Sacred Shapes

Exhibition info

• Dates: January 14 – January 21, 2021
• Location: Atrium Gallery on level 1 in the BYU Library
• BYU Library page for the exhibit
• BYU Library hours
• BYU Library parking information

Artwork

Prints are available via the links below. From left:

• Ninety and Nine. With these piece I wanted to convey how out of his way the Savior is willing to go for the lost sheep, who is partway off the canvas.

  2015

• First Vision XIV. This came out of the Work + Wonder Collective cover I made, as one of the options we decided not to go with. (Though clearly related, with the golden halo and the white pillars.) Of my First Vision pieces, it’s one of my favorites.

  2019

• Together Forever. I wanted to make a piece that showed how deceased family members are still very much part of the family. This turned into a family portrait of sorts, and it’s one of my favorites. I put the child in the foreground as a way of saying that those still living never forget those who’ve passed on. (I haven’t lost a child, but I have friends who have. And we have a child with a serious medical condition, so this sort of thing is frequently in my thoughts.)

  2018

• Christ Visits the Nephites. For this piece, I mainly just wanted to convey 3 Nephi 11 in some way, and this seemed the simplest way to do it.

  2014

• In Good Hands. One of what I call my veil paintings. I made this one to explore the idea that when a child dies — a horrible thing — they’re in good hands in the next life, both those of our Heavenly Parents and those of the child’s family on the other side.

  2018

• Family Prayer II. I had done an earlier family prayer piece, but around this time I’d been working in a looser style and felt it would fit. Even though I haven’t done as much with this type of style since that time, I really like it and hope to return to it someday.

  2019

• Trailing Clouds of Glory. After doing several pieces about children who’ve left the earth, I wanted to do something about children coming to earth. I like to imagine that this couple very much wants a child.

  2018

• Shoulder to the Wheel II. A wintry remake of an earlier piece, both to raise the stakes and because the color scheme was better. With both the original and the remake, I wanted to show angels watching over the pioneers as they went up the hills of life (both literal and metaphorical).

  2019

• First Vision VII. If I recall correctly, this was the first minimalist piece where I painted using much smaller strokes throughout the piece. It also had a more intricate background than what I usually chose. It took a much longer time, but I was happy with how it turned out. The verticality is inspired by a statue I saw in the conference center in Salt Lake. (If you’ve seen it, you’ll know which one I’m talking about. I don’t know what it’s called or who it was by, sadly.)

  2018

• He Is Risen. I wanted to do a piece about Christ’s resurrection, and the idea of using just two circles was very appealing. I love the colors on this one.

  2018

• They That Be With Us. On this one it took a while before I got the texture to a point I was happy with. I’m glad I kept going. I’ve since tried to remake this piece from a side view instead of overhead, but it just doesn’t work. This is one of my most popular pieces, and one of my favorites.

  2017

• Before Our Journey’s Through. I made this for the exhibit, as a companion piece to go with _Shoulder to the Wheel II_. I wasn’t sure if I should make it — it’s a sad piece — but I wanted to explore (in some small way) the depth of sorrow for those pioneers who made the journey in winter and had to leave loved ones along the way.

  2019

• Laying on of Hands. While this piece isn’t quite as minimalist as later versions I’ve since made, I love this one because of the way it looks almost like there’s strong overhead lighting.

  2015

• In Remembrance. One of my attempts to represent the sacrament in a more minimal fashion, this time using a more geometric-feeling style that I’ve used on a handful of pieces. I’m unreasonably delighted with the texture on the square and circle.

  2019

• First Vision VIII. This wasn’t originally meant to look like stained glass — I was just trying to use a repeating pattern — but I like the look a lot and hope to do more pieces like it someday.

  2018

Photos and Video

Artist statement

Over the past ten years, I’ve been exploring religious principles and stories in my art, trying to find the essence of each. The representations here aren’t the only way to do this, of course, but I find that limiting myself to these simple shapes—circles, triangles, and rectangles, for the most part—and trying to imbue them with the glory of God’s plan of happiness and the Restoration of the gospel has been a fulfilling challenge.

This type of art admittedly isn’t to everyone’s taste, but it’s my hope that some of you will be able to relate to the pieces and, through the Spirit, to find your faith strengthened in some small way.

Biography

Ben Crowder is a human. He makes art, mostly religious in nature and usually more on the minimalist side of things. He makes other things, too: once upon a time he founded the magazine Mormon Artist, he also founded the Mormon Texts Project, and nowadays he publishes various editions of the scriptures (wide margin editions, reader’s editions, etc.).

By day he toils as a software engineer at the BYU library. He lives in Utah with his wife and children and zero pets but a whole lot of books. This is his first exhibition.

Where to go from here

For more art, see my art page or my Instagram.