In a new exhibit of his own work, titled "painting, of a spirit," he attempts to articulate the tension between the material and immaterial, the spirit and the flesh and to explore the states in which they co-exist.

The show will be held Oct. 26 through Nov. 10 in the University at Buffalo Art Department Gallery (Room B45) in the Center for the Arts on the UB North Campus. It opens today with a reception for the artist from 5-7 p.m. and will be followed by a lecture by Wolfe on the subject of Judeo-Christian imagery in 20th-century art at 6:45 p.m. in Room 112 of the Center for the Arts.

All events are free of charge and open to the public. Gallery hours are Tuesday, 10 a.m. to 5 p.m.; Wednesday through Friday, 10 a.m. to 8 p.m. and Saturday, 11 a.m. to 8 p.m.

Wolfe is a candidate for a Master of Arts in the Humanities degree from UB in painting and art history. He points out that he has long been interested in the widespread use of Judeo-Christian symbols and representations in western art through the 13th century and its rapid decline after the 17th century, fueled by the icon-neutral Protestant Reformation, the Age of Enlightenment and, later, by the modernist manifesto that called for the abandonment of past imagery and the elimination of representation .

"Despite the powerful effects of these significant cultural drifts, religious imagery survived," Wolfe says, "perhaps because it represents an inherent connection between the artistic and the religious experiences."

He points out that we see it emerge in the fine arts during times of political crisis (the Holocaust, the Atom Bomb blast) and at times of personal crisis, such as the loss of a loved one or during a decisive spiritual moment.

Contemporary artists such as O'Keeffe, Mark Tobey and others have depicted religious symbols in their role as part of the cultural landscape as well, he says, and it shows up for other reasons in Nolde and Chagall, for instance, as they recall in their work childhood experiences inclusive of a religious or spiritual element.

"In my own art," Wolfe says, "I look around me and see that such symbols speak to me of the eradication of community and its replacement by alienation and isolation. I look for the pull between what I call, transliterated from the original Greek, 'numa' (spirit) and sarks (flesh) and, since I was raised in the Christian faith, I explore in my art just what is the relevance of such beliefs and such images today."