Neither Sacrilegious nor Sacred: The Religious Works of Josh Iguchi

BUFFALO SPREE
By Bruce Adams

"The Last Supper" (1995), Ektacolor photograph, 48 x 96 inches.

NEW YORK---When the transformational Second Vatican Council of the Catholic Church called for a dialogue with the contemporary world, they couldn’t have anticipated the art of Josh Iguchi. Iguchi was born in 1964 as Vatican II unfolded, and he was raised Catholic in its progressive wake. At nine, he witnessed Jesus Christ rebranded a superstar and become a rocking Broadway sensation. Later, he saw Andre Serrano’s "Piss Christ"—a photograph of a plastic crucifix submerged in urine—jacked by sensationalistic politicians into a cause célèbre. The art world itself was undergoing a revolution. It was amid the 1990s-era backwash of this tsunami of change that Josh Iguchi made the works now on display at the Castellani Art Museum. The exhibition is titled "Western New York Collects: Josh Iguchi", the second in an ongoing series highlighting works culled from regional collections by artists associated with Western New York. [link]

Castellani Art Museum: "Western New York Collects: Josh Iguchi" (Ends July 21), 5795 Lewiston Road Niagara Univ, NY‎, (716)286-8200 or castellaniartmuseum.org