SALT LAKE CITY — The LDS Church History Museum recently reopened with several new exhibits, among them the 10th International Art Competition, “Tell Me the Stories of Jesus,” a juried show of works from artists around the globe who’ve put Jesus Christ’s message and ministry into visual form.
The theme-based competition is a staple of the museum’s programming and has taken place every three years since 1987.
Nearly 100 artworks were selected from 944 submissions for this year’s exhibition. The submission instructions were translated into 40 languages and accompanied by rigorous public outreach, and the artists whose works were selected hail from countries including the Philippines, Argentina, Taiwan and Japan, among others.
The museum's preparation for each competition begins almost immediately after the current competition ends. Part of the intensive process is selecting a reputable jury to oversee the submissions.
As the global acquisitions curator of art, Laura Hurtado worked to install the exhibition and produce educational material to accompany it. She also worked as the jury foreman and organized a panel discussion on artists who are members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. This year, she helped select jurors who, like the art being exhibited, showcase diverse backgrounds and perspectives.
“Mormon art scholars from Australia, Taiwan, New York and Utah have added a variety of truly international perspectives on aesthetics and religious art, and each juror approached individual artworks differently,” Hurtado said in a news release. “As such, all of the selections included in this year’s exhibition are informed by their collective decisions and tastes.”
Five expert jurors were selected to review submissions based on the categories of theme, merit and innovation. Selected artworks are eligible for awards such as the “purchase award,” in which the museum acquires the artwork to include in its permanent collection.
The personal insights of the artist are often nestled in their artistic creations. For Hurtado, one of the most fascinating parts of this show is how the artists deal with something so enormous and intimate as faith.
“The exhibition highlights the biases these artists bring to a believing gaze,” she said. That’s not to say that bias is restrictive; instead, it serves as a record of what faith looks like to the individuals who visualize it in artistic form.
The works are diverse in styles and approaches to the subject, ranging from literal to imaginative. While the show boasts an international roster, artists Nathan Florence, Alexander Hraefn Morris, Daniel Bartholomew, Tyler Swain and Justin Wheatley present a rich sampling of Salt Lake City’s strong contemporary art scene.
Many people associate religious art with figural depictions. Such works highlight the impactful physical presence of Christ and his followers through illustrations of pivotal moments in his life and doctrine.
Scott Lynn Sumner’s “I Have Given You an Example” shows Christ as a centrifugal force among a crowd of followers. His presence is dominant yet humble as he converses and attends to the individuals surrounding him.
The exhibition is replete with thoughtful figural pieces such as these, but perhaps even more fascinating, albeit less common in the popular realm of religious art, are abstract works inspired and informed by the life of Christ.
Argentinian artist Jorge Orlando Cocco Santangelo’s “The Call” depicts Christ as he walks by the Sea of Galilee, calling his first apostles, Peter, Andrew, James and John. Awash in complementary blues and whites, the work’s abstracted planes of geometric forms are reminiscent of Picasso’s cubism.
As a Merit Award winner, Valerie Atkisson de Moura’s stainless steel, watercolor and paper wall piece “Matriarchal Line” fuses the spiritual with the personal to create an imaginative rendering of 10 generations of the artist’s matriarchal ancestry. The luster of the steel invites viewers to contemplate the procession of shapes and designs covering the wall, which de Moura envisions as the landscapes and stories of her familial past.
With such a broad spectrum of possibilities, “Tell Me the Stories of Jesus” offers a multiplicity of perspectives and insights that delight regardless of religious affiliation. The show affirms the timeless and ever-evolving connection of art and faith, as well as the potential for the former to serve as a passionate vehicle for the latter.
The exhibit is available online at history.lds.org/museum.
Scotti Hill is an art historian based in Salt Lake City. She has taught courses in art history at Westminster College and the University of Utah, and she currently works as a writer and curator.