J. Gordon Anderson - Contemporary Art

I think my major artistic project for the year is going to be a set of Stations for the church. We need some here, but do not have the money to buy a decent set. So being the artist I am, I am going to make a set and donate them to the church. The key will be to make something traditional that compliments the design of the church. The interior is very austere and Benedictine.

One of the major problems I have encountered in the few religious works that I have done is trying to make them both contemporary and traditional at the same time. It is wrong to think that the only thing one must do to create good contemporary religious art is render the figure in a realistic, neo-baroque style. That is part of it (to some degree), but there are other factors involved too. What is constantly overlooked I have found is what the people in the painting are wearing and their surroundings. If you paint them in contemporary clothes and in a contemporary setting - well, it looks sort of strange in most cases (in my opinion). If you paint them in Roman dress, it doesn't seem very contemporary! What is the solution?

My wife and I are moving into an awesome 19th century farmhouse out in the country in June. The great thing about it is that it not only has tons of room for the three of us (she, the cat, and me), and that it has cheap rent, but that it has a huge room for an art studio over the garage. It also has several out buildings, one of which I hope to use to make some mosaics. Those who are not artists have no idea what it is like trying to find a good studio space. It's really hard. You have to find something that is big enough, has enough lights (a basement will NOT do), is close enough so you can get there and paint when you want to, and is cheap enough. I have painted in a million different studios and locales, from factories, to garages, to rooms, to basements, but I honestly think that nothing is going to beat this!