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	Blueprints - September 2003 Edition
Homepage Back Archives	Blueprints - September 2003 Edition

		McNally art show offers muse on war By Pete Brakman “I paint conflicts,” said the Rev. Dennis McNally, S.J., artist, writer, poet, scholar and chair of the department of fine and performing arts at St. Joseph’s University. That he does is graphically evident in the Jesuit’s current exhibit at the Villanova University Art Gallery, titled “Elegy on a Century of War.” Humankind’s ages old bent for violence, and the question, “Where does God stand in all of this?” are central to McNally’s art, humanistic concerns and anti-war convictions. “We have a real difficulty with the creation within which God made us,” he said, adding, “Figuring out how not to abuse the gift is really important, because our potential for self destruction is great.” A free reception to meet the soft-spoken, outspoken artist took place Sept. 5, in the art gallery. The exhibit, which opened on August 21 and continues to Oct. 10, is supported in part by the Pennsylvania Council on the Arts. McNally takes a lot of heat for his raw, nude depictions of Christ’s crucifixion and other sacred accounts. “Some people get very angry with me,” he said noting, “Jesus died naked on the cross, and naked He ascended. Each of us comes into this world that way and naked we leave it.” Nakedness, he added, also serves as metaphor for the “unclothed reality that God died for us.” His large-scale works in acrylics, many of them diptychs and triptychs, also touch on more contemporary tragedies. In “Jesus on the Second Flight,” Christ looks down upon a city framed in an airliner window, fire in office towers visible to passengers in the far distance. In “Rachel Weeping for her Children”, angels hover over a scene of human carnage. Mutilation dominates McNally’s 6-foot by 8-foot triptych “Africa, Why Do You Crucify Your Own?” His works also memorialize the disappearance of thousands of men, women and children at government and insurgent hands in South America. “Disarmed Virgin,” which presents the Virgin of Guadalupe with outstretched handless arms, was inspired by an incident just after World War II recounted by Bishop Fulton Sheen of a soldier who had entered the bombed-out shell of a European cathedral. The only interior piece left standing was a statue of the Sacred Heart, intact except for his hands, each of which had been severed at the wrists. A hand-scrawled note left at the foot of the statue read, “You must be my hands,” poeticized McNally: “Unbridled desire has caused countless catastrophes, canceling creation’s natural focus, doing damage reckless, feckless, and proud. Can the will of God ever hold sway over humankind? Can kindness be kindled by any angels of light? Will the spirit of God triumph in the end?” Born in Flushing, Queens, McNally won a scholarship to New York City’s prestigious Regis High School. He earned a masters of divinity at the Weston Jesuit School of Theology at Cambridge, Mass., and doctorate and masters in art and art education degrees at New York University. He also earned triple undergraduate majors in history, philosophy and language at Fordham University. At St. Joseph’s since 1975, he teaches studio ceramics, architectural history and art education. He holds several awards for excellence in teaching and advising. McNally has stood on so many university groups, councils and boards, he calculates in his resume that he has put in the equivalent of 80 years of committee work McNally’s art has been exhibited in one person and group shows across the United States and abroad. This year, his works are also included in a juried exhibit at the Saint Louis University Museum of Art titled “Reflections on the Ruined Visage of Cimabue’s Santa Croce.” Last year, he participated in “IX-XI” an exhibit at La Salle University commemorating the 9/11 World Trade Center tragedy. As a writer, he has been published in numerous liturgical and secular periodicals. In 1993, McNally was chosen as a Fulbright Hayes Fellow to visit Costa Rica and Nicaragua as conditioning for more global awareness in teaching. He also participated in a joint fellowship for the Mellon Foundation, New York University, and the Metropolitan Museum of Art to study the art of Michelangelo Merisi Caravaggio. More information about the exhibit may be obtained by telephoning the Art Gallery at 94612. Exhibited works may also be previewed on the Internet at www.artgallery.villanova.edu .