Over Rated / Under Rated: Religious Images

One of the sadder aspects of the protestant church is how they forgot to include artistic expression as a form or worship. That is one area where the Catholics, Lutherans, and Episcopalians have us beaten in spades. As much as I complain about my old days in the church one thing they did right was to have some of the most incredible depictions of The Stations of The Cross I have ever seen. Even as a child who had no care to be at church they really caught my attention. They probably had more of an impact on my early religious development than I realize.

Over Rated: Lame Attempts To Be Controversial With Religious Imagery
These days everyone wants to be controversial. Let's face it, it will draw attention to be at the center of some storm. People want to see what damage will be done. The problem is that it leaves no lasting impression and the only emotional responce it'll get is anger.

Though I can appreciate Chris Ofili's attempt to make a more ethnic looking Mary all I can say is this painting is ugly. Is this how we are to see the mother of God? Not as a woman to be venerated, but as a grotesque? No, this doesn't inspire, at least not me. I can live with the idea of Mary being black. The fastest growing Christian body is within Africa. It is growing so quickly that The Methodist Church will be made up of more Africans than Americans. It makes sense that they will try to make images more in align with their culture. I hope that this is not the best that they can do.


Ah, The Piss Christ, has there ever been an idea in modern art been so poorly thought out? Let's take one of the most important religious images to the church and dunk it in a jar of piss. And what response will we get? Outrage! It will never be known as anything important. Just a photograph that pissed people off (pun intended). It isn't even good anger. Not at injustice, or pain, or suffering, but after some knuckle head who thought this would be a good idea. He deserves to be forgotten. In fact, I don't even want to mention his name for he is unworthy of any mention. Am I sounding a tad angry or close minded? Well, I am in this case. Too many people will base their ideas of who Christ is by images like the one above.

Under Rated: Modern Attempts To Understand and Venerate Christ's Image
I am not saying we cannot be creative with Christ's image. In fact, to try and look at Christ in new and wonderful ways can uplift the body and make others see Christ in a way that they may not have considered before. Christ should be seen with awe and wonder. He should be loved and admired. Fortunately, there are artists who are attempting to do so.
I have no idea who Luc Freymanc is. I never heard of the guy. I found him completely by accident when I did a google search of Images of Christ. He was one of the first ones to pop up. Though not the best I've ever seen I did stop to look at his attempts to make Christ more real and tangeable to the world. Instead of realism he focussed on breaking Him down to the point where he can fit into our own imaginations and take the image to further reaches.

Can any of you guess who did this picture of the ascended Christ? I'll give a hint: He's one of the grandfathers of surrealist art. Who would have thought Dali would have made such beautiful images of Christ. He's known for grotesques, the strange and bizarre. Not a loving and transendant image. A budy of mine first made me aware of Dali's more religious work. You can sense his love and admiration of religion which is counter to the images of horror he is best known for. I love this picture so much I have it set up as my computer background.

Over Rated: Christ has blond hair and blue eyes
I didn't even bother looking for anything with the blond haired Christ. Seriously, the dude lived in a desert what are the odds he had my complexion? They are so cheesy. Jesus looking so beautiful stairs longingly up to heaven as sun beams gently caress his face. Blech!

Under Rated: Classic Icons and Stained Glass
How unfortunate that churches do not include stained glass anymore into the building of their churches or put up any icons either modern or classic. Instead we hang up posters with slick captions telling us to hang in their for God is in control. They do not make us think or look up in wonder at the very image of the Son like the ones I saw as a boy. I think that is why so many churches today look so bland and lifeless. The lack the personality and respect that was given to early churches. Anything worth it's salt takes time, effort, imagination, and ability to develop. It gives a sense of anticipation and wanting. When it finally does come to fruition we can look at these wonderful creations to see a very minor glimpse of the one true God.




Previous Over Rated / Under Rated: Burroughs Vs. Mitchell.

Over Rated / Under Rated: Burroughs Vs. Mitchell

I admit I am totally stealing this idea from a magazine I read a few years back. I want to say it was the Utne Reader, but I am not too sure. Every so often they'd look at what was popular at that time and what is going unnoticed. Since I don't have any other ideas I figure it wouldn't hurt to do a few of my own from time to time. For the first I am looking at non-fiction writers.

Over Rated: Augusten Burroughs
This guy is the big man on campus right now. On top of the best seller list for an infinite number of life times this guy got rich telling all about his struggles with alcoholism and growing up in a wacko Doc's house. The premise sounded promising and potentially quite an amusing and touching book. I bought it with much glee just to give up on it with about 30 pages left to read when I realized I just didn't care what happened and I didn't believe a word the guy was saying. Having grown up on fantasy and sci-fi novels I have no problem dispelling disbelief if it's well done. This book doesn't cut it at all. For a book that is supposed to be about his life I am not sure if I believe he's telling the truth. More than likely he is, but I still find it hard to believe. They just finished making a movie based off the book. I'll probably go see it and be amused, but not too overwhelmed by it. Snakes on A Plane is a much more convincing premise.

Under Raterd: Joseph Mitchell
He had brief re-emergence of fame in the late nineties thanks to Stanley Tucci making a movie based on Joe Gould's Secret. Mitchell was a boring average everday guy. He didn't have a wacky life of misadventures. He wasn't a drunk or a social misfit (other than being a southerner in New York and extremely self-conscious). Mitchell wrote for the New Yorker ignoring the big news stories of the day to write about common characters, bums, rejects, street preachers, strippers, etc. because those are the stories worth hearing. He visited dive bars and cheap flop houses hoping to meet someone who was worth writing about. That's where he met Joe Gould an eccentric who came from a family of means who wandered the streets of New York looking for people to listen to in order to add their stories to his "Oral History Of The World". A book claimed to be ten times as long as the Bible. Mitchell wrote a profile of him for the new yorker which is part one of Joe Gould's Secret. The second part was written several decades later going into a more detailed account of their friendship. It is a strange book, but it is so believeable. It is a shame that Mitchell is forgotten. His writings have the truthfulness and honesty that is lacking in a lot of modern literature. No matter how strange or honest a subject is if you don't have the qualities Mitchell had all you are writing is a forgettable little story.



Pic of Joe Gould the eccentric. I also highly recommend: My Ears Are Bent & Mcsorely's Wonderful Saloon.

Notebook Review

In spite of my post yesterday, when I read a recent post on notebooks I had to reply. I admit I am a total notebook nerd. I love the way they look and when considering which one to buy I take into consideration things like will it fit in my bag or pocket, cost, quality of paper, and how easy would it be to write with on my lap if I didn't have a table at hand. I do not have a preference as to what type of notebook I will write in. Usually they are whatever I find or am given for a gift. I feel bad whenever people buy either expensive notebooks or pens because I either will lose them or they'll just fall apart. So I tend to go on the cheap picking up whatever is available at the local Borders in the bargain bin. I can usually find a decent hardbound for about 3 bucks, but they are hard to keep open and for some reason have alternating blank pages instead of lined. It's wierd. The good thing about them is they fit easily in any bag and I can usually last a year before buying a new one. I also use the marble composition books because I can find them at the dollar store. The problem with them is they are not very durable and fall apart too easily. Plus the paper bleeds if I use any type of pen other than a ball point. For a buck what can I expect? In spite of what people will have you believe ultimately it doesn't matter what you use. The brilliant sci-fi writer Octavia Butler once gave the advise that we try mixing it up from time to time. Don't be afraid to try out different notebooks. I do recommend you do not waste your money on Moleskines. They are so over rated. Besides being way too expensive they tend to fall apart. A few weeks ago when I was walking through Philly I saw a bunch of people all using the Moleskine hoping to tap into the mistique that Hemingway may have used that type of book (he hadn't). It makes me giggle. Save yourself 8 bucks and just buy yourself a composition book.