MOCRA Spotlight Tours Put the Focus on Individual Artworks
ST. LOUIS – This semester, Saint Louis University’s Museum of Contemporary Religious Art (MOCRA) presents a selection of works from the museum collection and works on loan. Highlights include a work by noted Santa Clara Pueblo painter Pablita Velarde, three works by celebrated Chinese-French artist Zao Wou-Ki, and a tribute to the late artist James Rosen, whose haunting paintings were featured in a 2011 retrospective at MOCRA.
MOCRA is also launching several Spotlight Tours for visitors. The 30-minute discussions are focused on a single artwork. The tours are free and open to the public.
Saint Louis University’s Museum of Contemporary Religious Art (MOCRA) is the first museum to focus on the spiritual and religious dimensions in contemporary art. SLU file photo.
Upcoming Spotlight Tours will be held on Nov. 18, Nov. 19 and on Dec. 1.
- Vicente Telles, Ahí Viene Vicente . . . A Self-portrait in Truth and Power. Join Museum Assistant Julie Wyatt for a look at the newest work in the MOCRA collection, a striking self-portrait that is rooted in the Santero tradition, but shows artist Vicente Telles exploring new artistic terrain. The tour will be held from 11:15-11:45 a.m. on Saturday, Nov. 18.
- Junko Chodos, Root Series No. 17, Garan . . . Collage on a Cosmic Scale. Museum Assistant Emily White leads a deep dive into a work whose intricately layered, collaged images cohere into a dizzying abstract dreamscape. This work has been on extended loan since the 2005 exhibition Junko Chodos: The Breath of Consciousness, and fascinates visitors every time it’s on display. The tour will be held from 11:15 to 11:45 a.m. on Sunday, Nov. 19.
- Gryphon Blackswan, Chasuble for Mass in the Time of AIDS . . . Defying Death and Discrimination with Style. On World AIDS Day and Day With(out) Art, MOCRA Director David Brinker delves into the story behind a work commissioned for the groundbreaking 1994 exhibition Consecrations: The Spiritual in Art in the Time of AIDS. He will explore how the significance of the work has evolved along with changes in the understanding of gender and sexuality and the experience of HIV and AIDS. Tours will be held at 12:15 p.m., 5:15 p.m. and 7:15 p.m. on Friday, Dec. 1.
MOCRA’s full roster of artists and artworks is available in the Fall 2023 Gallery Guide.
MOCRA Voices
MOCRA relaunched its podcast, MOCRA Voices, for those interested in learning more about the museum’s collections.
The newest offering is “Meditations: Black Expression, Abstraction, and the Spirit,” a series that explores the intersection of spirituality and the artistic practice of Black creatives encountering ideas within the wide lexicon of abstraction.
“Meditations” takes inspiration from the final panel in artist Frederick J. Brown’s five-painting work The Life of Christ Altarpiece, a major work in the MOCRA collection.
The introductory episode describes how “Meditations” emerged from conversations between art historian and curator (and son of Frederick) Bentley Brown and MOCRA Director David Brinker during the summer of 2020. It provides historical and biographical context about Frederick J. Brown and his milieu, including the visual artists and musicians he worked with and around in New York City during the 1970s and 1980s – most importantly, the interdisciplinary and intercultural creative community Brown cultivated at his loft studio in the budding art center of SoHo.
Brown’s portrayal of The Descent into Hell is an abstracted meditation on the spiritual and emotional sublime within lived experience. Drawing from the example provided by Brown, the artists featured within the series are invited to consider how spirituality, abstraction and Black cultural production are intertwined. As such, “Meditations” seeks to offer a critical narrative within the discourse of not only Black cultural production, but Western art history by opening the dialogue of the contribution of Black artists beyond the politics of representation, underscoring the importance of abstraction as a tool to express qualities of the Black experience that exist beyond the body politic.
Episodes can be found on the MOCRA Voices page. This season’s episodes include:
- Introductory episode with art historian and curator Bentley Brown
- Episode 1: Felipe Luciano and Malcolm Mooney
- Episode 2: Lauren Kelley and Summer Sloane-Britt
- Episode 3: Chester Higgins and Leslie King-Hammond
MOCRA
Saint Louis University’s Museum of Contemporary Religious Art (MOCRA) is the first museum to focus on the spiritual and religious dimensions in contemporary art. Officially opened in 1993, MOCRA is located in a spacious chapel that was used for over 35 years by Jesuits studying philosophy at Saint Louis University. Through exhibitions, collections, and educational programs, MOCRA highlights and explores the ways contemporary visual artists engage the religious and spiritual dimensions. MOCRA serves the diverse Saint Louis University community, and the wider public, by facilitating personal discovery, experience, and inspiration, while contributing to a wider culture of interfaith encounter and dialogue. More information at slu.edu/mocra.
Latest Newslink
- NSF Grant Funds New Industry-University Cooperative Research Center at Saint Louis Universityaint Louis University, along with The Ohio State University and Purdue University, will establish a new, innovative industry-university cooperative research center. A $2.25 million grant from the National Science Foundation will fund the launch of CAGE, the Center for Accurate Georeferencing of the Environment. SLU will receive $500,000 to support its campus operations.
- Feser Inaugurated as SLU's 34th PresidentSaint Louis University officially inaugurated Edward J. Feser, Ph.D., as its 34th president in a ceremony today. Feser, a Jesuit-educated leader in higher education, assumed the presidency on July 1. Themed "Igniting Hope, Growing in Community," the inauguration celebrated the light of hope that inspires this moment and the new possibilities we can cultivate -- together -- in service to the greater good.
- University Hosts Mass of Hope and Community Ahead of Wednesday's InauguralMembers of the Saint Louis University community gathered in St. Francis Xavier College Church on Tuesday, Nov. 4, for a special Mass to celebrate the inauguration of SLU's 34th president, Edward Feser, Ph.D. The Mass took place before the official inauguration ceremony, which will be held at 10:15 a.m. Wednesday, Nov. 5, at Chaifetz Arena.
- SLU, Collegiate Strengthen High School-to-Medical School PathwayA partnership between Saint Louis University School of Medicine and local high school Collegiate School of Medicine and Bioscience serves as a model for how early exposure and mentorship can transform lives—and communities— as SLU invests in future physicians.
- St. Louis Literary Award Discussion with Director Mira Nair Moved to November 13Saint Louis University will hold a Zoom discussion with "The Namesake" director Mira Nair on Thursday, Nov. 13. "The Namesake" is based on the novel of the same name by Pulitzer Prize-winning author Jhumpa Lahiri, the 2026 St. Louis Literary Award honoree.
- Two Companies Led By Saint Louis University Alumni Awarded 2025 Arch GrantsTwo firms led by Saint Louis University alumni received 2025 Arch Grant awards. GenAssist, led by Gabe Haas (SSE ’20) and co-founder Joe Beggs, and Decodable Reads, led by Paul Heinemann (A&S ’18) and Joe de Lorimier (CSB ’19), are part of a cohort of 19 new businesses receiving Arch Grants funding this year. GenAssist was one of four companies in SLU’s inaugural New Venture Accelerator (NVA) cohort in 2024.
