e$u$ $ave$ Chicago
Whether you love or loathe
the paradox of such statements, it is hard to escape them. They have become a
part of the American cultural dialogue. It’s not uncommon to find contemporary
art that comments on this omnipresence, so the idea of a gallery show devoted
to ironic observation of Christianity have become somewhat clich�. It was
therefore refreshing to find the work that comprises Jesus $ave$
style=’font-family:Verdana’> (including new work by Katie Baker, Michael Coleman,
Jeremiah Ketner, Dustin Mertz, Gregory Shirilla) transcending expectation and
maintaining relevance while losing none of the sardonic humor the subject
affords.
The works cover ground
from "reverential" to "sacrilicious" but w
style=’color:black’>hat unites these works is a unique sense of irony. Not the
usual “Dig me digging how lame Christianity is” that we have come to expect.
There is sincerity here, alongside tongue-in-cheek presentation, and what
emerges in the middle of it all is a Christianity redefined; a sexy kind of
Christianity.
Look at Katie
Baker’s take on modern pastoral fashion – she has designed new collars and
raiment for the modern priest, he’s now ready for the post Sunday Mass meeting
of the boy’s choir sans those stuffy old black robes. Masochrist
style=’font-family:Verdana;color:black’> is ready to get down and dirty with an
easy clean-up vinyl top in sexy Blood-of-Christ scarlet with matching jock
strap. Father Crime
is ready for the prison sentencing after-party with classic black and white
striped top and easy-access baptismal boxer shorts.
Michael
Coleman offers subtler, more poignant comments on Catholicism’s dirty little
secret. His elegantly framed prints call to mind the style and presentation of
classic iconography, and his use of installation pieces consisting of an alter,
candles, vestment and chalice only increase the impact of the prints titles. Foreplay
style=’font-family:Verdana;color:black’> depicts the current Pope anointing a
young boy and Climax
is a brilliantly simple image that at once calls to mind an abstract of “The
Sacred Heart” and a more literal depiction of a puckered young sphincter.
Modern sainthood becomes
the subject of four paintings by Dustin Mertz. He immortalizes rock and roll
icons as diverse as Johnny Cash and Ian McCulloch in a style that apes
traditional depictions of the sainted while adding a psychedelic lowbrow twist.
The robed image of former T. Rex frontman Marc Bolan floating in a swirl of
stars, haloed by divine light while clutching his guitar and a pink and white
baby unicorn.
Gregory Shirilla’s take on
sainthood is a bit more serious, as he imagines traditional saints recast as
the patrons of modern malaises. Agatha, Dionysius, Appolonia
style=’font-family:Verdana’>, Acacias and Lucy have a whole
new set of sins to atone for: plastic surgery,
indolence and alcoholism, psychological disorders (bipolar disorder is so
style=’color:black’> the new leprosy) anorexia, misogyny. Mmmmmm. This is
served up via some very slick digital manipulation of photos and montage of
various images, in a style that is half billboard advertisement and half porno
magazine page.
The most
subdued work comes from Jeremiah Ketner, a series of eight
Murakami/Superflat-esque paintings that are as adorable as they are well
executed. The scaly fishlike characters that populate his paintings at once
embody the very idea of evolution from a simpler organism while possessing a
cuteness and humanity that could only have been the work of a divine hand. They
roam his canvasses, getting into all sorts of trouble, a microcosm of human sin
playing out before the viewer. We watch from above, like children crouched god-like
before their Sea-Monkey tank or Ant Farm.
Uniting the
works are a series of collaborative paintings depicting images from religious
tracts produced by Jack T. Chick, the notoriously hardcore fundamentalist and
conservative pamphleteer. By simple appropriation and recontextualization of
the covers of Chick tracts, the artists have created a Nativity scene on five
enormous panels, to be displayed on the roof of the building in which the
gallery was housed, and visible to thousands riding Chicago’s CTA blue line
trains. Unfortunately the city deemed that the scene violated graffiti laws and
the panels were moved in-door to be used as palettes for some of the show’s
pieces.
Buddy Gallery:
http://www.lumpen.com/buddy/yes.html, www.mynameisjesus.com.
style=’color:black’>
