the truth

The following is the email I sent to the artist of the above painting. His name is Michael D’Antuono, and he’d like your feedback. Please give it to him:

thetruth@dantuonoarts.com <thetruth@dantuonoarts.com>

The painting has been given the tag: “Truth, like beauty, is in the eye of the beholder.” According to its press release, “The artist feels the need to make a statement. ‘Aided by the media, politics has taken a nasty turn in the last decade and I firmly believe that this is one of the underlying causes of our nation’s current problems,’ says D’Antuono.”

Indeed, to help solve these “nasty” problems, the artist has decided to offend everyone, all at once. Don’t blame him though, he is after all just an “artist” who is “expressing” himself. Offensive trash is for the viewer to “interpret.” And for the “eye of the beholder.”

The email.

First, you’re obviously gifted. But you’ve thrown a bomb into the middle of a hostile room and asked everyone inside to “interpret” it.

The truth is I’m tired of artists hiding behind this undefined and all-encompassing shield of artistic license. What’s your truth? That everyone gets to have their own interpretation, blah, blah, yada, yada, stroking my ego?

No, what is your purpose with this? You’re the artist – the creator. You’re not a remote spectator; you’re not an uninvolved third party. You’re not the great cosmic vessel from which this painting magically sprung forth. You painted this, what’s your point?

When Michelangelo finished the Sistine Chapel, he didn’t say ‘let your conscience be your guide.’ He didn’t need to. Today, artists seem to believe in nothing besides ego, shock and awe. You knew exactly who this painting was going to offend, and why it would offend them.

If offensive is the name of your game: fine. You have a right to be offensive. But don’t insult people with this jelly-spined declaration that everyone gets to interpret it. No, they don’t. You need to; you painted it.

Are you ridiculing Obama and his followers? Or are you ridiculing Christians? You’ve managed to pull off both – but which was your target? Which group do you fall into? Is Obama a political Messiah or is he a false prophet? Is he, worse, antagonistic to religiosity? Are you antagonistic to religiosity? Do you not care at all about political discourse, and prefer to upset and antagonize for sheer amusement – or worse, is it just some artistic exercise which the rest of us apparently can’t understand?

I don’t think you’ll answer these questions. The modern artist is too much of a spoiled brat to takes responsibility for his actions – though he expects the non-elite to wallow in the ejaculations of his ego.

Christian.