Love & Mercy, Blue at Personal Structures - Confluences in Venice, Italy

MALIBU, California - Love & Mercy, Blue is presented within the Venice Biennial contemporary art exhibition Personal Structures - Confluences organized by the European Cultural Centre Italy and running from May 9 to November 2026 in Venice, across the historic venues of Palazzo Mora, Palazzo  Bembo and Marinaressa Gardens. The exhibition, at Palazzo Bembo, foregrounds artistic excellence while affirming the enduring role of mentorship, imagination, and ethical engagement  in contemporary art. Bringing together faculty Gretchen Batcheller, Kate Parsons, Kira Shewfelt, Ty Pownall, and Yvette Gellis, with student artists Adrineh Sahakian, Davyny Olivas, Mason Turner, Mirian Kim, and Naomi Popple, from Pepperdine University. The exhibition proposes art not merely as visual production, but as a human practice—one capable of cultivating  empathy, reflection, and connection in an increasingly fractured world. 

At its core, Love & Mercy, Blue explores the spiritual and emotional resonance of the color blue as both an aesthetic force and a contemplative invitation. The title refers not only to chromatic presence, but to a posture—one of mercy, tenderness, and enduring love—that art uniquely embodies and transmits. Blue becomes a site of encounter: between inner and outer worlds, between maker and viewer, between teacher and student. 

Across cultures and centuries, blue has carried transcendent meaning. In ancient Egypt, lapis lazuli was used to invoke the divine. In the Middle Ages, blue symbolized purity and the celestial realm. In modern and contemporary art, figures such as Wassily Kandinsky, Yves Klein, and  Lita Albuquerque have turned to blue as a portal to the infinite, the meditative, and the sacred.  Kandinsky described blue as “the typical heavenly colour,” while Goethe wrote that blue “draws  us after it”—an invitation toward inward reflection and spiritual ascent. 

Within this lineage, Love & Mercy, Blue positions color not as surface alone, but as experience— an active agent of meaning and transformation. Each mentor–mentee pair in the exhibition is invited to interpret blue as a visual and spiritual guide, responding through personal, formal, and symbolic approaches. The works ask fundamental questions: What does it mean to feel through color? To teach through spirit? To heal through visual form? How does the exchange between artist and viewer, teacher and student, function as a sacred dialogue? 

The exhibition reflects the core values that distinguish Pepperdine University: mentorship grounded in faith, creative scholarship that extends beyond borders, and an education that begins with the heart. Central to this project is a model of learning rooted not in hierarchy, but in reciprocity—where faculty and students engage as co-seekers in a shared pursuit of truth, insight,  and transformation. 

This mentorship is not only philosophical, but practical and sustained. Faculty actively support emerging artists through rigorous studio practice, critical dialogue, professional guidance, and international exposure—preparing students to develop distinct voices and to pursue independent, distinguished careers in the arts. By exhibiting alongside mentors on an international stage, student artists are positioned not as apprentices, but as peers in a living continuum of artistic inquiry. The exhibition thus serves as both a culmination of mentorship and a launching point— affirming each artist’s capacity to contribute meaningfully to contemporary cultural discourse. 

At a moment when the humanities are increasingly asked to justify their relevance in market driven terms, Love & Mercy, Blue affirms a different measure of value. The significance of art education resides not in speed or productivity, but in the slow, luminous unfolding of insight— through vulnerability, reflection, and renewal.  Art does not change lives by offering solutions, but by inviting deeper feeling: to dwell within complexity, to see with renewed perception, and to create from a place of compassion and care. 

Love & Mercy, Blue also positions Pepperdine’s Studio Art Department as a presence of hope and integrity on an international stage. In contrast to the often divisive, utilitarian, or violent imagery that dominates contemporary geopolitical discourse, this contribution speaks in another register—one of mercy, spiritual depth, and reverence for the dignity of the human spirit.  Through color, form, and shared inquiry, the exhibition offers a quiet yet resonant affirmation of  art’s capacity to heal, connect, and re-humanize.

About the Lisa Smith Wengler Center for the Arts

Delighting more than 50,000 patrons and participants annually with live performances, art exhibitions, and local outreach opportunities, the Lisa Smith Wengler Center for the Arts serves as a hub for the arts on Pepperdine University’s Malibu campus, uniquely linking professional guest artists with Pepperdine students as well as patrons from surrounding Southern California communities. Three performance spaces, including the 450-seat Smothers Theatre, the 124-seat Raitt Recital Hall, and the “black box” Lindhurst Theatre, host hundreds of performances, rehearsals, and master classes throughout the year. The Frederick R. Weisman Museum of Art, a dynamic, two-story exhibition space, showcases a revolving selection of modern and contemporary art with a focus on art made in California.

 

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