Hushlack, GeraldKlassen, Jesse O.2023-09-182023-09-182023-07-11Klassen, J. O. (2023). Altar to the unknown God (Master's thesis, University of Calgary, Calgary, Canada). Retrieved from https://prism.ucalgary.ca.https://hdl.handle.net/1880/117084https://doi.org/10.11575/PRISM/41792Altar to the Unknown God is an MFA thesis exhibition concerned with twenty-first century spiritual and religious expressions of visual identity, as well as and the academic structures employed when formulating interpretations of their meaning and validity. Informed by a literary analysis on secularism and contemporary art criticism, this studio-led research utilizes a rhizomatic philosophical structure that seeks expansion and connective multiplicities rather than a definitive conclusion. Towards this goal, the literary investigation endeavors to define and demystify the complex interrelations between secularism as a pluralistic cultural condition with the academic challenge behind the formation of a method of theological art criticism. The studio-produced visual artwork is both informed by this analysis and rhizomatically seeks its expansion through an introspective investigative process. This inquiry aims to theorize an academic interpretative language capable of taking visual displays of enchantment as genuine, rather than naive depictions of superstition, thus producing structures and inter-religious dialogue that is inclusive of spiritual identity in the shifting landscape of the twenty-first century.enUniversity of Calgary graduate students retain copyright ownership and moral rights for their thesis. You may use this material in any way that is permitted by the Copyright Act or through licensing that has been assigned to the document. For uses that are not allowable under copyright legislation or licensing, you are required to seek permission.CriticismTheoryArt CriticismAbstract PaintingAssemblageComtemporary ArtModern ArtTheological Art CriticismSpiritualalityInter Religious DialogueArt HistoryFine ArtsBiblical StudiesReligionTheologymaster thesis