PREDACIOUS MOMENTS GALLERY

At Fayetteville Tech I teach, along with Prof Phillip Pugh, an Art and Religion class. In this class we cover the major western religions; Judaism, Christianity, and Islam and the artworks associated with them. During Judaism and Christianity the students are encouraged to bring in their bibles, if they have access to one, to follow along with the Old and New Testament stories we cover.

A couple of years ago one of the students brought in a Precious Moments Bible. I had never seen such a thing. Being raised Catholic, the bible was always presented in a very adult manner. We were expected to understand the stories in that way.

The Precious Moments Bible was illustrated in the overly cute, to the point of nausea manner of its style. Perhaps you have seen them in the form of greeting cards and figurines. At any rate, the book was filled with images of angels and little shepherds complete with over-sized heads and over-sized, teardrop eyes. Almost all of the characters were children. I knew what had to be done.

I decided to approach this in the Roman Catholic, pre-Vatican II tradition of Mel Gibson’s Passion of the Christ.

As a satirist I am drawn to irony. I chose to portray some of the most violent stories and could not resist the need to throw some Saints in as well.

These images are all referenced to the images of Art History. Although the compositions are my own, they are related to such painters as Titian, Mantegna, Ribera, etc.

The irony is in the style. Picture such a figure done in the Precious Moments style. The child says ‘who is that?’ “Oh, that is St Bartholomew he was one of Jesus’ apostles. After Jesus died and went to heaven Bartholomew went east and spread the word…

And then he was flayed alive and crucified upside down by the Armenians.’

I suppose what really bothers me is the “cutening” of certain things in an attempt to gain the interest of children. There is an unsettling air of entertainment to it. Our society does this too much. We dumb down things when we should make people rise up to learn. There are even Bibles written in modern lingo, so teens can relate. What is next? A bible written in Ebonics? ‘And Jesus said “ Yo man, why these sucka Pharisee’s gotta play me out” and Ciaphas replied “ Aw hell no, no he di’int. Don’t make me pop a cap in yo ass!”

Although evolution is inevitable, we, as a culture must be careful to make sure things evolve in a forward progression.

The viewer of these paintings will either be offended or humorously entertained. They will certainly not feel the power, nor be given the moral meanings behind the stories.

Know what I’m sayin?