Spirited art

Religion, it has to be said, is not a particularly popular form for contemporary artists. While much contemporary art is informed by religion, the pursuit of spiritual concerns is a comparative rarity. Of course, that wasn't always so, as religious and especially Biblical themes were popular subjects for paintings into the 19th century. In the 20th century however, interest in religious art as such waned.

For New Zealand artist Colin McCahon however, the vast majority of his work was concerned with the spiritual. His paintings are now the subject of a major retrospective at the National Gallery of Victoria titled (appropriately) A Question of Faith.

McCahon however was not simply a religious painter. Something of a 20th century Renaissance man, his works were also infused with a love for the New Zealand landscape; and a deep concern to engage with the Moari people of that country.

Encompassing the entirety of McCahon's working life (the artist was born in 1919 and died in 1987), the exhibition covers the changes in his work as his style matured. Possibly the most noticeable change came early on. During the 1940s, McCahon's pictures tended towards traditional religious scenes (the Crucifixion was a popular topic); albeit informed by modern art movements such as expressionism.

By the 1950s however, his work had moved away from straight pictorial representation, and he began using words in his paintings. This is evident in the Elias series (for example Will He Save Him (Elias series) 1959), where words from the Biblical text (often taken out of their original context) are juxtaposed with images to convey meaning. McCahon says he took the step of including text at the expense of figuration because his intentions were being misunderstood.

This style developed during the 1960s, and by the time of the Practical Religion series of the late 60s, the text dominated the canvas. A fine example is Practical religion: the resurrection of Lazarus showing Mount Martha (1969-70). The work is a fine example both of McCahon's style, and his melding of traditional religious themes with the New Zealand landscape. In this period, McCahon also delved into Maori legend as a source of inspiration.

In the early 1970s however, his style became even more pared down, as he investigated the power of numbers, as well as text. In Rocks in the Sky (1976) the numeric elements are strongly featured. The title comes from a comment by his grandson that approaching storm clouds were "like rocks in the sky". McCahon seized on both the imagery and its metaphoric connection with "stumbling blocks" in life. The numbers also contain an underlying religious theme - referring to the Stations of the Cross.

In the mid-1970s, McCahon's worked on his Angels and Bed series (1976-77). A gift for a sick friend, the series features white rectangles, representing angels hovering over the bed. Again demonstrating McCahon's use of everyday circumstances and surroundings for inspiration, the apparent origins of the angel motif as used here was quadraphonic loudspeakers in the injured friend's bedroom - alluded to by the inscription "Hi-Fi" on Angels and Bed numbers 4 and 8.

By the time the 1980s rolled around however, McCahon had returned to his fascination with text; and his late works are dominated by words drawn from two particular Biblical chapters - Ecclesiastes and Letter to the Hebrews. The paintings from this period are marked by the distinctive use of black and white, and by the absence of the landscape elements of the earlier works.

A Question of Faith is a comprehensive retrospective of one man's work. Whether you share McCahon's religious views is largely irrelevant to enjoying and appreciating the exhibition, since it is the art that's the primary attraction here. Whether the works raise their own question of faith is up to the viewer; but there can be no doubt about the power that lies in their artistic merit.

David Edwards

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