Recently attentive observers noted a curiosity - the face of the artist himself, along with two of his closest friends and allies, appears in an obscure section of perhaps his most famous work.

Rupnik's mosaic

Rupnik's giant mosaic in the Vatican's Redemptoris Mater Chapel, sometimes dubbed the "Sistine Chapel" of the late Pope John Paul II, according to an inscription above the door, was installed by the Rupnik-founded, Rome-based Centro Aletti in 1999.

It blends eastern and western motifs in depicting the history of salvation.

Rupnik, 69, whose famed murals adorn chapels and cathedrals around the world, including inside the Vatican and at the Marian shrine of Lourdes, is accused of sexually abusing at least 30 adult women.

Many of his alleged victims are nuns belonging to the Loyola Community he helped found in his native Slovenia in the 1980s.

In a small corner of the sprawling work, three figures are depicted in white robes.

Upon examination, some say they bear striking resemblances to real people.

One was the late Czech Cardinal Tomáš Špidlík, Rupnik's great patron, shown holding a set of books.

Another was Nataša Govekar, a member of the Centro Aletti, who today serves as a department head in the Vatican's Dicastery for Communications, depicted with a laptop.

The third was Rupnik himself, holding a painter's easel.

However jarring the images may seem now, Rome-based art historian Elizabeth Lev says they might actually be the least odd element of the entire Rupnik saga.

"Portraits of artists and patrons in works are very normal," Lev told Crux, citing several examples.

Among them were Raphael painting himself into a mural in the Apostolic Palace along with Pope Julius and an advisor, Caravaggio peeking in from the "Martyrdom of Matthew,".

That painting also shows Ghirlandaio routinely depicting friends and family, and the famous Arena Chapel in Padua where Giotto painted both Dante and Enrico degli Scrovegni, the patron of the work, into his fresco cycle.

(Lev believes the Giotto fresco may have been the inspiration for Rupnik's work in the Redemptoris Mater.)

"Nothing unusual about it," Lev said of artists injecting such personal flourishes into their scenes.

On the other hand, Lev said there's a great deal unusual about the broader debate over the removal of Rupnik's artworks which his abuse scandals have kindled - and insists that, contrary to popular opinion, things aren't nearly as straight-forward as they may seem.

Art and history

Calling the distinction between art and artist "complicated," Lev noted that several prominent artists whose work is featured in the Vatican and beyond have their own nefarious histories.

"Raphael was a notorious womaniser, how he seduced women is not known, but that he did is well documented," she said.

Caravaggio himself was known for his drunken antics and at one point killed a man in a violent duel, she noted.

Famed French artist Eugène Henri Paul Gauguin was described by Lev as a "sex tourist,".

Gian Lorenzo Bernini, whose masterpiece canopy adorning the main altar in St. Peter's Basilica is currently being restored ahead of the upcoming Jubilee of Hope in 2025, was an adulterer, at the time a capital offense, who at one point "slashed his mistresses face."

Likewise, Lev said that Italian artist Carlo Crivelli served time for seducing a married woman,

Then there was Italian painter Agostino Tassi a century later. He was convicted for the rape of fellow artist Artemisia Gentileschi.

Another was Italian sculptor Benvenuto Cellini, who apparently killed four men.

Accountability absent

Lev voiced her belief that the core of the problem with Rupnik is that he "seems to have had no accountability for his crimes."

"His crimes don't seem to have been acknowledged by the Church writ large," she said.

She laments the growing impression that Rupnik was protected by higher-ups and continued to be promoted even after allegations were lodged "as if nothing had happened."

The appearance of Rupnik's artwork on missalettes and other Vatican materials, she said, "makes a mockery of the entire ‘closeness to victims' narrative - so as the Romans once did, instead of damning the man, at least one can damn his legacy."

However, she said the situation is more nuanced than that, and flagged several considerations that as a historian she believes ought to be part of the broader debate.

Lev noted that Rupnik's larger projects were not completed alone, but with the help of many well-intended believing members of the Aletti Center.

"Should they be punished too? This was their time and their effort making works they thought were evangelizing - or are we saying they are all complicit?" she said.

She also noted that, in Rome and beyond, Rupnik for decades was "lionised" by the Catholic community, including many of her peers, who appeared dazzled by his works and who would go to lengths to show off any mosaics they had.

"Now those people who thought he was God's gift to art want to dump him? How were they such blind patrons?" she asked.

"If we don't leave the works this question will never be asked, which I consider a problem."

Lev compared "cancelling" Rupnik to destroying Caravaggio masterpieces once news of the murder and of his gambling and promiscuity came to light.

Centuries later, "we can look at his struggle between light and dark and learn from it," she said.

She wonders about Rupnik, asking "is there nothing we can learn from thinking about why he was so popular for so many years?" Read more

• Elise Ann Allen works as a Senior Correspondent for Crux in Rome, covering the Vatican and the global Church.

Not long ago, the Vatican's chief spokesman told 350 media professionals that Vatican media would still use art by Fr Marko Ivan Rupnik, 69, currently under investigation for accusations of abusing women religious.

Paolo Ruffini, 67, prefect of the Vatican's Dicastery for Communication, defended the official use of art by the accused serial rapist at the annual meeting of the Catholic Media Association in Atlanta.

Other artists have offended too

In Rupnik's defense and by comparison, Ruffini asked the roomful of media professionals, "What about Caravaggio?"

What about him?

Michelangelo Merisi da Caravaggio was a philandering reprobate who produced stunning art.

By an extraordinary use of light and dark, his paintings present a realistic view of what it means to be human, drawing the viewer into the deep human emotions he so realistically portrayed.

After killing a rich gangster, Ranuccio Tommasoni, in Rome — they fought over a gambling debt, or perhaps over a prostitute — Caravaggio remained on the run until he died in 1610.

Some say he was traveling to accept a pardon for his sentence of death.

Caravaggio's art influenced painters of the Baroque era and beyond, from Rubens to Rembrandt.

What's the difference?

Rupnik is no Caravaggio.

Caravaggio's paintings were commissioned for new churches and influential cardinals' palaces. Rupnik's mosaics adorn some 43 chapels or churches in Rome, and there are 231 works worldwide.

They are quite unusual. Some people find them ugly.

Rupnik's mosaics invariably present the human person as long-faced and big-eyed. Dismissive of nature, they evoke the work of a primary school student enamored of bright colors and glitter.

Aside from Rupnik's artistic departures from reality, his 20 or 30 accusers (so far) say he coerced them into sexual acts through spiritual and emotional abuse.

Their stories are horrifying.

One accuser said he abused multiple female members of the Loyola Community, which he founded in his native Slovenia, before decamping for Rome.

In Rome, he founded the Centro Aletti art institute in the early 1990s.

"Creative" abuse - and the victims

Rupnik's accusers say his sexual and spiritual abuse were essential to his creative processes.

The Society of Jesus — the Jesuit order Rupnik joined in 1973 — found the accusers' allegations credible and dismissed him in 2023 when he refused to abide by its restrictions.

He promptly attached himself to a Slovenian diocese. He continues to produce and sell his work.

Some places are considering removing his work, but the Vatican's Ruffini doesn't think that's a good idea.

Even so, there is precedent for covering existing art.

Mosaics commissioned in 1965 by Pope Paul VI in Rome's major seminary are now hidden by a false wall with floor-to-ceiling Rupnik depictions of Biblical scenes in bright reds, oranges and yellows.

That would be easy to take down.

But the question was not so much about removing Rupnik's mosaics as it was about his art's continued promotion in Vatican materials.

The Vatican maintains several Rupnik images on its websites, and Ruffini told the Atlanta assembly he had no intention of taking them down, saying removing art would not show "closeness" to Rupnik's victims.

What about the other victims, especially the female victims, of sexual and spiritual abuse by clerics around the world?

• First published by Religion News Service
• Phyllis Zagano is an author at Religion News Service.

I bought Betty Edwards' highly recommended "Drawing on the Right Side of the Brain."

One of the ways to free the right brain from left brain control, writes Edwards, is to practice drawing negative spaces — the spaces that surround the objects you want to bring artfully to life.

I had assumed that art rendered the fullness of things, not the emptiness around them.

My greatest art (and maybe learning) experience occurred when I was around seven, sitting at the kitchen table and gazing at the illustration on the closing pages of Watty Piper's "The Little Engine that Could." Here we see that famous little train making it into town as dawn lights up the sky.

Like most kids, I had to draw the sky as a straight blue line far above the ground below, but in the illustration, the sky came all the way down to the ground.

I ran outside to check, and lo, it was true!

A lesson in art

Having assumed that truth and beauty lay in fullness, I clearly needed a lesson in the value of negative spaces.

painstakingly followed Edwards' instructions to draw all the spaces around the legs, arms, rungs, seat and back of an old chair. I was surprised that I succeeded in rendering something that looked like an actual chair.

Edwards predicts that after completing her chair drawing exercise, "you will begin to see negative spaces everywhere."

This was indeed the case for me.

I saw how negative spaces in works of art, road signs and in nature were necessary to the realization of our appreciation of what we saw. How, for example, can one appreciate the shape of a vine maple leaf without the space around it?

A lesson in life

The same may be said for our life.

How can we value the flow of our experience without gaps, pauses, absences, lapses and losses?

These deepen our perception, our appreciation. Yes the negative spaces in our life may bring us sorrow, but by putting memory and love to work, they also bring us understanding and joy.

I don't agree with Irish playwright Samuel Beckett's assertion that "nothing is more real than nothing" (quoted in Edwards' book).

But I do see the value in what we might assume to be nothing. Dark skies are full of stars, and dark matter matters. Black holes, I gather, are wombs of creation as well as tombs of destruction.

The quiet

The negative space I value most in life is silence.

We are so surrounded by loud, constant sound that we might at first find near silence unsettling, but it can really open us up to new dimensions of reality. I count as blessed those moments when I can hear nothing but maybe some of nature's low murmurs.

Many religious traditions value silence as a space where a supreme power might be experienced.

"I will come to you in the silence," promises God at the outset of David Hass' hymn, "You Are Mine," sung in both Catholic and Protestant churches.

Some religious folk might agree with Beckett that nothing is the ultimate reality.

I love the joke about the Daoist monk who struggles to find something to give a fellow monk for his birthday. "How do you give someone something who already has nothing?" he ponders.

In the theology of these folk, the "theo" (god) is absent.

This is not the case, of course, for those who align themselves with Abrahamic theological traditions.

In these, God/Allah is ever present. Still, some devotees of these traditions hold that their deity can best be experienced if they make themselves negative spaces so that they can be unified with the All.

Creating unity

In "Drawing of the Right Side of the Brain," Edwards says that emphasizing negative spaces when drawing "automatically creates unity."

She speculates that our appreciation of art that emphasizes negative spaces bespeaks "our human longing to be unified with our world … perhaps because in reality we are one with the world around us."

I have, alas, not progressed in my attempts to draw beyond roughing out that chair through its negative spaces.

Edwards' advice has, however, helped me understand something important about what we yearn for in art, life and theology.

• Walter Hesford is a former professor of English at the University of Idaho. He currently coordinates an interfaith discussion group and is a member of the Latah County Human Rights Task Force and Emmanuel Lutheran Church in Moscow.
• Republished with permission of Religion Unplugged

The $17,000 painting of St Sabinus meeting St Benedict features the head of the charity which commissioned the work as well as the priest who runs the cathedral. Read more

The bishops' National Liturgy Office has begun advertising for an artist who will create a work incorporating Mary for a special commemoration next August 15, the Feast Day of the Assumption of Mary into Heaven.

"The bishops want to commission a piece of artwork for that day, to commemorate Bishop Pompallier dedicating the country to Mary when he celebrated the first Catholic Mass here in 1838, in the Hokianga," Catherine Gibbs the National Liturgy Office administrator said.

"We are advertising for artists to submit expressions of interest for an appropriate artwork. It could be a sculpture, a painting, a carving; any suitable kind of work.

Gibbs said the bishops want an artist who will create a work with for the theme Mary Mother of God and Patroness of Aotearoa New Zealand.

"We are looking for an image that is new and speaks to the reality of life in Aotearoa New Zealand in the 21st Century.

It will be respectful of scripture, theology and Catholic tradition."

The intention is that the artwork will be taken on a hikoi around the country next year to commemorate the dedication to Mary."

Pompallier was consecrated Bishop in 1836.

He had responsibility for whole Western Oceania which covered a large area of Polynesia and Melanesia and encompassed many Pacific Islands including Aotearoa New Zealand.

In France, Pompallier had been was closely associated with the Society of Mary (Marists).

And when heleft from Le Havre on December 24 1836, he was accompanied by four priests and three brothers of the Society of Mary.

He was present for the signing of the Treaty of Waitangi in 1840 and published some of the first printed Maori prayer books.

When Auckland was set up as a Diocese in 1848, he became its first bishop.

In 1868 Pompallier returned to France.

Source

• catholic.org.nz
• nzhistory.govt.nz
• Image: catholic.org.nz

The retrospective, which includes the artist's iconic images of Marilyn Monroe and Campbell's soup cans, also includes a 1986 work entitled "Sixty Last Suppers," a large-scale compilation made up of repeated images of Leonardo da Vinci's "Last Supper."

A major exhibition of the artist Andy Warhol's work is on display at London's Tate Modern. While the doors to the museum are shuttered due to the coronavirus lockdown, interested would-be gallery-goers can check out this room-by-room tour of the exhibit here.

Lisa Fixleris the founder and president of Motherboards. A Catholic mum who lives in Denver, she vividly remembers the moment that inspired her to start the company. Read more

The 27-year-old belongs to the Christian Fellowship For Disabled in Auckland.

Manuele has been involved in many national camps.

Last year he was a volunteer at the Centre and is now a member of the Christian Disability Trust.

Manuele has cerebral palsy.

Even as a child John 10:10 became his motivation, "live life to the fullest" or "abundantly."

He took it to mean he got to give things a go; do exciting things and not live an ordinary "disabled" life.

It was an invitation to him to push through barriers.

He never said that he was capable of doing anything, but it has been a motivation not to let his disability limit or prevent him from enjoying the best life possible.

John 10:10 instilled in him a "can do" attitude because he believes that Jesus will give him the strength to do the things God has in store for him.

He interpreted the verse as a command to live extraordinarily and to strive for the best.

As he got older and read the Bible more, the motivation to live life to the fullest that John 10:10 triggered in him did not diminish.

He believes that he can make the most of life no matter what the circumstances he finds himself in.

Driving around in a wheelchair doesn't allow him to access some places.

Having a speech impediment frustrates him when he can't talk to someone because they don't understand him.

However, he can choose not to let his troubles bog him down, but to let go and allow Jesus to bring out the best in every situation.

Supplied: Peter Mulvany

Fuld, was a German-Jew who created the "first modern telephone system" in Germany, named H. Fuld & Co. Telefon und Telegraphenwerke AG. He and his wife, Lucie Mayer, lived in Germany in the 1930s. Fuld died in 1932. Read more

Ever since the technically remarkable sculpture has been the object of both criticism and praise. Read more

The Vatican Museums have partnered with a Chinese cultural institute in hopes of building stronger ties with the country through art. Read more

There is a companion booklet with writings from Baxter, Aubert, Mere Hohepa, Jessie Munro and others as well as Stoneman's own writing.

Stoneman, who is based in Patea, has visited Hiruharama a number of times and her most recent visits have been as an informal artist in residence.

"It is a unique and special place," she says. "I feel different when I am there - my thoughts are clearer, not so restless. Perceptions around space and time change. The air is different."

Stoneman says she relished the stillness and calm of Jerusalem and it was not an easy place to leave.

Stoneman is not Catholic but has a "thing about Mary" which she says was likely inspired by time spent with her Catholic grandparents.

She said they took her to church a few times when she was a child. She remembers her fascination with the ritual and ceremony, the scale and beauty of the church, the symbols, incense, intense light and ... "Mary everywhere.

"One Christmas I had to walk the aisle between pews to kneel beside the manger and I was uncomfortable with the overdressed church children. The songs all seemed to have the same tune. I just zoned out; staring at Mary."

Stoneman recently inherited her grandmother's rosary beads. They are cut glass, a dusty wine colour.

She used them to create the cyantype series Luminous Mysteries which she features in her exhibition... "exposed by the milky winter light at noon, cast through the convent sash windows.

"I got carried away with the repetition and timing the light, an art of meditation, gently calming while allowing the mind to wander, or be still."

View some of the works in the exhibition

Source

• Wanganui Chronicle
• NZPoetryShelf
• Space Gallery

Besides being found in the Vatican Museums' collections, the 1984 Renault, the Renaissance frescoes, and the recycled scrap all help showcase Pope Francis's concept of art, according to museum officials.

Blessed Paul VI's close relationship and active outreach to artists is well-known, as is St. John Paul II's love of theater and poetry and retired Pope Benedict XVI's passion for music.

But not many people know about Pope Francis's love of film, literature, music, and the role he believes art can play in evangelization, social change and spiritual transformation.

A new documentary produced by the Vatican Museums and Vatican City State aims to fill that void.

Titled "My Idea of Art," the 45-minute film is based on the book of the same name, authored by Pope Francis after Italian journalist Tiziana Lupi transcribed it from a sit-down interview with the pope in May 2015.

While the book is available only in Italian, the documentary film aims for a global audience, with subtitles in six languages and yet-to-be-announced theatrical releases worldwide.

The Vatican also approved plans to submit the film for the Academy Awards' consideration for 2018.

Like the book, the film presents "the ideal art gallery" of Pope Francis, offering stunning visuals of selected masterpieces in the Vatican's collections to colorfully illustrate the pope's vision for art.

Using high-resolution 4K cinematography and state-of-the-art drones, filmmakers provide panoramic bird's-eye views of St. Peter's Square, the basilica and Vatican Gardens, and close-up details of hard-to-see pieces like the hieroglyphics on the 85-foot tall Egyptian obelisk in St. Peter's Square and the Sistine Chapel's frescoed ceiling.

The images are layered with insight from Lupi, explanations of the artwork by Sandro Barbagallo, curator of historical collections at the Vatican Museums, and snippets of Francis speaking about the culture of waste and how art and evangelization exalt the beauty of God's creation and seek to recover what others have thrown away. Continue reading

Source & Image

• Crux article by Carol Glatz of Catholic News Service

He was present at the recent official opening of a digital recording studio will allow the teaching of NCEA Level 3 Song Writing which has been accredited this year by NZQA.

Other prominent alumni at the opening included Peter Urlich and Rikki Morris.

During the opening ceremony, Rikki and the late Ian Morris, were inducted onto the college's Arts Honours Board along with musician Bernie Allen, sculptor Denis O'Connor and cartoonist Keith Waite (deceased).

They join 17 previous inductees, with famous musicians Tim Finn, Dave Dobbyn, Mike Chunn and Peter Urlich, photographer Peter Bush, pianist Jeffrey Grice, broadcaster - the late Frank Torley and artist Milan Mrkusich to name a few.

Chunn has been advocating the development of the School of Imagination because he want to see musical innovation fostered in the school.

"Now that we've given them a field to play on they'll go into the recording studio and start making records of songs that they have written and all the crafts that come with it," he said.

"To me the School of Imagination is a model for what every school should have."

Chunn said music wasn't a subject when he attended Sacred Heart College in the 1960s.

He recalls sneaking off with Tim Finn and other classmates to pretend to practice piano because that was the only instrument they were encouraged to pursue.

"But it wasn't [piano], we were just dreaming of being The Beatles, Chunn said.

As a result, he and the likes of Finn didn't take music seriously until after they left school.

Chunn is the founder of Play It Strange, a charitable trust that develops musical and writing skills at secondary school level.

• View more photographs
• Listen to interview with Chunn RNZ

Source

• sacredheart.school.nz
• stuff.co.nz
• Image: sacredheart.school.nz

"It is a lot of detailed work, but with perseverance and patience, anyone can create a nice artwork from the recycled plastics," Anna says.

Sr Anna, who is an Indonesian, moved to Fiji in December 2009 and started making the artworks in March 2010.

She says she is here to make a significant change in rural women's lives by using recycled products and at the same time helping to preserve the environment.

"I believe that it is very important to save the environment and one easy way is through recycling rubbish to products that can be sold to tourists and locals," she said.

"I was alone in the beginning; however, after five years living in Fiji, I am able to convince Fijian women and children that plastic rubbish can be very useful for our daily lives."

"Not only do we keep the area clean, preserve the nature, but we can grow money or some type of earnings for these women to support their families."

"By all means, they gain skills and motivations to be more creative with anything they see around them. It is also to teach them not to be wasteful."

Anna mostly uses biscuit, noodle and chips wrappers because she can find them easily in the area where she lives.

The plastics are cleaned and cut up using a craft scissors.

By folding and sewing with a needle the rubbish is turned into designs and useful objects such as purses and bags.

"Unlike paper cutting, this work of arts has a certain measure to cut and design. One can easily destroy the design if not thought out carefully before cutting.' says Anna.

Sister Anna's community have refurbished their old residence in Nausori as a centre to meet the needs of the poor who are already being ministered to by the Sisters and other helpers from the Parish and St. Vincent de Paul Society.

A number of the Sisters are trained social workers, nurses, teachers, and together with others who support them, the centre provides counselling, special programs and classes, life-skills and general social assistance.

Source

• fijitimes.com
• facebook
• Image: facebook

He was speaking at the opening of an exhibition of some of his paintings at the Mahara Gallery in Waikanae.

Peter said his paintings were his way of capturing the truth of nature and expressing the hope that it would not be destroyed by some of the forces that today do not respect nature and the balance of our world.

Peter has four works there with the overall title ‘Tararua Landscapes'.

They are works from 2013 and 2014.

His works are presented alongside two other artists, the late John Foster, who has produced some large works, including the sadness of war, and another local artist, Adrienne Spratt, with works of Maori weaving and art.

The exhibition opened 7 February and runs until 22 March.

Source

• Supplied
• Image: eventfinder.co.nz