A reader pointed me to this extraordinary page. I pass it along to you without comment, for now.
Placing the cursor over a person will provide a description of that character on the right. Be sure not to miss the group of people in the lower right corner.
Feel free to leave your thoughts in the comments section.
Enjoy... http://www.mcnaughtonart.com/artwork/view_zoom/?artpiece_id=353
32 comments:
ah,
That would explain this distrubing image: http://i.imgur.com/r4e2C.jpg
jesus of nazareth did not believe in freedom...he was born in a culture dominated by ceasar of rome and a governor of palestine who both had dictatorial powers except in religious matters...and that was his clear beef not with their authority that is but with their corruption..
his solution was the kindom of god where his dad was the ultimate ruler and there was no freedom only mercy...
as a friend of mine said "i don't believe a word genesis says, i don't even think that phil collins is that good a drummer.
You know, I do have to say, while I disagree with him on most (if not all) of what he says, he at least comes across as someone who is not just a mouthpiece for other crazies, but just sharing his personal opinions in the way that makes the most sense to him.
So even though I disagree with him, I do respect that they are his personal opinions. I think that this sentence from that page makes him a much more rational person than most out there. To quote the page "We will agree to disagree."
Holy crap! I'm equally amused and terrified, and having a really hard time deciding who my favorite "character" is...maybe the professor, since he's one of the only people there who is hated for having a brain in his head. And if the painter really IS for equal rights, why does the professor have to be a man?
The comment about the immigrant blew me away; I love how the viewer is asked questions we're not really supposed to be able or want to answer.
Kooky stuff, thanks for sharing!!
Revisionist history and stereotypical caricature can be fun! Curse those activist judges and liberal news reporters.
The central character doesn't look like a Palestinian jew to me. History re-drawn to suit the American right wing.
Is the content of this painting any less smug or pompous than the "Professor" who has so brazenly placed himself on the top step? Sheesh...
What a glorious discovery!
Spirited discussion ensues.
The artwork is great, but unfortunately the artist delves into nonsensical political propaganda that illustrates his biases. Sad.
One thing, Dan. I know I've mentioned this before, but the left is just as guilty of this as this right-wing artist is. Pushing pieces that promote the message that their side is right and just and the other side is corrupt or evil or such nonsense. Again, it's another reason why I have such contempt for republicans AND democrats. The two mainstream parties just further the divide.
Are we to be spared nothing?
I'm stunned. But also proud that we live in a country that allows our citizens to interpret our history and society however they choose. I would say that this kind of thing would probably be recognizable to anyone who lived in a totalitarian country (which I did not).
I do not believe, as does the artist, that everything comes from his Christian god. I find his lumping together of all reporters, all lawyers, all college professors, all judges to be abhorrent and wrong.
IMO, it is sweeping generalizations like the artist's which is part and parcel of the polarization of this country.
I don't like his artwork, neither the subject matter nor his technique.
HAHAHAHA! It's ok for good people of the world to not worship Jesus, as long as they cower at his feet! Awesome!
http://pics.blameitonthevoices.com/102009/one_nation_under_chtulu.jpg
Nathan Hale looks like a young Don Johnson
Thanks for the link. It's difficult to know where to start, but I think Lincoln's portrayal of Al Jolson sums it up for me.
Yeah, this came out a while ago. Essentially, if a painter were directed by Sarah Palin and Glenn Beck, this might be the result. Quite fascinating, the imagery involved and the beliefs that it represents. Also interesting how they put Jefferson, Madison, and Washington all immediately surrounding Jesus, demonstrating a preference for a religiously romanticized view of these historical figures, rather than an accurate one.
One way to see this: Jack T. Chick on Steroids.
Love the comments, thanks to all. The two things that occurred to me immediately is that many of the "heroes" he places at the top are famous because they pushed "liberal" ideas through government. Abolishing slavery, for one, was insanely liberal for its time.He acknowledges women's suffrage and civil rights as good but conservatives fought these issues tooth and nail.
The other thing is that I suspect the founding fathers, who attempted to build a nation that would forever separate government from religion, would be horrified to see themselves flanking JC as "Christian soldiers."
Dan, you just lost a faithful reader. I have loved your comics for years and will be sorry to miss out on them. But when I click on your blog to read today's comic and find that you have posted something that is obviously very special to somebody purely for people to make fun of (feeling like we're all in seventh grade here) then I'm walking. I am totally disgusted.
notice how close Satan is to Mr Hollywood...
please replace the word "symbol" with "cliche" in the artist's statement
I agree with Dan's statement about many of the founding fathers standing next to JC in the painting, when many of them were Unitarians who don't endorse JC (plus many of them exhibited behavior that JC might look down upon, such as having mistresses, sleeping with slaves, etc).
I like that Mr. Hollywood is played by Robert DeNiro and Reagan is apparently played by Peter Lawford.
I do enjoy the format with the zoom-in info feature.
I wish it was done more often.
does anyone know of any other works of art featured in websites in this way?
@Heather C...
Sorry to have offended you, sorry to lose you as a reader. I posted this without comment on purpose, so that people could make of it what they will. If people choose to make fun of it, so be it. The artist isn't shy about posting it on the Internet, obviously, why should I be?
I noticed that the flag on the background was flipped, though that could be due to the East wind blowing. But then I also noticed that the lapel pin of the politician is also flipped, but in this case the wind ought to be incredibly strong!
Dang, vlahed, that was one disturbing image. Nice Chtulthu, though. Where did you come up with that one?
Thanks for this Dan!
Most illuminating character for me was Reagan who "believed in the greatness of America and 'peace through strength'".
Exactly what's still messed up with the American psyche at present.
I'm an Orthodox Christian, but I do believe in Separation of Church and State. When will we start?
What bothers me most, is that I find the original much more disgusting than the cthulhu parody. Actually, the cthulhu one doesn't really bother me at all.
While the parody can at worst be described as tasteless, the original painting is imho "truly blasphemous". Not the word that is so often screamed by people who don't know the feeling behind it - real Blasphemy.
I don't believe in all of this religious stuff and even I am offended - now how would this "Jesus guy" of yours feel if "he was real"? I read some of "his stuff" - just out of curiousity - and I wouldn't bet on it that he'd manage a mild forgiving smile at the artist right away (maybe after throwing some tables/paint around and shedding one or another tear).
That's just something you shouldn't do to your own god. Only a true believer can create Blasphemy ;)
I'm deeply disappointed that our favorite wise-ass liberal cartoonist isn't featured prominently on the lower right! :-)
Man. A guy paints a white Jesus (surprise) and tries to show what, to him, is a balanced view and how (although the liberal media bit is kind of...er...superfluous, I guess, since media is all crap anyway, regardless of who is spouting off propaganda) there is a small group of folk "destroying the country" it is basically a country full of folk who care about it and about religion and maybe it's not such a horrible place after all. It's kind of quaint, really. Not my bag, but a sweet gesture of someone just trying to paint hymns. Whatever.
But he gets flack while people FLOCK to the Venus De Milo - an armless woman who - if you're going to break art down into meaning things that don't matter - is obviously a symbol of the glorification of woman as submissive objects regardless of what she was "intended" to be. I bet the people who hate this painting LOVE the "Little Mermaid," an atrocious piece of man-made trash about how women only screw things up and need men to fix it for them, and powerful women are to be feared, hated, and destroyed. Oh yeah, and if you aren't white and beautiful you're an animal.
Seriously?
Ohhhhh, Amerr-ca. Fear not. You'll never get it right.
This artist has a gallery in the mall where I work. When I saw this painting on display I took a picture of it and posted it online. Obviously a lot of compromise went into the writing of the constitution, but I do believe that if God ever inspired something to be written it was that document. Still seeing it in the hands of Christ, surrounded by the founding fathers, and that little kid just creeped the holy living hell out of me. You could cover up the entire lower right corner and this piece and it would still make me incredibly uncomfortable.
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