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Category Archives: art
“When Jesus himself wanted to explain to his disciples what his forthcoming death was all about, he didn’t give them a theory, he gave them a meal.”
When Jesus was anointed at Bethany (Mark 14:3-9), the disciples complained that the act was wasteful, the expensive perfume could have been sold and the money given to the poor. But Jesus affirms the importance of the action as a … Continue reading
“To speak to questions of suffering and injustice Christian thought must uncover its suppressed elements and acknowledge that its symbols, like the divine, cannot be mastered.”
Thoughts for Good Friday 2011: Let the same mind be in you that was in Christ Jesus, who, though he was in the form of God, did not regard equality with God as something to be exploited, but emptied himself, taking … Continue reading
Posted in art, theology
Tagged Andres Serrano, artist's intention, cross, desecration, fundamentalism, Good Friday, pacifism, Piss Christ, redemption, shame, suffering, symbol
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“Inspired by the fleeting things in life, I made my own 17th-century still life.”
In 2001 contemporary artist John Baldessari installed a computer next to Abraham van Beyeren’s 1667 painting Banquet Still Life in the Los Angeles County Museum of Art. Viewers were invited to remix (my term, not his) the painting by rearranging the … Continue reading
“One day I asked myself if I could create a piece of music with it.”
I talk a lot about “redeeming” the world. Even before the fall, God gave humanity a “cultural mandate” to further God’s creation. Then, when humanity rejected God and used culture for its own purposes, God sent Christ to redeem creation … Continue reading
“This is the face of Jewish vengeance.”
In Inglourious Basterds (Tarantino, 2009), Quentin Tarantino argues that Hollywood World War II films are the Jewish revenge for the Nazi genocide. The film opens like a western, and, by the time we are introduced to the titular Basterds 20 … Continue reading
Posted in art, film, philosophy
Tagged history, Inglourious Basterds, redemption, revenge
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“I hope life on Earth is everything you remember it to be.”
Usually I think of mashups as artworks combined to create a new artwork. A film mashup would look like Dead Men Don’t Wear Plaid which is made up of scenes from old film noir movies intercut with new comedy scenes … Continue reading
“To progress by moving backwards”
I was walking down the street the other day and saw someone pushing a Bugaboo Cameleon stroller. Bugaboo is one of the hippest brands of stroller, largely (I think) because it is the most expensive brand. Personally I prefer both … Continue reading
“You don’t have to decide if a landscape is beautiful. You just know.”
There was an interesting Op-Ed in the New York Times this week in which David Brooks comments on recent work by cognitive scientists that shows that our moral reasoning is more akin to making an aesthetics judgment than to working … Continue reading
“There are no facts, only interpretations.”
The Nietzsche Family Circus is a great dadaist artwork that “pairs a randomized Family Circus cartoon with a randomized Friedrich Nietzsche quote“. If you refresh the page enough times, you can come up with striking juxtapositions. Here is one of … Continue reading
