이 연구는 현대 사회에서 회자되는 ‘영성’의 개념이 대중문화를 통해 어떻게 나타나는지 살펴보고자한다. 이를 위해 베리 테일러와 앙드레 콩트-스퐁빌, 울리히 벡과 마크 매킨토시의 연구를 이론적 틀로 차용하였으며, 영성의 개념과 이에 대한 대중의 증가하는 관심은 근대화 이후 격변하는 사회문화적 맥락에서 논의되어야 하고, 타자를 배제한 개인화된 영성이나 자본주의에서 상품화되어 소비되는 영성은 본래 영성이 가진 본질이 왜곡된 형태라는 점을 지적했다. 이런 논의를 바탕으로 멜 깁슨의 <핵소 고지>를 살펴볼 때 이 영화는 할리우드 전쟁영화 관습을 따르면서도 극사실주의적 재현방식을 통해 전쟁의 폭력성과 ‘반전’(反戰) 메시지를 강조하며, 다양한 카메라 앵글 기법과 ‘보이스오버 내레이션을 통해 인간의 실존과 초월자에 대한 믿음, 한 개인의 신념과 공동체라는 영적 주제를 부각시키고 있다. 본고는 21세기 들어 전세계적으로 확산되고 공유된 사회적 불안 요소들 및 글로벌 정치적 상황과 연관시켜 살펴볼 때 할리우드에서 영적 주제와 연관된 작품이 대거 등장한 현상은 결코 우연이 아니며 앞으로 이런 경향은 한층 다양한 형식과 내용을 띠며 지속될 것으로 전망한다.
This study examines the work of Ed Ruscha (1937-present) and his relationship with the Ferus Gallery that vigorously promoted pop art in the western parts of the US throughout the 1960s and 1970s. Ruscha is a conceptual artist and recognized as an iconic figure in the history of LA pop art. His earlier works formed an organic relationship with the southern Californian area. He chose objects from the elements of pop culture, and worked on a wide array of media including painting, photography, artist books and film. By the 1960s, Ruscha has acquired a status as a significant, influential figure as a pop artist, photographer and conceptual artist. In the 1970s, he exhibited his works at the Leo Castelli Gallery in New York, expanding his influence to the east coast. But it was not until 2004 that his retrospective was held at the New York Whitney Museum. Before that, he was mostly known as an artist based in LA both geographically and in terms of his work. Indeed his better known work was created in LA, especially in the early days. Raised in Oklahoma, Ruscha moved to LA in 1956 to attend an art college at age 19. Seven years later, he had his first solo exhibition at the Ferus Gallery. Familiar with pop art elements of Hollywood, beach scenes, palm trees, film and automobiles, artists from LA established their own identity and art world, set apart from east coast-based artists. In particular, artists that worked with the Ferus Gallery were often associated with masculine images, and they adopted this as their persona. The group of them came to be called the Studs. Meanwhile, Ruscha took a slightly different approach. While blending in with other members of the Studs, he expanded or even overcome the macho image through humor and irony. Alexandra Schwartz did extensive in-depth research on Ed Ruscha, and noted that Ruscha could be understood as a mediating figure of the Ferus Gallery, as he was accepted in both the west and the east coast. Schwartz argued that although Ruscha widely used images of the west, he could take a more neutral perspective than other LA-based artists at the time. To him, LA was home and workplace, but Ruscha refused to play along with the cliché of the macho images. As a representative artist of the Ferus Gallery, Ruscha twisted the meaning of the Ferus Studs, intentionally and strategically, and expressed them in his work. With Jerry McMillan, Ruscha actively engaged in opinion-exchanges and image-creating. He augmented the significance of the Studs, which evolved to be a part of various public images that Ruscha experimented with. Ruscha added a new facet of artistic persona to the Studs. The masculine and aggressive images of the Studs members were reproduced in many photos. While connecting to them for solidarity, Ruscha humorously twisted the images, and moved away from the stereotype. Ruscha was a leading artist for the gallery, and widely experimented with the images of the Studs in his work.