From Bob, a gallery assistant at the Pulitzer:

Like many people employed in the art community of St. Louis, I have multiple jobs. In fact, I have three. I am a Gallery Assistant at the Pulitzer Foundation for the Arts. I work as an adjunct instructor at East Central College in Union, MO. And, finally, as a Museum Assistant at the Museum of Contemporary Religious Art (MOCRA) on Saint Louis University’s campus.

There are some major contrasts between the two art institutions. The most obvious is staffing. The Pulitzer has a full staff with different departments. MOCRA has three full-time staff members, one part-time staff member (me) and several student workers. These staffing differences result in different institutional cultures, and different roles for me.

At MOCRA, my duties have included getting the museum ready for visitors, greeting visitors, supervising student workers, helping install artwork, chiming in on curatorial decisions, changing light bulbs, helping with Web 2.0, and even vacuuming.

Since both the Pulitzer and MOCRA are exhibiting works that display Christian religious subjects, the current exhibitions of each museum allow for a more direct comparison than usual. At the Pulitzer, old art is being shown in a contemporary space. Ando’s building is itself a work of art, shaping visitor experience and the display of art. The build makes use of natural light and, for this exhibit, the PFA has decided to leave the electrical light off. This is to allow the visitors to view these works as they were originally displayed: without artificial lighting. So, here it is the building commenting on the Old Masters.

MOCRA is a repurposed chapel. The complex floor plan allows for different experiences than the Pulitzer: small side chapels and a large nave with a high ceiling. There usually is only artificial light. Also, the lighting is just like the lighting of a church. The lights are attached to the 30 foot tall ceiling and are angled down casting some dramatic shadows. If you’ve even been to College Church on SLU’s campus, a similar effect is seen on the altar. Lighting aside, the “Good Friday” exhibition has some artists commenting on paintings of the same age as those at the Pulitzer. James Rosen pays tribute to art history in his painting “Homage to the Pietà d’Avignon” (1989-91). Juan González borrows the image of Jesus in his tomb from Hans Holbein’s “The Body of the Dead Christ in the Tomb” for the 1987 AIDS awareness “Don’t Mourn, Consecrate.”

Ian Friend’s abstracted work “The Protestant Afflication” also references Holbien’s painting. So, at MOCRA, it’s the artists doing the commenting on the Old Masters.

Both of these institutions are located within a few blocks of each other in the Grand Center neighborhood. Grand Center features many other great venues for experiencing all genres of art. Each is unique, but they all share a common mission to challenge their visitors to view the arts in new ways.