On the vestiges of Beato Angelico

Young Irishman finds a welcome in the workshop of the great Renaissance artist.

By Geraldina Fiechter (translated into English by Dony Mac Manus)

Also this is Florence. An invisible story, camouflaged, frequently extravagant, officially nonexistent but like this Florentine, in reality. He is the Irish sculptor who has lived and worked for two years in the studio in which Beato Angelico founded his studio, in number 1, Piazza San Marco, beside the church. His name is Dony Mac Manus. He is 38 years old with two fine surgeons hands and a forthright and joyful face. He says that he cannot leave Florence again because it is here that he has found his life and its only here, that he can find his oxygen. He has studied in Dublin and New York where he has taught and has left much of his public work. His way is through sacred art, precisely like Beato Angelico. Like him he is working to transmit the faith and skills to his students, which are numerous, almost all foreign, whom attend his Studio.

How did you find this studio?
“I have been here in Florence, sculpting and running seminars on the ‘Theology of the Body”. I pray very often in the Church of San Marco in the evenings and one day the Prior invited me to Lunch and that is the way it happened.”

What happened? 
“My seminars in the Annagoni Room in the monastery every Friday evening. There can be from twenty to fifty students, all young artists, all interested in the profound significance of Christian humanistic art here in its birth place. I also teach the artistic anatomy of the human body.”

What things do you teach that is not taught in other traditional academies in Florence?
In my opinion the traditional academies don’t penetrate the deep meaning of this art, the thought and ideas behind it. It is not possible to understand Christian art if you don’t understand the faith from which it was born. In response to this need I have created an artistic studio where people can meet, exchange experiences, work on projects and teach not for myself but in service of contemporary society.

Who do you work for?
“In Ireland I made public sculptures for the state, in the US, I did a lot of private commissions and in Italy I do a lot of work for the Church. Now I am working on an altarpiece for Campus Bio-medico, Roma for example

Why did you leave Ireland?
“It is difficult to do sacred art there. I was kicked out of the sculpture department of the National College of Art and Design, Dublin, because my art was too Christian in the opinion of the professor. There is a lot of anti-Catholic feeling there at the moment. I went to the New York Academy of Art to earn an MFA until September 11 2001, when I left and arrived finally in Florence where I have found purpose for my life.”

What religious organization are you in?
“I am in Opus Dei, like my father. I strongly believe that work can be prayer and that God is in the work that I do. I also run seminars in Accademia di Ponti (a center of Opus Dei in Via Trieste, Florence). I teach with American and Japanese artists, young Florentines, how to respect their culture and their city.”

Who is your favourite artist?
“Michaelangelo”

And which artist do feel closest to?
“ I aspire to have the communicative force of Bernini”

What have you found in the art of the Renascence?
“Beauty and therefore the faith. Like many philosophers have said, beauty is a manifestation of truth. The body and spirit, as splendidly expressed by Pope John Paul II are inseparable.

Have any of your artist friends converted during their study of the body in Renaissance works?
“Certainly. Young American and Japanese artists have converted to Catholicism while studying the great Renaissance masters. Two of them were baptized in the Duomo by the Archbishop Betori at the Easter Vigil and he was very moved.

Does the Archbishop know about your mission?
“Yes and he is very enthusiastic about it.”

What do you believe you have in common with Beato Angelico?
 “Faith in Christ and the beauty that is born from that truth”

Are you Married or going out with someone?
“No”

What is your next move?
I have arrived and I have no plans on leaving.

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ZENIT, The world seen from Rome
News Agency
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Dony Mac Manus: Art Meets Theology of the Body

Interview With the Irish Artist and Sculptor

By Robert F. Conkling

DUBLIN, Ireland, JULY 28, 2009 (Zenit.org).- Dony Mac Manus calls himself a figurative -- as opposed to abstract -- artist. And the figures that most inform his artwork are those of the human body.

And the theology that most informs his art, is Pope John Paul II's theology of the body.

Mac Manus, 38, is the founder of the Irish Academy of Figurative Art in Dublin and the Dony Mac Manus Studios In Florence, Italy.

A native of Dublin, the aspiring artist studied at his hometown's National College of Art and Design in Dublin. In 2000, he was awarded a Millennium Scholarship Trust from the Bank of Ireland to study at the New York Academy of Art, where, a year later, he earned a master's degree in Fine Art.

But the event that most influenced the artist was John Paul II's theology of the body at the suggestion of a priest-visitor who was impressed with a sculpture Mac Manus was working on of Christ crucified. He was sculpting the body of the living Christ, devoid of exterior skin, revealing all his muscles and bones.

To clarify his approach to his fascinated visitor, Mac Manus explained it this way: "I wanted to come to a deeper understanding of Corpus Christi, the body of Christ, through the language I knew best, which was form."

Meeting up with Mac Manus at the recent Second International Symposium on the Theology of the Body, organized by the Irish organization Pure In Heart at St. Patrick's College in Maynooth, Ireland, ZENIT spoke with the artist about how theology of the body has influenced his art.

ZENIT: Has John Paul II's theology of the body continued to inform your work?

Mac Manus: When I first was introduced to theology of the body, I started to understand what it meant to be a man, to be fully human, and how this identity is fundamental to how I relate with other men and women, and how I relate to God as a Christian. Since that introduction to theology of the body in 1999, it continues to inform my work.

In the words of John Paul II, "Christ reveals man to man." I think, as an artist, I could not possibly ask for more. If an artist sees that his mission is to reveal man's worth, dignity and destiny, as I believe it is, then this short revelation of John Paul II is all you need to put yourself on the right track.

If Christ reveals man to man, and he does this through his own body and our own bodies, then this explains why Christ has been the central figure of art for so long. It also explains why it is necessary to return Christ to that central place if we are to reclaim our own true culture and identity.

ZENIT: On your Web site (www.donymacmanus.com), you state that the human body is the most expressive tool to communicate the human condition. What do you mean by that?

Mac Manus: With this expression I mean to depict every aspect of being human. I see the human body as the ideal instrument to communicate this condition, as the body is designed to do just that.

I understand my own condition, and the condition of other humans, in and through my own body and theirs. As an artist, I strongly believe in the communication of what it means to be human. I realize it is my responsibility to finely tune my capacities to communicate this reality in my work, with maximum fluidity, so as to minimize the interference of artistic incompetence -- be it anatomical, sculptural, drawing -- in the communication of the message.

ZENIT: One of the key themes of John Paul II's writing was that a person must never use or treat another as a mere means to an end. How do you, as an artist, whose favourite subject is the human body, guard that your models, whether a man or a woman, do not experience being used to further your art?

Mac Manus: This is a very interesting question and I am very glad you asked it because it forces me to think about it. I think it is purely a question of intentions, which is an overflow of an interior disposition. One can see another human person with purity of heart and not objectify the person. That positive intention is also communicated through our body language and is perceived by the other with great clarity. This is the manner I believe that both professional and personal relationships can be built.

ZENIT: Is art becoming, or has it already become, merely the superficial consumption of impressions? If so, how can those of us who are not fine artists, educate our own eyes and the eyes of others, especially youth, to look for art worthy of the human observers that we are?

Mac Manus: A lot of art has become very superficial and relativistic, leading to a lot of boring self-referential navel gazing. This results from a loss of a true focus on the only source of "the way, the truth and the light." It has led to truly tedious artistic manifestations.

Put it this way, if I were to describe my exhibition either as "Dony Mac Manus: An Artistic Self-Exploration of a 38-year-old Guy From Dublin," or as "A Contemporary Artistic Exploration of the Human Condition Through the Works of the Greatest Artists in History," by Dony Mac Manus, most sane people, if they could choose, would choose the latter.

They would do this as it invites one to explore the vast richness of our collective cultural heritage, and in this way to learn what one can, and apply this to what is relevant to the present.

In other words, art is first and foremost a language. Language is born from thought. If we are to understand true art, we need to understand true thought. A healthy grasp of philosophy and theology can go a long way in penetrating the meaning of who we are.

With this understanding of the human condition we can aspire to reaffirm this vision of the human in cultural life, whether it be in the production or consumption of art.

ZENIT: What about art that is obscene? How can artists and non-artists recognize when a work, whether an original or a reproduction, is pornography?

Mac Manus: Obscene is what "cannot be presented to human view without any choice." John Paul II used this concept to indicate that an image is obscene when it is an inappropriate image forced upon the viewer without any choice on the part of the viewer, as for example in a public street poster. In this example, the public is subject to the power of human sexuality thrust upon them for the monetary gain of others through advertising.

Pornovision (images) and pornography (written word) both take place when the limit of shame is overstepped and when the right to the privacy of the body, in its masculinity or femininity, is violated. This is contrary to the dignity of man in the intentional order (what the artist intends) of art and reproduction of words and images.

ZENIT: John Paul II wrote in "Laborem Exercens" (On Work), that all human work is a moment of revelation of the person, and is a natural way in which all persons can build him or herself up and to make a world worthy of himself. Do you see your work as an artist in this way? Specifically, what does your work tell the world about Dony Mac Manus?

Mac Manus: Yes, I do see my work this way. My work tells the world that Dony Mac Manus does not really care what people think about his art.  The only thing I care about is that I can articulate what I believe the world needs from the collective heritage we have. I want to sensitise myself to what is most beautiful and draw it out of this vast wealth and have it communicate with a contemporary audience so as to give hope through beauty.

As John Paul II reminded us when he quoted from "The Idiot" by Fyodor Dostoyevsky in his Letter to Artists, 1999: "Beauty will save the world." Today, I think we need that saving power more than ever.

ZENIT:  What are you trying to accomplish in your studio in Florence?

Mac Manus: I have established a workshop in the manner of the artists of the 15th century in the studio of Beato Angelico, San Marco, Firenze, so as to create an environment in which great art can be conceived and great artists can formed. If I can establish a studio as good as Verrochio, maybe a modern-day genius like Leonardo can be nurtured.

Drawing and human anatomy are fundamental to figurative art. They are like words and grammar to a writer. Once you learn the rules well, only then can you break them properly in order to make art. Young artists are in great need of this basic right to communicate, which is denied to them by most established "art institutions."

I form the artists on the job as it were. They learn in a real live commissioned project just as Michaelangelo did in the studio of Girlandio or Raphael in the studio of Perugiono.

ZENIT: If you knew ahead of time that you had only one last work of art to work on, what might that be?

Mac Manus: A life-sized crucifix made from Cedar of Lebanon.

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On the Net:

www.donymacmanus.com

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ZE09072804
2009-07-28
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--
Dony Mac Manus
Via Luca Giordano 7H
Firenze 50132
Italia

(0039) 333 4134 552 (mobile)
(0039) 055 0516 846 (studio)

www.donymacmanus.com
www.donymacmanusstudios.com

The Irish Times
Wednesday, December 9 1989.

The statue unveiled by the Archbishop of Dublin, Dr Connell, in Jobstown, Dublin showing the Virgin Mary with symbols of drug dependency under her feet. Photograph Maxwell's
Jobstown Virgin Mary statue unveiled with drug-abuse symbols under her feet

By Christene Newman

A statue of the Virgin Mary depicting her with symbols of drug dependency under her feet was unveiled by the Archbishop of Dublin, Dr Connell, in Jobstown yesterday.
The statue was unveiled outside the headquarters of jobstown Assisting Drugs Dependency, a community group formed to address drug abuse.
Dr Connell said it was "a statue for our times, bringing hope through faith and art, to those fighting against drugs and drug dependency." The statue, designed by Donal McManus, was specially commissioned to highlight the community's struggle against drugs.
Dr. Connell praised those working against drugs in Jobstown. He said drugs and other dependencies were a problem for all social classes, not just those communities normally regarded as disadvantaged.
Families and communities throughout the city were affected by drugs and need support at different levels from Government, which must help reassure their efforts from the media, which must highlight successes as well as the failures and from the church, the community of believers, which need to show solidarity with those combating drugs.
"Parishes in particular can play a vital role by supporting local initiatives to combat drug dependence." Dr Connell said.
He said that in a christian community families where there were no drug problems could not turn their backs on others devastated by drug use. No family could say: "It will never happen to us".
The Archbishop stressed the importance of developing a peer rapport, and referred to a project, piloted in a nearby school by the Diocesan Drugs Awareness Program me, called "Adventure in the city The aim was to encourage young people to support each other in avoiding drugs.
He said it was not only drug users who needed healing. "Families and whole communities need support when they are affected by drug problems. Drug issues can divide families and communities and when divisions occur, the dealers prosper."