Past Exhibitions
Browse the chronological list of past exhibitions at the Saint Louis University Museum of Contemporary Art (MOCRA), or search for a specific exhibition. Click “View” for more information about an exhibition. If you need further information about an exhibition, please contact us.

Continuum (Continued): Figuration and Abstraction in the MOCRA Collection
February 5, 2025 to May 18, 2025
About the Exhibition
Art is a primary vehicle for conveying spiritual and religious experiences, from intense personal insights to the shared stories that help form a community. This exhibition highlights two general approaches employed by artists to express the religious and spiritual dimensions. Figurative works portray or reference the human body, often with a narrative element. Abstract works don’t attempt to reproduce visual reality. Instead, processes, materials, and colors take on greater importance.
The exhibition title, Continuum, hints at the fact that many works don’t fit neatly into one category or another, blurring the distinctions between the figurative and the abstract—yet we might encounter the transcendent anywhere along this spectrum.
Continuum (Continued): Figuration and Abstraction in the MOCRA Collection is co-curated by MOCRA Director David Brinker and Museum Assistant Julie Wyatt.
Artists with work on display include:
Salma Arastu | Romare Bearden | Dawoud Bey | Ada Bird Petyarre | Nick Boskovich | Frederick J. Brown | Maria Magdalena Campos-Pons | Junko Chodos | Michael David | Lesley Dill | Gabriel GarcÃa Roman | Daniel Goldstein | Patrick Graham | Donald Grant | Laurie Gross | Tobi Kahn | Dean Kessmann | Tom Kiefer | Frank LaPena | Horatio Law | Charlotte Lichtblau | Gary Logan | Stephen Luecking | Bernard Maisner | Brandon Maldonado | Jeffrey Gerard Miller | Jim Morphesis | Susan Schwalb | Shahzia Sikander | Thomas Skomski | Kazuaki Tanahashi | Vicente Telles | Michael Tracy | Michael Velliquette
above:
Installation view, Continuum (Continued): Figuration and Abstraction in the MOCRA Collection.
| Exhibition |
|---|
Bernard Maisner: The Hourglass and the Spiral |
Georges Rouault: Miserere et Guerre |
Erika Diettes: Sudarios |
Regina DeLuise: Vast Bhutan – Images from the Phenomenal World |
Painting Prayers: The Calligraphic Art of Salma Arastu |
Thresholds: MOCRA at 20 – Part Two, The Second Decade |
Rebecca Niederlander: Axis Mundi |
Jordan Eagles: BLOOD / SPIRIT |
Thresholds: MOCRA at 20 – Part One, The First Decade |
Archie Granot: The Papercut Haggadah |
A Tribute to Frederick J. Brown |
Patrick Graham: Thirty Years – The Silence Becomes the Painting |
Adrian Kellard: The Learned Art of Compassion |
Good Friday: The Suffering Christ in Contemporary Art |
James Rosen: The Artist and the Capable Observer |
MOCRA at Fifteen: Good Friday |
Michael Byron: Cosmic Tears |
Miao Xiaochun: The Last Judgment in Cyberspace |
MOCRA at Fifteen: Pursuit of the Spirit |
Oskar Fischinger: Movement and Spirit |
The Celluloid Bible: Marketing Films Inspired by Scripture |
Gorky: The Early Years – Drawings and Paintings, 1927–1937 |
Andy Warhol: Silver Clouds |
Junko Chodos: The Breath of Consciousness |
DoDo Jin Ming: Land and Sea |
Rito, Espejo y Ojo / Ritual, Mirror and Eye: Photography by Luis González-Palma, María Magdalena Campos-Pons, and Pablo Soria |
Radiant Forms in Contemporary Sacred Architecture: Richard Meier and Steven Holl |
Daniel Ramirez: Twenty Contemplations on the Infant Jesus, an Homage to Oliver Messiaen |
Avoda: Objects of the Spirit – Ceremonial Art by Tobi Kahn |
Tony Hooker: The Greater Good – An Artist’s Contemporary View of the Tuskegee Syphilis Study |
Andy Warhol: Silver Clouds, an encore presentation |
Andy Warhol’s Silver Clouds: A Fortieth Anniversary Celebration |
Lewis deSoto: Paranirvana |
Robert Farber: A Retrospective, 1985–1995 |
Bernard Maisner: Entrance to the Scriptorium |
Tobi Kahn: Metamorphoses |
MOCRA: The First Five Years |
Steven Heilmer: Pietre Sante | Holy Stones |
Utopia Body Paint Collection and Australian Aboriginal Art from St. Louis Collections |
Manfred Stumpf: Enter Jerusalem |
Frederick J. Brown: The Life of Christ Altarpiece |
Edward Boccia: Eye of the Painter |
Consecrations Revisited |
Keith Haring: Altarpiece – The Life of Christ |
Ian Friend: The Edge of Belief – paintings, sculpture, and works on paper, 1980–1994 |
Eleanor Dickinson: A Retrospective |
Post-Minimalism and the Spiritual: Four Chicago Artists |
Consecrations: The Spiritual in Art in the Time of AIDS |
Sanctuaries: Recovering the Holy in Contemporary Art, Part One |
Body and Soul: The Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater |
Transformations: Highlights from the MOCRA Collection |
Georges Rouault: Miserere et Guerre |
Georges Rouault: Miserere et Guerre |
Georges Rouault: Miserere et Guerre |
Georges Rouault: Miserere et Guerre |
Visible Conservation |
Highlights from the MOCRA Collection |
Highlights from the MOCRA Collection |
Highlights from the MOCRA Collection: The Romero Cross |
Highlights from the MOCRA Collection |
Highlights from the MOCRA Collection |
Highlights from the MOCRA Collection |
Highlights from the MOCRA Collection |
Highlights from the MOCRA Collection |
Highlights from the MOCRA Collection |
Highlights from the MOCRA Collection |
Sanctuaries: Recovering the Holy in Contemporary Art, Part Two – Three Major Installations |
Beyond Words: Three Contemporary Artists and the Manuscript Tradition |
MOCRA: 25 |
Gary Logan: Elements |
Gratitude |
Surface to Source |
Quiet Isn’t Always Peace |
Tom Kiefer: Pertenencias / Belongings |
Double Vision: Art from Jesuit University Collections |
Lesley Dill: Dream World of the Forest |
Jordan Eagles: VIRAL\VALUE |
This Road Is the Heart Opening: Selections from the MOCRA Collection |
Vicente Telles and Brandon Maldonado: Cuentos Nuevomexicanos |
Open Hands: Crafting the Spiritual |
Selections from the MOCRA Collection |
Continuum: Figuration and Abstraction in the MOCRA Collection |
Continuum (Continued): Figuration and Abstraction in the MOCRA Collection |
Selections from the MOCRA Collection |