EXHIBITION UPDATE: "VISUAL PRAYER"

Please see www.andreabonifacio.com for details on my latest exhibit, "Visual Prayer." Over 20 pieces of Glossolalia art are being exhibted alongside the black-and-white photography of Steven Williams, at the offices of Redeemer Church in New York, NY. The opening is April 18 and the show runs through June 13.

Glossolalia

n. The ability or phenomenon to utter words or sounds of a language unknown to the speaker, especially as an expression of religious ecstasy. Also called "speaking in tongues."

For anyone who speaks in a tongue does not speak to men but to God. Indeed, no one understands him; he utters mysteries with his spirit.
--1 Cor 14:2

Tradition teaches that to speak in tongues is to utter the language of the divine. The speaker does not control or understand what she is saying, but trusts that that language has a building, creative effect on herself and on the world around her. I learned this ancient form of prayer after months of Scripture studies and dedication to my own personal spiritual development. After growing out of a long period of artmaking where my efforts focused primarily on outward concerns rather than inward analysis—and after I developed confidence in and understanding of its unconscious, spontaneous nature—I saw that glossolalia could lend itself beautifully to the creative process. It seemed the natural step to allow this spiritual practice to become a creative one.

Taking a cue from the Surrealists, I've created these paintings in an automatic fashion, simultaneously speaking in tongues and allowing the sounds of the words to shape the strokes of the brush. Like God Himself, the resulting abstract works are free of restrictions created by centuries of religious regulation and institutional control; they illustrate a dialogue heretofore unexplored in a contemporary context and create a new kind of spiritual and aesthetic experience for a modern audience. “I was one minute grasping outer space, and the next minute, I was grasping what’s below the desert floor,” said Lee Mullican of his own work. I view this series in a similar boundary-breaking light.

Said, Created
Watercolor and collage on paper, 8" x 10", 2006