That's no ordinary apple

Unfortunately, these images are not the best, so for all of you who are without a magnifying glass and some 'god'-like patience, here is what the text reads:

"All God does is watch us and kill us when we get boring. We must never ever be boring. Did perpetual happiness in the Garden of Eden maybe get so boring that eating the apple was justified? Maybe humans are just the pet alligators that God flushed down the toilet. And if Christ had died from a barbiturate overdose, alone on the bathroom floor, would he be in heaven? The answer is - - there is no answer."

(The quotes are selected from various Chuck Palahniuk books. You know, that guy who wrote Fight Club?)

It takes two to Disco-urse

I apologize for the lame attempts at humor in the headings ahead of time, granted it's not late, but this week has nearly left me with no energy to lift my fingers and type this blog. So it goes.

I have a new found appreciation for the above image. Though it is a 2-d piece, painted on cheap canvas and glued-on newspaper, the text really gets to me. The image of the apple, is for aesthetics. The content of the text alone is controversial, however it aims at making its viewer think, if not question, what it is saying, and what organized religion is saying as well. When it comes to the topic of religion, there are a lot of grey areas. It's a baffling question for me and often a circular process. The idea that we can sin, repent, be redeemed, and repeat...just gets to me. I feel that the typography of the image is important in that its form mimicks its function. It has an uneasy rhythm - - scattered around and around, with some letters bold, others italicized, and some just plain crooked. I believe the message of the text beckons the viewer to QUESTION and perhaps to challenge the walls that have been built up by organized religion. When reading the sentences, one must swivel his or her head aroudn and around to get the message, in the same way, I feel that is how we may sometimes feel when thinking about the existence of a higher being, or really, just thinking about existence in general. The bold text is set atop of random newspaper clippings, which I think give the painting the chaos that is needed to represent the topic that it contemplates. There's a message here, and though it may be offensive to some, it takes two to determine the implications of any image or media form. Instead of simply colluding with the message, the viewer should maintain his or her identity and be able to discern what is true and not true for oneself, rather than complain that a cheap canvas is "insulting" them.