The great cathedrals of Europe date to a time when the Church dominated village life. Vaulted ceilings, window-tinted light and the play of incense and sound imparted an experience of transcendence and communion with the Divine. The mystical beauty of these spaces no doubt contrasted dramatically with the physical lives of those who prayed there. Even the humble interiors of our New Mexican churches, built from mud and wood thousands of miles from their cathedral cousins, also succeeded in this, perhaps all the more so for their humility and bond with the earth.

Santa Fe artist Roberto Cardinale grew up in an Italian Catholic family. Leaving college after nearly completing a degree in engineering, he entered a monastery to pursue a life of religious devotion. As a Benedictine monk, he inhabited a world informed by the design of its sacred spaces. He studied ecclesiastical architecture there and knows well what he terms, “…the nature of Church, the idea of spiritual and intellectual elevation reflected by the structure itself, lifting, soaring to the heavens.” After five years, he left the monastery to study art, though his love for its structures and sacred ideas persisted. Today, he builds churches.

Cardinale’s sculptures are interpretations of famous church edifices. Some are well-known European cathedrals, like San Chapelle, in Paris, but his favorite subjects may be the country churches of New Mexico, like the Santuario de Chimayo. He constructs his sculptures from pine and includes details like metal door hinges, window frames and crosses. They are substantial in scale, sometimes two feet long or more.

The surfaces of his pieces are hewn, never quite flat, but made up of multiple faces. He paints them, then scrapes with a blade and paints again until multiple layers are applied. The final scrapng reveals shades of color which he finishes with a graphite rubbing. This deepens the tones and gives the works an aged appearance. The result suggests the paintings of Richard Diebenkorn, an artist Cardinale greatly respects.

There is something quintessentially “Santa Fe” in Cardinale’s story and more to his life than his occupation in the monastery. He is a former Museum of New Mexico director and came to Santa Fe from the San Antonio Art Institute where he was president and before that, a faculty member at Boston University. All along he desired to create his own work and claim his identity as an artist and seeker.

Through Cardinale’s treatment, even the grand and formal Medieval cathedral,San Chapelle, is imbued with humility. Perhaps more than glory in God, we see in his works the glory of the people who built, prayed and celebrated within them. No doubt he is concerned with questions of faith and soul, and man’s place within the sacred order. Because he humanizes these structures with such sensitivity, one senses in his pieces that man is as central to the Divine, as the Divine is to man.

In this exhibit, Cardinale introduces a group of fifteen new works. A public reception will be held December 7, from 5:30 – 7:30. The artist will attend. A breakfast reception/ gallery talk is also planned for that morning.

Order Bob Cardinale's new book "Churches" at Patina Gallery or direct at: http://www.blurb.com/bookstore/detail/98657?utm_source=TellAFriend&utm