Prof J. Sage Elwell

I am a sculptor and Intermedia artist whose practice is rooted in the heat, risk, and alchemy of the bronze art casting foundry. I grew up working in my father’s foundry and continue to spend extended stretches in foundries across the U.S. where I model, mold, pour, and chase my own work alongside foundry crews. My sculptures and mixed-media projects explore the grotesque, disability, and embodiment as sites of sacred interruption in an increasingly disembodied, algorithmic culture.
Alongside this studio practice, I serve as Professor of Religion and Art at TCU and am currently working on a book titled Hot Mess: On Being Grotesque in the Age of AI. I hold a BA in Religious Studies from William Jewell College, an MA in Philosophy of Religion from the University of Kansas, an MLitt in Philosophical Theology from the University of St. Andrews, and a PhD in Religion, Culture, and the Arts from the University of Iowa, where I studied and apprenticed under renowned German Intermedia artist Hans Breder. I am the author or editor of several books including Religion and the Digital Arts, Crisis of Transcendence: A Theology of Digital Art and Culture, and the forthcoming Religion and the More-Than-Human Future. I’ve also written numerous academic and popular articles. My work tracks how digital culture and artificial intelligence is reshaping art, culture and humanity whilst insisting on the stubborn, vulnerable, and incandescent fact of the human body.