Otto Donald Rogers  

Yes I really do. I am concerned that in our century we have tended to separate everything from everything else, and to put different labels and call one thing art and another thing religion, and I think this has caused a lot of confusion... ...as far as I am concerned anything which has quality and expresses the attributes of God, which anything of high quality would, expresses perfection and beauty and proportion and harmony. If those expressions are there then that to me is a sacred object, an object of religion, if you like, but not in the traditional sense of iconography.

Excerpts from the BAFA newsletter, June 1992, page 7.


Catalogue: "New Paintings" and Essays by Otto Don Rogers
Reviewed by Sonja van Kerkhoff

Otto Rogers' introduction states that this is a catalogue that is aimed at addressing the broader issues of art as well as documenting an exhibition of his paintings completed in Israel in 1991, and shown at the Canadian Art Galleries in Calgary, Alberta, Canada.

Ten small full colour reproductions accompany text by the artist. The images, full of subtle tonal gradations, express a sense of the meditative through the use of simple abstract elements.
His non-figurative language demands that we see or read these works in general or more universal ways. Some of the titles point towards this way of interpreting his paintings with titles such as, "Announcement in the Land" and "The Light of Unity"...

The simple arrangement of form against form, tone against tone evokes an overall effect of dignity and contemplation...

The text by Otto Rogers is refreshing in its personal elaboration of his spiritual beliefs with constant direct reference to various aspects of the Bahá´í teachings. He states that practising a profession is identical with an act of worship and that the Bahá´í teachings encourage the study of art. He adds that the production of images in in the first instance, is an educative process and that attempting to share each discovery made with his students (He taught in the Fine Arts department at the University of Saskatchewan from 1959 - 88) led to a consolidation of his own thinking.

"The principle of an unseen force animating the work of the artist was easily accepted by the majority o fthe students. Anyone who has been inspired knows that in every work something occurs which transcends the limitations of the moment. Even students who may not have felt their early work to be inspired nevertheless, acknowledged that a spiritual connection to the physical material is necessary and that attachment itself can 'paralyze'."

He mentions however, that many discount the influence of religion on modern art and says that this is understandable when "religion has been eclipsed by obscure man-made theology, ritual, dogma and division."

He cites the Russian Constructivists as aiming for the utopian ideal and the Impressionists as another school that aimed to free art from dogma, giving it new life by the painting of light itself. Rogers quotes the Russian painter, Wassily Kandinsky as someone who sensed the uniqueness and the spirit of this age: "We have before us an age of conscious creation and this new spirit in painting is going hand in hand with though toward an epoch of great spirituality" (From Kandinsky's, Concerning the Spiritual in Art, first published in 1911).

He then quotes the New York critic and writer, Hilton Kramer's to illustrate that the origins of abstract painting were responses to a sense of spiritual crisis and "a rejection of the material universe; (where) what is yearned for is some heavenly or utopian existence elsewhere - an existence that abstraect painting is envisioned as prophesizing and abetting..." (Art View- Kandinsky's Spiritualism, in The New York Times Weekend, May 10, 1981.)

Roger's sums up this line of thought by mentioning the British ceramicist Bernhard Leach and the American abstract painter, Mark Tobey as two major "artists who recognized Bahá'u'lláh as the source of this new spirit..."

Rogers also writes about the great variety of art movements and styles, citing these as an expression of the principle of unity through diversity. In summing up Rogers states that the aim of his exhibition and this essay is to "contribute to a new state of mind essential to the rebirth of hope and for an art that elevates the spiritual condition of human life."

Throughout the essay it becomes obvious that the Bahá´í Writings are a very important source of inspiration in his art and what makes his essay so refreshing is that in his own words, he describes his own realizations and responses in light of this inspiration...

This booklet is beautifully presented and plans are in process for German and Italian translations...

Excerpts from the BAFA newsletter, June 1992, pages 7 and 8.