art
Princess of the Underground
An oil heiress first finds art, then whirls into a Sufi space beyond religions.
Questioning Kinkade’s Karacter
The saga of discussion about Nicholas Laccetti’s “Let There Be (the Painter of) Light™“ continues. Davis Woods-Morse from Portland writes: You wrote a blog post about Thomas Kinkade in 2011 without mentioning that he went bankrupt and got arrested for DUI in 2010? It’s as if you were writing about the escalation of housing prices…
Frequencies: A Call for Artworks
We here at Killing the Buddha are really excited to announce our collaboration with the The Immanent Frame (at the Social Science Research Council) on a new project: Frequencies—”a genealogy of spirituality.” It’s led by a pair of the most brilliant and creative scholars of religion running around these days, Kathryn Lofton and John Lardas…
Porn for Plants and God
Yesterday, KtB editor Meera Subramanian had a piece over at Religion Dispatches about San Francisco Jonathon Keats. One man from San Francisco is … targeting priest, scientist, and artist in a playful rally against authority. Jonathon Keats calls himself an experimental philosopher—though novelist, journalist, performance artist, and mad scientist would all fit as well…. Keats feels…
There Were No Ants on Golgotha!
A powerful essay in the Washington Post against the Catholic League’s already successful effort to swing the cross of Christ-crucified at the self-expression of his beloved: Today, after a few hours of pressure from the Catholic League and various conservatives, it [the Smithsonian’s National Portrait Gallery] decided to remove a video by David Wojnarowicz, a…
Holy Mother of Bathsheets & the Clothesline Revival
KtB friend Alyce Santoro is at it again, with the simple wisdom of her ongoing Clothesline Revival: harness the advanced, clean, nuclear technology of the sun! This time, she’s taking part in 350.org’s 10/10/10 Global Work Party (“A Day to Celebrate Climate Solutions”) by becoming, as she puts it, “a combination of Amma the Hugging…
Show Nothing
What’s your take on nothing? The Rubin Museum of Art, (Remember? KtB collaborated with them this past summer in our “Remember That You Will Die” essay contest),wants to know. As part of their fall lecture series, “Talk About Nothing,” the Rubin is launching a video contest. Basically, they’re giving you the chance to get something for nothing.…
moving
“People were getting auctioned up on stage but I didn’t see anything I wanted nor did I think I should be for sale.”
American Jesus: Glam for God
After feasting on Andy Warhol’s rendition of the Last Supper at the Brooklyn Museum, I attended the opening of David LaChapelle’s American Jesus with some anticipation. After all, this noted postmodern fashion photographer, who has been shooting celebrities for magazines like Rolling Stone for over twenty years, got his start when Andy Warhol invited him…