Both High and Low…a good piece on expressions of faith in folk art

Unprepossessing though it may be to some eyes, this Nativity is the work of a lifetime, and it is only one of many examples of popular art, religious or devotional in origin if not in present function, that abound in the city. At El Museo del Barrio, three huge exotic painted and turbaned figures sit in the lobby, ready for Jan. 6, when the Three Kings Day parade will wend its way from the museum through the streets of East Harlem. With its colossal Magi, hosts of grade-school angels and fabulous music, the parade, originally a procession, is definitely a New York experience.

As it happens, I have a related though less spectacular one at this time of year in my own mostly Latino neighborhood, where a big, multifigured Nativity is installed in the local supermarket. The figures are plastic, their colors hard and bright. But in the weeks before Christmas the manger floor around Jesus’ crib is gradually covered with coins and bills pitched in to bring luck or just from an ingrained sense of reverence for this familiar scene. Is this an example of low art? High art? No art? Well, it’s life. The choice is yours.