Curator

Taylor Hansen Hughes and Evelyn Sum

Contributing Artists

Elizabeth Housewright, Jerico Domingo, Morgan Cravenho, Richardo Galvan, Thomas Schneider

Exhibition Statement as Preserved in the SUGS/SITE Archives:

“Suppose you were told that there was a tiger in the next room: you would know that you were in danger and would probably feel fear. But if you were told ‘There is a ghost in the next room’, and believed it, you would feel, indeed, what is often called fear, but of a different kind. It would not be based on the knowledge of danger, for no one is primarily afraid of what a ghost may do to him, but of the mere fact that it is a ghost. It is ‘uncanny’ rather than dangerous, and the special kind of fear that it excites may be called Dread. With the Uncanny one has reached the fringes of the Numinous. Now suppose that you were told simply ‘There is a might spirit in the room’ and believed it. Your feelings would be even less like the mere fear of danger: but the disturbance would be profound. You would feel woner and a certain shrinking – described as awe, and the object which excites it is the Numinous.” – C.S. Lewis, The Problem of Pain (1940). Accounts of the Numinous, curated by Taylor Hansen Hughes and Evelyn Sum, congregates artists Elizabeth Housewright (BFA 2015), Jerico Domingo (BFA 2015), Morgan Cravenho (BFA 2015), Richardo Galvan (BFA 2015), and Thomas Schneider (BFA 2017). Their acute perspectives sharpen one another in a constructed sanctuary, coalescing into one gaze set unapologetically toward the divine. Accounts of the Numinous exists as a place to encounter the sacred and shed light on the narratives constructed by and around Christianity. Emerging from varying modes of belief, this meditative space reflects and refracts the delicate links between religion and the sacred experience. Schneider’s 3D printed works become low relief sculptures akin to the facade of many cathedrals and temples. These emphasized figures function as the gates to the sacred, using the iconic sacrificial gesture of the crucifixion to engage with his personal narrative of body deformity. Structure by Galvan recalles the triptychs commissioned by churches depicting various scenes from the bible, mostly the last days of Christ. It is blank, almost monumental, and made of steel. Traditionally, triptychs were made of wood, panels: painted, illustrating religious text. The steel sculpture modernizes the iconic shape, while still remaining archaic with signs of wear, and slight rust. Upon entering the gates, we are reminded of our own humanity. On the interior of the sanctuary structure, Cravenho’s large-scale phoographs allow church interior to evolve into something other — isolating their essence from moments of the Sunday congregation. In Inheritance and Etiquette, Domingo takes the elements of ritual and queers them. Through this curatorial precision, the once functional ritual elements of holy meals become stagnant and perpetuate only stillness and decay. As the consumable elements spoil, the viewer is faced with the ephemerality of the ritual itself. Directly facing Domingo’s triangular table, the viewer is cnfronted with Housewright’s Aponchomia. She uses traditional wood construction to engage the story of Christ’s time on earth. Using this archaic mode of fabrication she explores the redemptive narratives that make Christianity transcendent. Housewright continues this exploration in Christian architectural motifs, reimagining their form in The Crucifixion of Saint Peter and The Conversion of Saint Paul. The windos, rendered in plasma-cut metal, references the compositions of Caravaggio’s iconic paintings, stripping them down to their primary forms and using light to work as the paint. The use of construction mesh not only illunimates the light it filters, but speaks to the contemporary state of Church buildings in decay.