The religious paintings of New York-based artist Simon Carr will be on display in the Cantor Fitzgerald Gallery February 25 through March 27. This traveling show has also appeared at Princeton University, and will finish at Union Theological Seminary in the fall.

Carr's works are large-scale narrative paintings drawn from New Testament stories and events, including“The Riot in Ephesus,”“The Betrayal at Gethsemane,”“Jesus Heals a Paralytic,”“Peter Rejects Simon Magus,”“Eutychus Falls Into Life,” and“The Miracle at Cana.” Each painting will be accompanied by an excerpt from the Biblical text it depicts.

“Unlike 19th-century history painters, Carr avoids an excess of historicism that tends to distract from the core spiritual message,” writes art historian and critic Martica Sawin in the exhibit's catalog.“In his painterly versions of Biblical accounts the specifics required by the narrative are kept subordinate to the rhythms of the forms, the unearthly color, and the swirling energy of the paint application. Rather than setting his dramatis personae apart from the viewer in a separate stage-like space, Carr gives his dramas an eyewitness immediacy by making his compositions seem to engulf the viewer.”

A panel discussion featuring Carr, Temple University's Vasiliki Limberis, and Rev. Roger Ferlo of Virginia Theological Seminary will be held in the Gallery on Tuesday, March 15, at 4 p.m. The panelists will discuss the show in the context of history and uses of religious imagery.

Simon Carr received his M.F.A. in 1981 from Parsons School of Design, where he was a student of renowned artist Leland Bell. He has exhibited in sacred and secular spaces throughout New York City, including St. Peter's Lutheran, the Cathedral Church of St. John the Divine, Union Theological Seminary, the Interchurch Center, Metro Baptist Church, the Bill Bace Gallery, and the Bowery Gallery. He has received commissions for churches in New York and the Midwestern United States. He has been awarded grants from the Pollock-Krasner Foundation, the Gottlieb Foundation, the Artist's Fellowship, and the National Endowment for the Arts. He has also been a visiting artist/guest lecturer at Bard College, Eugene Lang College, Vermont College's MFA program, and Hampshire College. He taught for many years at Parsons, and is now teaching drawing at the Borough of Manhattan Community College.

Located in Whitehead Campus Center, the Cantor Fitzgerald Gallery is open 11 a.m.-5 p.m. Monday-Friday and noon-5 p.m. Saturdays and Sundays. During Spring Break, the Gallery will be closed March 5-6 and 10-13. For more information, call 610-896-1287 or visit the Gallery online at www.cantorfitzgeraldgallery.org.