{"id":10514,"date":"2019-03-03T12:59:54","date_gmt":"2019-03-03T17:59:54","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/gregcookland.com\/wonderland\/?p=10514"},"modified":"2019-03-03T13:00:33","modified_gmt":"2019-03-03T18:00:33","slug":"saints-star-wars","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/gregcookland.com\/wonderland\/2019\/03\/03\/saints-star-wars\/","title":{"rendered":"\u2018Saints of Star Wars\u2019 Playfully Reimagines Sci-Fi Heroes As Byzantine Icons"},"content":{"rendered":"

The robot C-3PO cradles R2-D2 as in a traditional Madonna and child painting. The gangster slug Jabba the Hutt sits at the center of a \u201cLast Supper\u201d-ish table. Luke Skywalker rides a tauntaun across the icy wastes to battle the wampa snow beast\u2014in a pose recalling traditional religious paintings of St. George offing a dragon.<\/p>\n

Alex Ramos<\/a>\u2019s \u201cSaints of Star Wars\u201d paintings lightly tease the way we \u201cworship\u201d the \u201cStar Wars\u201d mythology by reimagining the famous sci-fi heroes as Byzantine religious icons. The free exhibit is on view at Harvard University\u2019s Center for the Study of World Religions<\/a> conference room, 42 Francis Ave., Cambridge, from Feb. 4 to June 10, 2019.<\/p>\n

BB-8, Boba Fett, Princess Leia, Obi-Wan Kenobi, Yoda, and Darth Vader (with his skull-like mask in his hand) are portrayed with red-outlined halos against gold (acrylic) backgrounds.<\/p>\n

\"Alex<\/a>
Alex Ramos’s \u201cSaints of Star Wars\u201d exhibit at Harvard University\u2019s Center for the Study of World Religions. (Greg Cook)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Ramos, who is based in State College, Pennsylvania, earned a masters degree from Harvard Divinity School in 2011 then a Ph.D. in religious studies from the University of Pennsylvania.<\/p>\n

Mostly Ramos paints landscapes and still-lifes. \u201cThe original inspiration was the Chewbacca painting,\u201d Ramos says. \u201cI thought of the way John the Baptist is depicted in these icons with the very stylized pelt around his chest. I thought Chewbacca looked very interesting as a very pelty figure.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"Alex<\/a>
Alex Ramos, “C-3PO and R2-D2 Madonna and Child.”<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Then he got to wondering, \u201cHow would other characters look like in this sort of stylized caricature?\u201d He painted most of them in 2015. Ramos describes the artworks as \u201cplayful, but painting something about how fans of \u2018Star Wars\u2019 and other science fiction, how invested they are\u2014myself included\u2014in this universe. The story is undergirding a lot of the ways you think about something.\u201d<\/p>\n

Ramos adds, \u201cThis is a funny way to think about how you interact with his mythology.\u201d<\/p>\n

Around the characters\u2019 heads is red lettering in Greek. \u201cSaint\u201d or \u201choly one\u201d becomes \u201chagios\u201d (male) or \u201chagia\u201d (female), followed by the characters\u2019 names. The inscription around Luke \u201cidentifies him as the wampa slayer,\u201d Ramos says. \u201cThe Ackbar one also says \u2018It\u2019s a trap\u2019 in the corner. I couldn\u2019t not do that.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n

If this is the kind of coverage of arts, cultures and activisms you appreciate, please support Wonderland by contributing to Wonderland on Patreon<\/a>. And sign up for our free, weekly newsletter<\/a> so that you don’t miss any of our reporting.<\/em><\/p>\n

\n
\"Alex<\/a>
Alex Ramos, “St. Luke, Wampa-slayer.”<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
\"Alex<\/a>
Alex Ramos, “St. Obi-Wan Kenobi.”<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
\"Alex<\/a>
Alex Ramos, “Anakin Redeemed.”<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
\"Alex<\/a>
Alex Ramos, “St. Boba Fett.”<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The robot C-3PO cradles R2-D2 as in a traditional Madonna and child painting. The gangster slug Jabba the Hutt sits at the center of a \u201cLast Supper\u201d-ish table. Luke Skywalker rides a tauntaun across the icy wastes to battle the wampa snow beast\u2014in a pose recalling traditional religious paintings of St. George offing a dragon. […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":10520,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[100],"tags":[42,68,147],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/gregcookland.com\/wonderland\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10514"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/gregcookland.com\/wonderland\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/gregcookland.com\/wonderland\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gregcookland.com\/wonderland\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gregcookland.com\/wonderland\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=10514"}],"version-history":[{"count":6,"href":"https:\/\/gregcookland.com\/wonderland\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10514\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":10527,"href":"https:\/\/gregcookland.com\/wonderland\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10514\/revisions\/10527"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gregcookland.com\/wonderland\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/10520"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/gregcookland.com\/wonderland\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=10514"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gregcookland.com\/wonderland\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=10514"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gregcookland.com\/wonderland\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=10514"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}