Posted on 05/19/2006 6:57:03 PM PDT by sionnsar
Mel Gibson's much discussed movie won't be the only controversial Passion opening in New York this spring. Another Passion that opens on March 9th at the Leslie-Lohman Gay Art Foundation's gallery is also likely to stir up controversy, but for very different reasons.
The Passion of Christ: A Gay Vision, by Doug Blanchard (b. 1957), presents a modern figurative reimaging of the Passion narrative as you've never seen it before. Painted in oil over a two-year period on 22 wood panels, with two more panels in process, this Passion features a handsome, sexy and approachable Christ bent on challenging the institutions and habits of power.
Much as Renaissance and Baroque artists painted murals designed to be seen and enjoyed by thousands of viewers, Blanchard's Passion is intended to serve as public art. His classically inspired compositions and heroic poses drawn from photos and movies of the civil and gay rights movements may remind some viewers of another more recent period of public art, 1930s WPA murals, but with a surprising immediacy that brings the Passion into the here and now.
"I didn't have the WPA murals in mind when I did these paintings," says Blanchard, "more the Renaissance and Baroque. But I'm not anti-modern. I was also influenced by 20th century artists, especially German painter Max Beckmann and American painters Leon Golub and Phillip Guston."
"My paintings emphasize the reality of flesh - that spirit and flesh go together," says Blanchard, a practicing Episcopalian who teaches art history. "This Jesus is someone who is beautiful and charismatic, who people can and do touch and who stands on the same ground with all of us. He draws crowds of people who wouldn't normally associate with each other, but who come together around Him. ...
Traditional Anglican ping, continued in memory of its founder Arlin Adams. They're bad. Cartoonish. Like the covers of those cheap homosexual paperbacks that used to be sold under the counter in seedy bookstores.
Modern dress too. Almost always a stupid idea.
Not worth anybody's time, unless promoting an agenda.
One needn't ask "Is nothing sacred" because it's apparent that to this crowd, nothing is.
It's really a topic that SHOULDN'T be funny, but having Jesse come "out" in front of Washington Square Park is FUNNY!
(No, that's not L'arc de Triomphe, it's Washington Square, in the East Village in Manhattan.)
No idea who "Lindsay Lohann" is, but that's okay. I don't watch TV and see few movies (I've long since absented myself from much of American popular culture -- still haven't viewed an entire episode of MASH, though I've see a bit thanks to my mother-in-law).
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