INSPIRE ME! Artist, Erling Hope

To labor in this field is to be apologist 
for religion and contemporary art, by turns.

~ ERLING HOPE

By Ernest Disney-Britton

The places we select for worship are special places, by choice and by design, which is why I am excited to introduce Erling Hope, as our August 2013 A&O INSPIRE ME! Artist of Month. He believes, "The quality of our prayer, the depth of our communion, even--by extension--the candor of our fellowship, are all influenced by our physical surroundings in subtle but inescapable ways." Hope (What a great name for an artist) creates liturgical art and furnishings that inhabit these spaces.  Quaker and third-generation artisan, in 1989 this award-winning artist and designer established Hope Liturgical Works.

Portrait of the artist by his daugther

1. What is your faith tradition, and how does it impact your art?The particular attitude toward language, toward contemplation, and toward social action in my Quaker tradition heavily informs my work, and locates me in an unusual place in the range of contemporary art practices. Quakers, it seems to me, were way ahead of the curve on these important issues.

"Imaginary Liturgical Artifact #64" (2006), Chocolate

2. Describe your artwork. What style or genre is it? I’m not really equipped to identify a style or genre of my work. It seems to span a range, but the impulses are only two. The Prophetic and the Priestly, by which I mean the diagnostic and the remedial impulses of religious sensibility are what motivate my creative work.

"Aramesque 4" (2001)

3. Have you ever had to defend exploring religious ideas? To labor in this field is to be apologist for religion and contemporary art, by turns. Personally, I experience the two as being in deep concordance and ongoing conversation, both inchoate and overt. In this sense, exploring religious themes with contemporary modes of expression is a natural and logical act.

“Acrux 4: From Chaos” (2001)

4. Who collects your work, and why? My work is in a range of private and corporate collections throughout the United States, but most or my work ends up in the churches and synagogues of adventurous congregations.

“Ultimate Surrender 2”(2012), Acrylic on plaster on panel

5. What "risks" have you taken in creating your work? I’m doing more collaborative work, and that’s always a risk. But part of my job as an artist, and as a person of faith, is to explore the relationship between individual and community, to test the conventions of what is proper. I’m sure this costs me work. My Ultimate Surrender series recasts the story of Jacob wrestling with the Angel in the frame of my favorite naked lesbian wrestling website… You asked.

“Chesed” (2012), Alkyd on panel

6. What other artists have influenced your work? I have never gotten over Paul Klee. If my work landed somewhere between his and the music of Cat Stevens I would consider my work life to have been lived correctly. The work of street artist El Seed is also astoundingly inspiring. And there’s this one piece by Torsten Renqvist.

Suspended Altar Cross and Paschal Candle Stand (2002);
Good Shepherd Episcopal Church, Silver Springs, MD

7. How can A&O readers collect/experience your work? It’s a good question. I don’t have a style and I don’t sign my work so you may never know if you’ve seen something I’ve done. I abandoned the gallery system early on, so I would say just visit as many churches and synagogues you know to be adventurous as you can. And look closely. You’re sure to get something out of that.

Elected in 2009 to serve as President of the Society for the Arts, Religion and Contemporary Culture, the artist and family man believes in connecting with people he serves. For more information on Erling Hope, please contact the artist at hopelitwrk(at)aol.com; phone: (631)725-4294; or follow his blog at: http://hopelw.com/blog/. You can also try following on Twitter @ErlingHope but don't expect much activity there because Hope spends his time creating, versus Tweeting. His first and last Tweet was a year ago this month: "Western history in four words, using four letters--the ultimate in pithy! Here it is: GODS; GOD; GOOD; GOODS," and then he went back to work for GOD.