bron has created a wide range of GIF art, including the Brooklyn Museum GIF Series in collaboration with board member Nicole Ehrlich, and the Start Talking. Stop HIV. GIF Series for the CDC’s 2015 Pride Tour, culminating in a Broadway-themed GIF display on a Times Square Billboard throughout the summer of 2015. 

She holds a BFA in Animation and Video Art from Virginia Commonwealth University’s School of the Arts, where she was a two-time recipient of the Arts Award for Excellence. More on Bronwyn Lundberg

Bronwyn Lundberg

 The Creation of Neil

Bronwyn Lundberg
 The Creation of Neil (detail)

Bron thinks it's important to include gay people in art history as much as possible. This rendition features Neil Patrick Harris, Anderson Cooper, RuPaul, George Takei, and John Waters.

Vivek Vilasini 

Last Supper-Gaza, c. Aspinwall House

Digital Print on canvas

Aspinwall House

On the day this photograph was displayed in Madrid, on February 10, 2009, Israel attacked Gaza. Associated Press photographer Paul White took a picture, showing two Spanish women intently studying Vivek’s photograph, and sent it through the wires of the international agency. More than 100 newspapers worldwide published the photo. More on this photograph

Vivek Vilasini is a concept based artist mostly working with Photography. Trained as a Radio Officer at the All India Marine College, Kerala, India and then went on to study political science (1987) from the University of Kerala. He trained in sculptural practices from traditional craftsman and his works have been well received both nationally and internationally. His works were recently shown at Arco, Madrid, MOCA, Shanghai, CCCB, Barcelona, Chicago Art Fair, Newark Museum, Sharjah Museum, Sharjah Biennale and The Indian Highway show at Astrup Fearnley Museum of Modern Art, Oslo, Norway. More on Vivek Vilasini

JOEL B. POLLAK

Obama to Host The Last Supper

Stung by criticism–from both Republicans and Democrats–of their “dinner with Barack” fundraising contests, Barack and Michelle Obama have decided to call it quits. But the leader that senior strategist David Axelrod calls the “black Jesus” is planning to have just one last supper with His disciples, hoping that the betrayal of some of his closest supporters won’t prevent a resurrection of his electoral chances. More on this photograph

Unknown

Prostitutes in Italy are planning to dress as nuns after being banned from wearing skimpy clothing while they tout for business in broad daylight. By dressing like nuns, these women hope to make the tough new legislation so confusing that it becomes unworkable. More on this photograph

MILES ALDRIDGE

Immaculée #1, 2007

Chromogenic print

21 × 14 in, 53.34 × 35.56 cm

Private collection

British fashion photographer Miles Aldridge has created a strange world populated by beautiful creatures in luxe, if artificially color-saturated, environments. His eerily erotic images call to mind psychedelia, Pop Art, and the films of David Lynch, Dario Argento, and Pedro Almodóvar—as though capturing an entire film in a single shot. “I want to set a sort of unsettling message,” Aldridge has said. “But my trick is to sugarcoat it in these bright colors.” Aldridge, the son of noted designer Alan Aldridge, studied illustration at Central St Martins and directed music videos before becoming a regular contributor to the world’s top fashion magazines in the early ‘90s, including Vogue Italia, where he remains a key presence. More on Miles Aldridge

MILES ALDRIDGE

Immaculée #2, 2007

Chromogenic print

21 × 14 in, 53.34 × 35.56 cm

Private collection

MILES ALDRIDGE

Immaculée #3, 2007

Chromogenic print

33 × 26 in, 83.82 × 66.04 cm

Private collection

MILES ALDRIDGE

Immaculée #4, 2013

Chromogenic print

13 1/5 × 21 in, 33.56 × 53.34 cm

Private collection

Hellscape McDonalds
Jake & Dinos Chapman

HELL CAN TAKE many forms, but rarely is it as fun as imagined by Jake and Dinos Chapman. The English brothers' artistic oeuvre is macabre through and through--death, decay and mutilation all figure prominently in their work, currently featured in a retrospective at the Serpentine Gallery in London--but the duo is best known for their hellscapes. These impossibly complex and deeply unsettling dioramas showcase devastation on a biblical scale. The most common victims? Nazi soldiers and Ronald McDonald. It's late capitalism meeting its day of reckoning, in action-figure form.

>It's late capitalism meeting its day of reckoning, in action-figure form. More on these photographs

Iakovos "Jake" (born 1966) and Konstantinos "Dinos" (born 1962) are English visual artists, often known as the Chapman Brothers. Their subject matter tries to be deliberately shocking, including, in 2008, a series of works that appropriated original watercolours by Adolf Hitler. In the mid-1990s, their sculptures were included in the YBA showcase exhibitions. More on Iakovos and Konstantinos

Hellscape McDonalds
Jake & Dinos Chapman


Jean Osipyan
Il Desiderio Segreto
MUA: Hovo Arakelyan
Costume designer: Svetlana Stadnik
Model: Stella Trapsh

Jean Osipyan is a international fashion photographer and graphic designer based out of Armenia and now lives and works in Russia, Moscow. More on Jean Osipyan

Sarge Grafx
Model: Sophie Knauerhase

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