gratitude

Art critic Ken Johnson recently wrote in a New York Times review of a Drawing Center exhibition: “Academic art historians and critics still tend to discourage talking seriously about the spiritual in art. But considering how many artists continue to be motivated by spiritual urges, however the word spiritual is defined -- this is something worth discussing.”

Exit Art has had the courage and conviction to not just talk about it, but to encourage, examine, and exhibit it. The visionary nature of prayingproject has inspired me to see my work in new contexts: performance, documentation and collaboration. More than a week later I am still held in its ecstatic embrace. The three days we spent together in art prayer was transformative, transcendent.

I am not sure that I have ever in my life, anywhere at any time, felt so well cared for, so validated as an artist and human being, so included in every way. Our human frailty may cause us to always feel somewhat apart, outside, not quite divine and whole, but for three days I felt connected and complete, sure that I was exactly where I was supposed to be in the moment and in my life’s trajectory.

My gratitude and love to every nook and cranny of that sacred space created in Exit Art, by every one: artists, interns, curators, founders, and all who walked past those windows and entered the doors.