Dan Siedell's Profile

The End

I established this blog in 2008 as a platform to support the publication of my book, God in the Gallery, and to extend my investigation of ideas related to art, theology, and ethics. On July 18 I began a new... Continue reading

Posted Aug 27, 2011 at Daniel A. Siedell, Art Historian

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Against Interpretation

Susan Sontag has a point. In her well-known essay, "Against Interpretation" (1966), Sontag argues that the classical mimetic theory of art has created an unnecessary distinction between form and content, which modern (and now postmodern) theories have merely intensified. Interpretation... Continue reading

Posted Apr 23, 2011 at Daniel A. Siedell, Art Historian

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What's good for the goose

The number of studies that explore the theological orgins of modernity (and postmodernity) seem to be growing. From Michael Gillespie's Theological Origins of Modernity and Bruce Holsinger's Premodern Condition to Charles Taylor's magisterial work, The Age of Secularism, Cyril O'Regan's... Continue reading

Posted Apr 14, 2011 at Daniel A. Siedell, Art Historian

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Art after Fifth Grade

My print review of Sarah Thornton's book, Seven Days in the Artworld is now available on-line here. Continue reading

Posted Apr 11, 2011 at Daniel A. Siedell, Art Historian

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Art, Culture, Theology

I will be speaking on Friday at the Art, Culture, Theology conference at Union University in Jackson, TN. For more information about the two-day conference, find it here. I will be speaking about ethics in the work of artist Enrique... Continue reading

Posted Apr 6, 2011 at Daniel A. Siedell, Art Historian

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The Sign of Jonah

On Monday 28 March I presented a chapel talk at Biola University in La Mirada, California, a leading evangelical university. Below is an edited version of the text. My work as an art critic, museum curator, and art historian has... Continue reading

Posted Apr 3, 2011 at Daniel A. Siedell, Art Historian

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Beyond Kandinsky

I am participating in an online symposium through April 8 on Kandinsky and the spiritual in art sponsored by the School of the Visual Arts, New York. Visit it here. Continue reading

Posted Apr 2, 2011 at Daniel A. Siedell, Art Historian

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Dan Siedell has shared their blog Daniel A. Siedell, Art Historian

Mar 9, 2011

Twitter

If you want to explore the context and implications of my recent blog posts in greater detail and track other aspects of my work in real time, please follow me on Twitter at http://www.twitter.com/DanSiedell. Continue reading

Posted Mar 6, 2011 at Daniel A. Siedell, Art Historian

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MARTINEZCELAYA.ORG

I have launched a new project. I am curating an on-line research archive that preserves, documents, and interprets the work of artist Enrique Martínez Celaya and its critical reception. The site offers an intellectual framework for understanding the development of... Continue reading

Posted Feb 18, 2011 at Daniel A. Siedell, Art Historian

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The Crossing

Enrique Martínez Celaya's project at the Cathedral Church of Saint John the Divine is a test. In The Wanderer I argue that a biblical reading of Martínez Celaya's work is justified because his worldview has been shaped by writers for... Continue reading

Posted Feb 15, 2011 at Daniel A. Siedell, Art Historian

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The Wanderer

I worked with artist Enrique Martínez Celaya on two closely-related projects this fall in New York. I curated The Wanderer: Foreign Landscapes of Enrique Martínez Celaya, an intimate exhibition of fifteen works drawn from private and public collections on view... Continue reading

Posted Feb 11, 2011 at Daniel A. Siedell, Art Historian

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Religious Commitments

I have received a few comments about the last sentence in my recent post, entitled "A Shift," and it seems worthwhile to develop it in greater detail. I write, "[A]rt and religion" as a discourse that is "applied" to Martínez... Continue reading

Posted Feb 7, 2011 at Daniel A. Siedell, Art Historian

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The Summer Workshop

Artists and art historians have a strange relationship. Most art historians presume that artists need them because artists have little awareness of their work outside their self-absorbed studio confines and are poorly equipped to reflect on art historically, critically, and... Continue reading

Posted Feb 2, 2011 at Daniel A. Siedell, Art Historian

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A Shift

I had not intended to take a hiatus from this blog during the fall semester. It just worked out that way. I started this blog over two years ago to serve as a platform to reflect on the theological, philosophical,... Continue reading

Posted Feb 1, 2011 at Daniel A. Siedell, Art Historian

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The Art Instinct

I wrote a review of Denis Dutton's The Art Instinct for Books & Culture online. Read it here. Continue reading

Posted Aug 31, 2010 at Daniel A. Siedell, Art Historian

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The Bellmaker

In Andrei Tarkovsky's remarkable film, The Passion of Andrei Rublev (1966), Rublev observes Boriska, a young boy who is struggling desperately to caste a bell for the church tower, taking over for his father who has died of the plague,... Continue reading

Posted Aug 27, 2010 at Daniel A. Siedell, Art Historian

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Patheos

My participation in Veritas Riff, a group of thirteen scholars brought together this summer by Andy Crouch and Michael Lindsay and supported by Veritas Forum, includes a partnership with Patheos, a dynamic new web portal that "connects seekers, students, and... Continue reading

Posted Aug 24, 2010 at Daniel A. Siedell, Art Historian

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Concrete Examples

I have just published a blog post over at church and postmodern culture: conversation, the site that supports philosopher Jamie Smith's series for Baker Academic. (You can read it here.) In it I offer a defense of Veritas Riff, a... Continue reading

Posted Aug 23, 2010 at Daniel A. Siedell, Art Historian

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Art and Ascetic Practice

I recently published a short piece on the relationship between artistic and ascetic practice for the website at Comment. Read it here. I also reviewed Sarah Thornton's book, Seven Days in the Artworld, for the print edition of Comment (Summer... Continue reading

Posted Jul 12, 2010 at Daniel A. Siedell, Art Historian

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The Rublev Trinity: Iconographic Tradition and the Individual Talent

The fourth of July is the feast day of St. Andrei Rublev in the Russian Orthodox Church. The following is written in honor of this most blessed of painters. “There exists the icon of the Trinity by St. Andrei Rublev;... Continue reading

Posted Jun 30, 2010 at Daniel A. Siedell, Art Historian

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Schelling's Folly

The contemporary art world is not usually where first-rate philosophical work is found. It is more comfortable with warmed-up leftovers from last week's fashions, a kind of philosophical arbitrage in which previously vetted and assimilated thought, perhaps turning a bit... Continue reading

Posted Jun 7, 2010 at Daniel A. Siedell, Art Historian

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God in the Gallery, Robyn O'Neil, and the Des Moines Art Center

The work of Houston-based artist Robyn O'Neil has been an important part of my development as a critic and curator over the last few years. (For information about the artist and her work go here.) O'Neil was a participant in... Continue reading

Posted May 13, 2010 at Daniel A. Siedell, Art Historian

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God in the Gallery and InterVarsity Press

I established this blog as a means to reflect on the implications and consequences of the publication of my book, God in the Gallery, and to explore other avenues and directions that the book did not address or did so... Continue reading

Posted May 12, 2010 at Daniel A. Siedell, Art Historian

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Dan Siedell is now following The Typepad Team

Mar 15, 2010