Dustin Yellin: Art, Religion, and the Reversal of Influence

The conversation unfolded against industrial textures—a steel table and a microphone surrounded by soundproofing foam—on the set of the podcast Subway Takes. Brooklyn artist Dustin Yellin asserted, "Religion should be a product of art, not art a product of religion."

Yellin’s comment, made during an October 2023 episode, contrasts sharply with traditions where religious institutions commissioned art for devotion or control. From the Sistine Chapel to medieval stained glass, religion often dictated artistic themes. By advocating for a reversal of this influence, Yellin aligns with contemporary artists seeking to free creative practice from inherited frameworks.

He elaborated on his stance through his project, The Politics of Eternity, which integrates layers of resin and found objects into intricate tableaux. "When I'm working," Yellin said, "I'm not thinking about a god or a doctrine. I'm thinking about the human condition—its chaos, its beauty, its contradictions. If spirituality emerges, it’s because the materials speak to it, not because I’ve set out to make something spiritual."

Yellin's perspective resonates with Marcel Duchamp’s views on art as an autonomous zone. However, his argument diverges from Duchamp’s anti-aestheticism. Yellin critiques the binaries between sacred and secular, proposing that contemporary art can shape new forms of spirituality untethered from institutionalized religion.

Religious scholars and art historians may challenge this view. Dr. Emily K. Dyer, a professor at the University of Toronto, acknowledges Yellin's vision but highlights historical complexities: "The idea that art generates religion overlooks mutual entanglements. Buddhism, for instance, evolved alongside its visual iconographies. Can we neatly untangle one from the other?"

The intersection of spirituality and art in Yellin’s work complicates his argument. His Psychogeographies series, part of collections like the New York Public Library and the Brooklyn Museum, evokes archetypal forms and myths. Anthropomorphic figures in layers of transparent material create a ritualistic atmosphere. Whether these elements reflect or resist religious motifs remains debated. As curator Naomi Beckwith of the Guggenheim Museum noted, "Yellin’s work often walks the line between secular and sacred, invoking transcendence without allegiance to doctrine."

This ambiguity is prevalent in contemporary art. Exhibitions like Heaven (1999, Tate Gallery) and Stations of the Cross (2016, 14 Stations) explore how artists engage with spirituality outside organized religion. Yellin’s intervention places him within an ongoing dialogue, demanding a recalibration of influence: art as progenitor, not response.

However, this recalibration carries risks. Movements that have harnessed art as a quasi-religious force—such as Futurism and certain strains of Surrealism—have sometimes veered into ideological excess. The question remains whether Yellin’s ideal can avoid similar pitfalls. "Art has the potential to create belief systems," Yellin remarked during the podcast, "but those systems should never be rigid. They should evolve, just like art itself. If they don’t, they stop being alive."

Yellin’s remarks extend beyond the art world, touching on broader cultural debates about spirituality in a secular age. His call to action resonates with philosophers and activists advocating for communal meaning-making that does not rely on traditional religious structures.

For those awaiting concrete applications of Yellin’s philosophy, his forthcoming group exhibition at Pioneer Works, the cultural center he founded in Brooklyn, may offer insights. Opening in January 2024, the exhibition will explore themes of interconnectedness and human fragility—a thematic throughline in Yellin’s recent interviews.

Whether Yellin’s vision of art-as-religion will gain cultural traction remains uncertain. Yet his assertion, delivered in the intimate setting of a podcast but resonating far beyond it, invites a reconsideration of how art and spirituality might intersect in the 21st century. "We need new myths," Yellin concluded. "Not myths that divide us, but ones that remind us we’re all part of the same fragile organism."