Jordan Eagles is both artist and art conservator, because his art would decay naturally if left untreated. Eagles paints with animal blood, which immediately conjures images of Slayer album covers and slasher movies; but Eagles is much more influenced by colorfield and process painting than he is by grisly shock value. Using proprietary methods of his own device, he creates works of blood, copper, UV resin, and plexiglass that capture the viscous, tactile nature of his media, and retain those properties over time. As physical objects they're beautiful, but there remains something morbid about them once you know they're not oil paintings. That's the mysterious power blood holds over our imaginations: We're fine with it being inside of us, but we don't want to see it all over the walls. Jordan Eagles: Blood/Spirit, an exhibition of large-scale blood paintings and projected blood paintings, opens with a free reception from 1:30 to 3:30 p.m. Sunday, January 20, at the Museum of Contemporary Religious Art on the Saint Louis University campus (3700 West Pine Mall; 314-977-7170 or mocra.slu.edu). Blood/Spirit remains on display through Sunday, May 12, and the gallery is open Tuesday through Sunday. The show then continues at MOCRA through Friday, June 28, when gallery hours change to Tuesday through Friday.
