Soli Deo Gloria Studio

Reviews

"From the Editor: Soli Deo Gloria" Ray Waddle, Reflections, Yale Divinitiy School magazine Spring 2008
Artist Carol Bomer is cerainly familiar with this history. She admires the giants of high modernism. She is intimate with their methods. But she's not terribly impressed by their underachieving scorecard on questions of faith. Bomer creates her own very contemporary canvases by claiming an inspiration unusual in the art world even now - the power of God, the God of the Bible. read more at: http://www.yale.edu/reflections/editor.shtml

cover image http://www.yale.edu/reflections/

Bye-bye bunnies, hello Tower of Babel , Connie Bostic , Mountain Xpress, Asheville NC
http://www.mountainx.com/ae/2006/0118bomer.php

http://christiansinthearts.blogspot.com/2006/12/carol-bomer-part-2-true-transcendence.html

'And the Lord came down to see the city and the tower which the sons of men had built...'Come, let us go down and there confuse their language, that they may not understand one another's speech.' So the Lord scattered them abroad...Therefore its name was called Babel, because there the Lord confused the language of all the earth.'

Bomer's work echoes this narrative...Although Bomer does not elaborate on any historically specific culture in her artist statement, it seems that her intent is to imply the long history of human cultures in general; for she has also collaged in a set of architectural ground plans in relationship to the tower, suggesting the foundations of ancient Babylon as an archeological site, but also implying the ruins of many cultures whose ambitions ultimately lead to their demise.

These broad cultural dynamics of corruption and downfall are easy for the modern mind to accept because they refer to historical conditions so ancient that they seem remote and therefore safe. But it becomes disconcerting to think of them as literally relevant to our own times. This is why Bomer's linking of ancient corruption and judgement to contemporary times injects a startlingly specific challenge...What soon becomes apparent is that the artist working in the prophetic mode raises issues about a nation's relationship to its sacred texts, as well as to the concept of God derived from their experience in history and their interpretation of those texts in light of that experience....

by Dr. Wayne Roosa, Dancing in the Dark, Walzing in the Wonder: Contemporary Art about Faith, from catalogue for The Next Generation: Contemporary Expressions of Faith, Museum of Biblical Art, New York, Aug-Nov 05

When viewing a work of art I am usually drawn to work that evokes an immediate emotional response, but also has a sense of mystery and intrigue. Something that will draw me in and make me want to spend time with it. The sooner we understand something the sooner we tend to lose interest. Unfortunately, often I feel the modern art viewer is similar to the audience in a comedy club. They sometimes seem as if they are waiting for the "punchline." We are eager to get it so we can quickly move on to the next piece. When we approach artwork with this mindset we often miss many of the subtleties and mystery of the work. Someone once said, "To suggest is to create, to describe is to destroy." ...I was pleasantly surprised by the work of G. Carol Bomer. I thought her techniquw and vision were very original. I enjoyed the rich textures and layering of materials as well as meaning. It was a tough choice. But I flet she deserved the solo show....

by Mark Hilpert, Cross Country III: A National Christian Exhbition, Bethel College, IN Jan 2003

Art that's abstract, modern…and full of faith

There's no sweet cherubs in the paintings of G. Carol Bomer.

Bomer's art is intensely religious, but it is also modern and abstract. To Bomer, religious art goes wrong when it tries to swaddle faith in sentimentalism. Bomer says that kind of art misses what she calls 'the hard parts of life.'

'It doesn't get at the whole gospel, which is creation-fall-redemption.' Bomer said in a telephone interview from her Asheville home. 'There is a fall. We are hurting people. We need a savior.'

Bomer's paintings often present contrasts between darkness and light. A recurring image is a V-shaped flash of gold light that jolts into the darkness, symbolizing the incarnation of Christ. While the images are abstract, they are not totally so. In one painting depicting the rising of Lazarus, the human figure is bound in burial cloths that look like they might be layers of silk. The figure might be a fetus in the womb, or it might be someone wrapped in a cocoon…The show is the first sponsored by the Center for Faith and the Arts. Founder Dr. J. Daniel Brown said, "When I look at her work, I see a manifestation of traditional faith through this very contemporary art form.

by Wesley Young for the Salisbury Post, April 1, 1999

Canvases of Consecration

As part of its 75th Anniversary Celebration, St. Mark's Lutheran Church Gallery, was the host of a spring exhibit of local artist G Carol Bomer's paintings. In "Canvases of Consecration," an exhibit of 29 works in a variety of media, Bomer's powerful abstract images depict Christian history reaching through time to touch our contemporary era.

As a Christian artist, Bomer looks at her work through the eyes of faith, burning to draw whole the mystery of Christian spirituality peculiar to her vision. While the Christian vision is hardly unique, Bomer's serious and sometimes violent abstract interpretations of faith rise beyond the conventional forms that inspired earlier generations of religious artists. Her paintings interweave Old and New Testament themes into artistry, creating a visual connection between the Christian message and paint.

Carol Bomer's forceful symbolism attests to her unique vision, rare and wonderful among contemporary artists…

by Douglas M. McCarty, Ph.D. for North Carolina Lutheran, 1998

Art Forum: Professing the Passion of Christianity in Paint

G. Carol Bomer professes a vibrant Christian faith in her paintings, but refuses to preach with worn religious imagery. .. With nearly two millennia of Western artists portraying nativities, pietas, and the passion of Christ, Bomer has a rich tradition to draw on as well as a great many stereotyped images to avoid. To her credit, she acknowledges the twentieth century and its legacy of abstract modern art, blending abstraction with objective representation to convey her spiritual theme.

Anyone who likes their Christian images served up in safe Sunday School settings beware…

'The Unveiling,' a large work of mixed media, features this vortex of light shades of paint, cutting through a swirl of inky blue, purple and black brush strokes. To either side, the dark horned heads of animals are cast in shadow, suggesting a flock of lost or black sheep…

by Dale Neal for the Asheville Citizen Times, April 1994

http://www.mountainx.com/ae/2003/0423art.php