Encountering the spiritual in contemporary art / Leesa K. Fanning ; with contributions by Ladan Akbarnia [and 5 others].

Includes bibliographical references and index.

The Spiritual in Contemporary Art : 1980s to the present / Leesa K. Fanning -- Engaging the Spiritual in Abstract Art / Leesa K. Fanning -- Making Visible that Which is Known : Sustaining Connections in First Nations and American Indian Art / Karen Kramer -- Art-Making as Spiritual Process / Leesa K. Fanning -- The Presence and Promise of the Ancestors : Spirituality in Australian Aboriginal Art / Stephen Gilchrist -- Sacred Topographies : Material, Form, and Faith in the Contemporary Arts of Africa / Karen E. Milbourne -- Materials/Form/Color / Leesa K. Fanning -- Light of the Eye, Light of the Heart : Sufism and Contemporary Art / Ladan Akbarnia -- Sources of Inspiration / Leesa K. Fanning -- Unearthing the Underground River of the Spiritual : The Judeo-Christian Tradition in Contemporary Art / Eleanor Heartney -- The Artist's Body as Signifier of Spiritual Content / Leesa K. Fanning -- The Art of Being in the World / Mary Jane Jacob.

"The spiritual in contemporary art is everywhere evident, yet rarely examined in scholarly research. Encountering the Spiritual in Contemporary Art addresses the subject in depth for the first time since Maurice Tuchman's seminal 1986 The Spiritual in Art: Abstract Painting 1890-1985. It significantly broadens the scope of previous scholarship to include new media and non-Western and Indigenous art in addition to that of the West. Encountering the Spiritual presents art from diverse cultures with equal status, promotes its cultural specificity, and moves beyond previous notions of "center and periphery," celebrating the plurality and global nature of contemporary art today. This unprecedented book--a valuable reference for years to come--integrates different ways of exploring the spiritual in art. Essays based on cultural affinities are rhythmically interspersed with thematic categories. These themes demonstrate greater diversity and hybridity of artists' sources of inspiration and their emphasis on art-making as spiritual process. Finally, selected artists' statements further expand the knowledge of an academic and general audience"--