"Reverence" is the theme of a new exhibit at the Hudson Valley Center of Contemporary Art.  The aim?  To bring together art that speaks of the transcendent without using the traditional visual rhetoric of religious iconography.

Pictured on the left is "Exaltation," one of the exhibit's featured works.  The artist is Damien Hirst, known for his art utilizing dead animals.  Exaltation is no different--it's actually composed of butterfly wings.  Here's the description from the HVCCC:

"Thousands of gorgeous and variegated butterfly wings are applied in a dense and specific pattern giving the sense of a wondrous stained glass cathedral window. Here the use of color, translucence and height, drawing the eyes and the spirit ever upward, are features inherent to reverent worship, echoing the Psalm’s: 'I lift my eyes up to the heights, from whence I draw my inspiration'. The work is ultimately a powerful metaphor for life and death and transcendence of nature and the spirit."