Libby, I loved your post on the sky. The Richard Misrach image makes me think of Mark Rothko and wonder if sky art is the new, post-modern abstract art — you know, abstract but not really.
Then again, casting your eyes heavenward is something religion is always telling you to do. Maybe sky art is religious art in disguise.
Some of the best sky art portrays the night sky, and if there’s religion in there, it’s existentialism. Vija Celmins’ drawings, for example, are marvels of cosmic intimacy and darkly, beautifully existential. Celmins (who was also in that Sea and Sky show at Arcadia) evokes a pattern-less universe in which questions and wonder are the best response. The drawings are deeply spiritual – they’re like mandalas, but not.
