RELIGIOUS ART | NEWS OF WEEK: 10 Trends of 2011

AOA NEWS
By Tahlib

AOA NEWS readers love lists, so we've compiled our second annual list of 10 Trends, Best & Worst in Religious Art of 2011 as our closing AOA NEWS | TALK OF WEEK. Above, for instance is a work of Islamic Calligraphy featured in the promotion for Islamic Art class at IUPUI in downtown Indianapolis. Please make your adds to what we've missed in the comments section.

1. Islamic Art dominance - Culminating with the biggest of all openings at the Metropolitan Museum of Art, the fascination with Islamic art spread like wild fire throughout the US. This fascination however also included interest by Extremist Christians in Florida over Quran burnings and Lowes advertising support for the cable show, American Muslims.
2. Religious Artwear - Christian tattoos, Hip Hop artists wearing Jewish Black Hats, and the numerous controversies over the Islamic Burqa throughout the Western world were hot news in 2011. This interest inspired a new feature page for 2012 from AOA NEWS: "Fash + Design". We welcome your contributions.
3. Buddhist Art shows - While especially big on the west coast, with its larger concentration of Asian Americans, Buddhist art captured the attention of Americans across the nation.
4. Hindu Art shows - While falling far below the radar than either Buddhist or Islamic art shows, the Frist Center for Visual Arts mounted an exhibition that spotlighted the world's oldest, and perhaps most complex major religious tradition, and then sent it on to Brooklyn, NYC.
5. Decline in Extremist outrage - Perhaps because they were pre-occupied with President Obama and Atheists, but by our judging Extremist Christians didn't get nearly as worked up about provocative art during 2011 as they did in 2010. However, Extremist Hindus worked hard to take the place of the Extremist Christians in the targeting of the artworld.
6. Interest in Renaissance Masters - From Leonardo da Vinci in Chicago, to Rembrandt in Philadelphia, and Caravaggio in Ohio, these old-guys were big audience attractions for American art museums.
7. Holy Bible Artwork - Yes, the 400th anniversary of the King James Version helped but also the completion of the illuminated Saint John's Bible from Minnesota, and the mounting of the Passages exhibit in Oklahoma City by the evangelical Green family.
8. End of World - England's Tate Museum's exhibition featuring artwork of the Apocalypse was a major crowd pleaser, and also aptly summed up America's fascination with this spring's Extremist church ad campaign claiming that the world would end on May 30, 2011. It will be fascinating to see what the Mayan prediction for December 2012 also brings in the coming year.
9. Religious Group Advertising - Taking a page from the age-old success of the Roman Catholic Church (See video), newer faith traditions mounted their own advertising campaigns in 2012 including Mormons, Atheists and a little gay church in Indiana.
10. Religious Conflict Grows - It's obviously not a new trend but rather a continuing trend that's been going on for 1000s of years.

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