Museum of Contemporary Religious Art

St. Louis University
3700 West Pine Boulevard
St. Louis 63103
314-977-7170

Admission is free but donations are encouraged; limited free parking and metered street parking

mocra.slu.edu  

Opened in 1993.

The museum is located on the lower floor of a dormitory on the Saint Louis University campus. 

The museum opened in 1993 in a chapel that had been used for over 35 years by Jesuits studying philosophy at Saint Louis University. This view of the chapel-now-museum is from the back balcony looking towards the altar seen in the way back.  The little rooms on the sides were small chapels for the Jesuits to pray.  Today they hold works of art. 

Exhibits are changed once or twice a year.  The current exhibit Gratitude contains favorite works chosen by the recently retired founding director.  

Although the museum sits on the campus of a Jesuit university it is the "world's first interfaith museum of contemporary art that engages religious and spiritual themes." Thus the works represent many religions thus many cultures. Missing in Action (1985) by Michael David bears the Jewish Star of David and is made with oil and wax on wood. 

Each object of art includes an explanation as well as a commentary by the retired founding director.

Healing Prayer (2014) by Salma Arastu uses a text that is a passage from the Quran, book of the Muslim faith. 

Monks Practicing, Thimphu, Bhutan (2010) by Regina DeLuise comes from the southeast nation of Bhutan, a Buddhist nation. 

Cia Cara #1 (2008) by Maria Magdalena Campos-Pons represents a gesture of the Spiritism faith of the Afro-Cubans. 

Burnt Offerings (2018) by Horatio Hung-Yan Law is from a series of mixed media portraits of Syrian refugee children. Photos were collected from news media, printed on origami paper, and then folded into butterflies.

Jesus in Central America - The First Station of the Cross (1987) by Douglas DePice

Madonna and Child from The Life of Christ Altarpiece (1994-95) by Frederick J. Brown reflects the artist's African-American and Choctaw ancestry. 

Qui ne se grime pas? (Who does not wear a mask?) (1923) by Georges Roualt, French artist regarded by many as the greatest Christian European artist of the twentieth century. He apprenticed to a stain-glass maker and thus later used the heavy outlining in his paintings as seen here. 

Metafora (2002) by Luis Gonzales Palma, Guatemalan artist, featuring an indigenous Maya

Root Series No. 17, Garan ("Cathedral") (1979) by Japanese artist Junko Chodos, a collage combining the Buddhist temple and the Christian cathedral. 

A close-up of the collage. 

The museum has a large number of three-dimensional items on display including this one that greets you upon entering. The Holy Spirit (1993) by Jeff Miller includes an eagle rather than a dove. Suspended is a pallino, the target ball in the game of bocce. 

Crucifixion - Haiti (1999) by Sister Helen David Brancato, IHM, encompasses several dimensions of suffering. 

Cruz to Bishop Oscar Romero, Martyr of El Salvador (1980-1981) by Michael Tracy. This is one of a series of large processional crosses Tracy created between 1977 and 1983.

Triptych: Eleventh, Twelfth, and Thirteenth Stations of the Cross for Latin America - La Pasion (1981-1988) also by Michael Tracy is huge!  It has been on display at MOCRA since MOCRA opened in 1992 and is dedicated to victims of violence in Latin America. 

The artist mixed nails, shattered glass and human hair into the paint on the canvas. This is a close-up. 

Weeping for His Vanishing Eyesight (1992) by Nancy Fried is made of terra cotta. Hanging from the cross is a milagro of the eyes, a charm representing a miracle. 

Nativity Stone: Mother's Milk (1992) by Steven Heilmer made from a single piece of Italian Carrara marble. "The polished marble suggests a pool of milk just ready to spill over, symbolic of the bountiful love of Mary for her child Jesus, while the wooden wedge foreshadows his Passion and the pain she also will endure." 

Triune (1988) by Stephen Luecking consists of three distinct cast iron "spherical realities, all touching, all embraced within one larger circular form." 

Untitled (Burial Shrouds) (1992) by Gryphon Blackswan were designed by the artist for people who have died of AIDS. 

Noli Me Tangere (1991) by Seyed Alavi is made of lead and honey and is representative of the artist's Muslim faith. 

Pieta (1992) by Thomas Skomski is a very large cage displayed on the balcony. The artist seeks to explore many levels of meaning of pieta, Italian for pity or compassion. The cage is constructed from wood painted black and covered with textured and dripped applications of wax. Lights create shadows suggestive of prison bars. 

"Inside is a precariously balanced slack sheet of thin steel covered with dried blood." 

Promise (1994) by Thomas Skomski is also on the balcony and is attached to the wall. In the photo, the right side is a shadow.  

A number of the pieces on display are from the 1994 MOCRA exhibition Consecrations: The Spiritual in Art in the Time of AIDS. Monster (1993) by Tom Liddy is a chalk board that visitors were allowed to mark with a red dot places where they knew someone with AIDS or HIV. 

Annie's Tulips (1994) by Anne Minich who shared the interests of an artist friend who died from AIDS. 

Icarian XI/Leg Extension (1993) by Daniel Goldstein who used discarded leather covers (sweat and all) from exercise benches at a gym in a neighborhood in San Francisco where there were a lot of men with AIDS. 

The next four paintings were patterned after earlier works such as the one below.

Red Sea (2010) by Gary Logan explores our relationship with earth and its elements and was inspired by the painting above. 

The Dead Christ in the Tomb (1521-22) by Hans Holbein the Younger inspired the two contemporary works below.  

Don't Mourn, Consecrate (1987) by Juan Gonzalez was one of the first public artworks on the topic of AIDS. 

The Protestant Affliction II, III, I and V (1991-2) by Australian Ian Friend are part of a five-panel series based on The Dead Christ in the Tomb. 

Below is an original painting, St. Christopher (1525) attributed to Albrecht Durer, and the contemporary piece based upon it: The Promise (1989) by Adrian Kellard. 

As in any art collection there are some artists that go beyond paint and canvas in their paintings. URBCS (2011) by Jordan Eagles is made of  blood and copper preserved on Plexiglas.

Crucifixion of Dountes (1988) by Eleanor Dickinson is pastel on black velvet. 

Lazarus (1991) by Peter Ambrose is charcoal and mica on paper. 

A small sitting area in one side chapel allows you to see films of some of their larger exhibitions.  Silver Clouds (1966) by Andy Warhol is the most popular of MOCRA's exhibitions having been displayed three times. Visitors were invited to interact with the clouds. The film shows an improvisatory dance among the "clouds."  

This film is Paranirva (199-2012) by Lewis deSoto which uses an electric air fan with this inflatable Buddha. In the film you see it become inflated. 

One of my favorite exhibitions was the Icon Wall (1977-1992) by Craig Antrim.  It includes 64 canvases painted by Antrim during a fifteen-year period, most of them featuring crosses. 

A close-up of one canvas. 

And of course no museum is complete without a gift shop! 

After our visit to the museum we drove a short distance to the Central West End where we had lunch at Mission Taco Joint. 

The tacos there are served family style. 

Comments: This is another one of those museums in St. Louis of which very few are aware. It is one of three museums on the St. Louis University campus and is the smallest. 

We very much enjoyed the museum despite the fact that most of us are not huge fans of contemporary art. The works were varied, showed a recognizable skill by the artist, and were displayed well with a great written explanation. Some of the works were very interesting.  

The students employed by the museum were great hosts and guides. There were very few guests at the museum the hour we were there. 

It is my understanding that except for Triptych: Eleventh, Twelfth, and Thirteenth Stations of the Cross for Latin America - La Pasion, all of the pieces will be removed before the next exhibit is opened.  Some pieces are owned by MOCRA and some are on loan. 

Mission Taco has a wonderful reputation in St. Louis for great food.  As one who eats traditionally and stays away from spicy food and garlic, this restaurant did not offer much on the menu. The taco choices include duck, portobello mushroom, shrimp, baja fish and meats including chicken, steak, and pork that are quite embellished. The atmosphere was nice and the staff excellent.