Curious Matter is delighted to announce the publication of “Structure of the Church” by Arthur Bruso.
This is the third in a projected series of four books that will contain more than 70 photo-based works of art along with an introduction and essays by the artist.
“Structure of the Church” is an intimate and engaging book. It is a unique document that distills the artist’s remembrances both visually, with images taken during his boyhood, and in the accompanying essays. The title work and “An Adolescent’s Appropriation of Eliot Porter” poignantly capture a sense of yearning and the early steps of a life of artistic inquiry.
The images used in “Structure of the Church” were originally created during the artist’s childhood explorations of his Albany, New York neighborhood. Bruso explains, “[This body of work] was born of a collection of photographs that I’ve been taking since I got my first camera as a boy. Over time the photos had acquired a sort of elemental quality. I was looking to distill them into symbols that could be formulae for my ideas. I reprinted the images, placed them together and began to see relationships. Those relationships informed and enlarged the meaning of the work. By placing the images in the context of one another, I was changing their meaning and creating a new language for my art, while the pentimento of my childhood remained.”
The accompanying essays present a portrait of an inquisitive boy and reveal through autobiographical details something of the artist Bruso would become. In the first essay and title work, “Structure of the Church”, Bruso retells his families’ “miracle story” wherein his grandmother, as a little girl, having been diagnosed an invalid, gains the ability to walk for the first time. The mysticism and folklore of his childhood are explored in the context of the turbulent times of the Catholic Church during Vatican II as experienced within a community of Italian immigrants who celebrated rituals and honored saints with processions and festivals. Bruso writes of “the dichotomy I experienced between the folk spirituality that surrounded me in my Italian community, and official doctrine that was moving away from the mystical.”
With the second essay, “An Adolescent’s Appropriation of Eliot Porter”, Bruso introduces Stella. She is one of a series of tenants to whom the Bruso family rented rooms in their large Victorian rowhouse. “...Albany had become a destination for young, post-WWI, rural New Yorkers (especially women) looking to escape the confines and drudgery of farm life in order to experience the excitement of city lights, along with the security of a state job.” Bruso was shy of these strangers living among his family, yet keenly observant. He tells of Stella’s generosity, and also her longing for a life that seemed to have slipped through her fingers. “Stella had tried to stop time at a place where she felt happy and life seemed promising; as a young bride before certain realities began to bear down.” Ultimately Stella was responsible for introducing Bruso to the work of Eliot Porter, a significant and enduring inspiration.
“Structure of the Church” is an intimate and engaging book. It is a unique document that distills the artist’s remembrances both visually, with images taken during his boyhood, and in the accompanying essays. The title work and “An Adolescent’s Appropriation of Eliot Porter” poignantly capture a sense of yearning and the early steps of a life of artistic inquiry. Bruso explains, “Photographs that I had previously decided were failures because they were out of focus, or banal or under-developed became more interesting.” In reexamining and presenting these images anew Bruso creates works potent in their humility.
The accompanying essays present a portrait of an inquisitive boy and reveal through autobiographical details something of the artist Bruso would become. In the first essay and title work, “Structure of the Church”, Bruso retells his families’ “miracle story” wherein his grandmother, as a little girl, having been diagnosed an invalid, gains the ability to walk for the first time. The mysticism and folklore of his childhood are explored in the context of the turbulent times of the Catholic Church during Vatican II as experienced within a community of Italian immigrants who celebrated rituals and honored saints with processions and festivals. Bruso writes of “the dichotomy I experienced between the folk spirituality that surrounded me in my Italian community, and official doctrine that was moving away from the mystical.”
With the second essay, “An Adolescent’s Appropriation of Eliot Porter”, Bruso introduces Stella. She is one of a series of tenants to whom the Bruso family rented rooms in their large Victorian rowhouse. “...Albany had become a destination for young, post-WWI, rural New Yorkers (especially women) looking to escape the confines and drudgery of farm life in order to experience the excitement of city lights, along with the security of a state job.” Bruso was shy of these strangers living among his family, yet keenly observant. He tells of Stella’s generosity, and also her longing for a life that seemed to have slipped through her fingers. “Stella had tried to stop time at a place where she felt happy and life seemed promising; as a young bride before certain realities began to bear down.” Ultimately Stella was responsible for introducing Bruso to the work of Eliot Porter, a significant and enduring inspiration.
“Structure of the Church” is an intimate and engaging book. It is a unique document that distills the artist’s remembrances both visually, with images taken during his boyhood, and in the accompanying essays. The title work and “An Adolescent’s Appropriation of Eliot Porter” poignantly capture a sense of yearning and the early steps of a life of artistic inquiry. Bruso explains, “Photographs that I had previously decided were failures because they were out of focus, or banal or under-developed became more interesting.” In reexamining and presenting these images anew Bruso creates works potent in their humility.
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