Artist Statement:
The church banner is an image which has immediate connections to military endeavors or markers of claimed territory. That these objects slowly morphed into the docile, permissible kind decoration you might commonly find in an American church does not strip the object of its original intent. The modern church banner often offers fragmentary scripture passages which almost exclusively lean sentimental and passive while still quietly maintaining a connection to violent histories. The swooping, golden script font reading “Peace” is displayed on an object that is often used to signify anything but peace.
When reshaping a church banner as an art object, I wanted to distance the objects from their passive and non-invasive structure. The crumpled textures project out into the physical space rather than staying flat against the wall and metal spikes punch through the delicate, motherly fabric of doilies to create a stark contrast of gentle vs. aggressive. The object is intentionally complicated. The images painted onto the crushed fabric are deformed and distorted, so the previously simple process of meaning-making is subverted in favor of the mysterious.
Some of this intent was about validating and embracing the kind of pain an individual may carry into a church space. To validate internal pain with what appears to be physical wreckage is a way of dignifying the harder edges of reality. To suffer is not to be less human.
Bio:
Levi S. Nelson is a painter who studied at the Rocky Mountain College of Art. In addition to his B.A. in Illustration, he spent several years as a textile designer. His work centers around themes of damage, fragility, and loss. He has shown work in various spaces throughout Denver and was selected to participate in a juried show in California last year. Levi is from Lander, Wyoming, has lived in Denver, and currently resides in Salem, MA.