De Polo, who juried the show, says she wanted to pick pieces that both compliment each other and meet the challenge of visualizing spirituality.
"I picked out things that are very new age, things that were very primitive-looking and things that hook to the landscape," she says. "It's very interesting to see how people interpret things and how they view the infinite. I want to see as much variety as possible, but also things that don't confine that ultimate mystery to one path, or one interpretation or one metaphor. The metaphors are intimate."
The 34 pieces were selected from 38 artists, and those artists were narrowed down by De Polo from an open submission process. Hoffman, the curator, says about 98 artists originally submitted pieces for juried selection, and the elimination process presented a challenge. All the pieces were interesting and creative."Sometimes when you come up with a theme for a show, it comes through kind of hackneyed," she explains. "I wanted De Polo as a juror because she's an art consultant also, and she writes poetry -- her work has a strange spiritual bend to it. It was interesting to me to watch her in the process. It's risky on the open shows, because you get what you get, but we ended up getting some interesting work."
In choosing the pieces for the show, De Polo says she was most attracted to the pieces that chose indirect, or less predictable approaches.
"I believe the subject is not easily rendered," she says. "One can not articulate that which is so infinite. I also looked for pieces that take a difficult thing and make a picture of it. People can make pictures of what we experience, but they're all going to be different."
Tim Mooney's "Annunciation," for example, was one of the pieces that took an unorthodox avenue in exploring spirituality, and De Polo explains that the piece was one that originally attracted her attention."Mooney's painting is on a black background, and the painting is very dark," she says. "There's a look of recognition on the figures face and I picked that one to show because I feel that in the blackest moment, we recognize the ultimate mystery and its always a surprise. That one really resonated with me."
Hoffman says that while the show encompasses the indeterminateness of spirituality, it also envelops different mediums, and many different artist backgrounds, including a 16 year old artist.
"There is a vast range of mediums there," she explains. "There's an enormous triangular piece, Starborn on the wall with sculptural elements, and it's a center piece for the show. I think Hilary did an interesting job selecting all the pieces. The juror makes or breaks these shows, and she did a really good job."
Collectors Friday tomorrow, from 6 p.m. - 9 p.m, at Core New Art Space (900 Santa Fe Drive). De Polo will give a lecture on the closing day, May 27, at 3 p.m. For more information, visit the Facebook Page.
