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Suliko Arjevanidze,
ART 100 Arts and Culture
Sacred and Secular Art Response,
November 11, 2021

Sacred vs secular art

For me, sacred is something connected with religion and God, whereas secular ideas or

things have nothing to do with those. These definitions are quite similar to the ones suggested in

the video.

This art is by Frederick Clapis, who is a contemporary artist from Italy. He has chosen to

leave it up to the spectators to decide what purpose this piece of art carries, which makes it even

more challenging to name it as something secular or sacred. Since no articles or reviews of

critiques have been published, interpretations can only be explored in the instagram’s comments’

sections. Some people find the art secular saying that the god is actually a part of people’s

imagination: “They say "seeing is believing” but it is even more true that "believing is seeing".

Faith allows us to see. It is our virtual reality.” Whereas the group of people considering it as

sacred often express antipathy. There are also comments which, perhaps, fall in between, like

“God's no longer here, as we've rejected Him”. This statue is a decorative object.

In my perspective, even though the artist might have his own view on existence of the

god, he still left a large room for interpretation in his art. Yet, if I were to reflect on it, I would

consider it as a secular piece of art. To me, it conveys a notion that people only see what they

believe, as mentioned in one of the comments mentioned above. Not only does this sculpture

mock how blindly people believe in Jesus Christ and how they see what actually is not there, but

it also explains how different people have their own perspectives on him.

Moreover, for me, this art also has to do with how the people have and have not changed

at the same time. Recent technological development that opens so many doors of opportunities,

like creating our own virtual reality, is one of the main issues brought up by this statues. This

means, humans have become more powerful by creating powerful tools like VR gear. Still, it

reminds us how people have always been trying to find, hold and strengthen their faith.



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Used sources:

https://www.instagram.com/p/B5kjSTLHwos/

https://www.instagram.com/p/CJG_nw2HNXg/