Category: [Art]

Unclean!

I saw this rather extraordinary image on Tumblr earlier today:

I was going to make some crack about the past being a foreign country and how different the medieval mind was to the modern one, but for some reason I couldn’t leave it at that. The original poster simply captioned it “Manuscript painting depicting a man expelling an amphibious creature”, and that clearly wasn’t enough. Who painted this thing and when and why? What was the amphibious creature doing?

Well, still not sure exactly who (it may or may not have been someone called Stephanus Garsia) but at least I have a better idea of why, cos this is only a detail from a bigger picture:

A bit of digging led me to this 8th century Spanish monk, Beatus of Liebana, whose major work was this thing:

The Commentary on the Apocalypse (Commentaria in Apocalypsin) is a Latin commentary on the biblical Book of Revelation written around 776 by the Spanish monk and theologian Beatus of Liébana (c. 730–after 785). The surviving texts differ somewhat, and the work is mainly famous for the spectacular illustrations in a group of illustrated manuscripts, mostly produced on the Iberian Peninsula over the following five centuries. There are 29 surviving illustrated manuscripts (many incomplete or fragments) dating from the 9th to the 13th centuries, as well as other unillustrated and later manuscripts. Significant copies include the Morgan, Saint-Sever, Gerona, Osma, Madrid (Vitr 14-1), and Tábara Beatus codices.
Most unusually for a theological work, the imagery seems to have been included from the start, and is considered to be the work of Beatus himself, although the earliest surviving manuscripts date from about a century after he wrote the book. After about another century, around 950, the size and number of illustrations was expanded. Manuscripts of the work are typically referred to just as a Beatus. They included a Beatus map, a version of the medieval type of world map called the T and O map with added details; this is supposed to have been created by Beatus. It has only survived in some copies.

This particular image hails from the Saint-Sever manuscript, produced some time in the mid-eleventh century, and depicts the unclean spirits coming out of the beast, the dragon, and the false prophet in Rev. 16:13, the text of which describes them as looking like frogs. Slightly more than just “amphibious creatures”, I’d say.

I’m puzzled as to why the original poster put the abbreviated version of the picture up with so little further info, though. I mean, it could very well be this is the only version of it they have or that they know, but… were they never curious about its origin like I was? It only took me a few minutes to find all this out, considerably less than it’s taken me to write about it… Whatever. At least I now know it’s not just the artist being wilfully weird, it was the drug abuser who wrote Revelation in the first place…

“Avoid”?

Wow, THAT was hopeful, wasn’t it? Not even a week after being picked as our man at next year’s Biennale, Khaled Sabsabi just got dropped:

It appears that Australia’s federal arts body Creative Australia, who picked Sabsabi alongside curator Michael Dagostino, have responded to political pressure to drop the artist. In a statement they said: “The board of Creative Australia has made the unanimous decision not to proceed with the artistic team chosen for the Venice Biennale 2026. Creative Australia is an advocate for freedom of artistic expression and is not an adjudicator on the interpretation of art. However, the board believes a prolonged and divisive debate about the 2026 selection outcome poses an unacceptable risk to public support for Australia’s artistic community and could undermine our goal of bringing Australians together through art and creativity.”
The decision comes after the issue made its way to the Australian Senate. During question time, Liberal senator Claire Chandler raised Sabsabi’s selection, saying: “With such appalling antisemitism in our country, why is the Albanese government allowing the person who highlights a terrorist leader in his artwork to represent Australia on the international stage?”

Yeah, this is some bullshit. I don’t know if Sabsabi’s art is any good or not, but this certainly feels like political considerations—and I’ve no doubt Sabsabi’s views about Palestinians (he’s in favour of them) are among them—have outweighed all others. The really bothering thing, of course, is that they’ve clearly taken this decision because of conservative political criticism, Murdoch media being as much of a political entity as the Coalition of course, and the latter are still in opposition. They’re not actually in power. I have a terrible feeling that will change in May when the election rolls around, but for now they’re out of power. And Creative Australia—the former Australia Council, and part of the government’s arts portfolio and, consequently, currently overseen by the ALP—appear to have caved into them anyway. I’ve seen quite a few folk posting about “complying in advance” online, warning against giving into fascism before Mushroom Cock or Edolf (depending on which one’s actually running the country at any given moment) (and yes, Edolf is a marvellous name I saw on Threads and need to use more) can even give the order to do the fascist thing. This feels a bit like that somehow. Like CA are expecting Dutton to win in May and they’re trying to get on his side early.

Anyway, whatever “divisive debate” they were trying to avoid doesn’t matter, cos the situation has already turned into a string of resignations and a staff walkout and what I presume is gloating by The Oz; I don’t know cos I haven’t found a way around their paywall and wouldn’t want to give them the clicks anyway. And CA is pretty badly damaged. Ugly all round.

Take me to church?

Given the hideousness of the US right now, let me write something positive instead:

Someone posted this recently on Bluesky, noting the artist was one Samson Pollen, of whom I had otherwise never heard. Turns out he was a prolific contributor to men’s adventure magazines in decades gone by; I found a Facebook page for him, which says this comes from Stag magazine, March 1974, and it illustrated a story called “The Battling Priest Who Smashed a N.Y. Mob”. I feel the story is probably not an undying masterpiece of world literature, but I’m kind of blown away by the art.

Cos LOOK AT IT. I’ve linked the image so you can see it properly at full size. There’s… kind of a lot going on. The titular priest is wielding what looks like a screwdriver AND a hammer, and he’s attacking the gun-wielding mobster with it, while the knife-wielding mobster is distracted by cops bursting into the church being led by another priest. And look at the smaller details, too: the window art, the (presumably) Last Supper altarpiece, the pattern on the other guy’s shirt, the priest’s previously-sustained injury, the falling candelabra, the word visible on the scarf, all of it…

I daresay that Stag wasn’t the most highbrow of publications, and most magazines of the era were probably considered ultimately disposable, and things like Stag would been considered even more so than most; and I’m sure the publishers felt the same way about their own product, which they would’ve been just grinding out and moving on from it as fast as they could. I imagine Samson Pollen had minimal time to come up with a painting like this, and whatever magazines he did art for would’ve been casually tossed off and tossed away, and the art would’ve been considered as disposable as the mags it appeared in, probably. And yet he still put this sort of effort into it despite that. I kind of love it.

Art in the 21st century

Of course.

The cryptocurrency entrepreneur Justin Sun has fulfilled a promise he made after spending $6.2m (£4.88m) on an artwork featuring a banana duct-taped to a wall – by eating the fruit.
At one of Hong Kong’s priciest hotels, Sun, 34, chomped down on the banana in front of dozens of journalists and influencers after giving a speech hailing the work as “iconic” and drew parallels between conceptual art and cryptocurrency.
“It’s much better than other bananas,” Sun, who was born in China, said after getting his first taste. “It’s really quite good.”
Titled Comedian, the conceptual work created by the Italian artist Maurizio Cattelan was sold at a Sotheby’s auction in New York last week, with Sun among seven bidders.
Sun said he felt “disbelief” in the first 10 seconds after he won the bid, before realising “this could become something big”. In the 10 seconds after that, he decided he would eat the banana.
“Eating it at a press conference can also become a part of the artwork’s history,” he said on Friday.
The debut of the edible creation at the 2019 Art Basel show in Miami Beach sparked controversy and raised questions about whether it should be considered art – Cattelan’s stated aim.

And I daresay we’re no closer to answering that riddle. I saw the original story the other day when it broke and it was befuddling, but somehow now that I know the guy who bought it was a crypto nerd (and one being investigated over one of his crypto schemes) makes it slightly less so.

Good thing he didn’t paint him as Palestinian

Artwork featuring Christ overlaid with Looney Tunes characters removed by Sydney council after threats of violence

A Sydney council has removed a “playful” artwork of Jesus Christ overlaid with Looney Tunes characters after a torrent of online abuse.
Sydney artist Philjames’ work, Jesus Speaks to the Daughters of Jerusalem, was removed from the Blake Art Prize exhibition at the Casula Powerhouse Arts Centre after fierce criticism was directed at the artist and gallery on Friday, just two days before the eight-week exhibition ended.
The biennial prize at the Liverpool city council gallery recognises contemporary artwork that explore spirituality and religion and draws artists from all beliefs and cultural backgrounds.
But a last-minute online protest claimed the 2023 oil-on-lithograph work mocked the Christian religion, with some protesters threatening the museum and its staff – many of whom are volunteers – with violence.
Philjames said he received about 200 “vile” social media messages on Friday and Saturday, with the gallery receiving over 60 phone calls from protesters on Friday alone.
“I do like stirring a bit of a reaction with my work, but the novelty very quickly wore off on Friday. The level of vitriol and the sheer volume of it was actually frightening,” the 48-year-old said.
“I’ve been doing these sorts of works for around 15 years and I’ve had one or two people upset but nothing like this. It was vile and not at all Christian.”

Actually there’s nothing more Christian than getting worked up about this sort of thing, they’ve had centuries of practice at it. And having got worked up about it, it’s a short step to threatening (or just taking) action against whatever they’re worked up about; recent American history should show us how increasingly short that step is becoming.

Now this thing has been on the artist’s Instagram since last year and it’s been exhibited too; apparently entering it into an art competition I wouldn’t have thought was that popular made all the difference eventually, cos it was on show from May and yet it’s evidently only just been whined about. So ‘twould appear there’s been a concerted effort by someone, I wonder who…

Charlie Bakhos, the founder of conservative Catholic group, Christian Lives Matter, told supporters on social media that the “shocking disrespectful art” had been removed.
“This is another attack on Christianity we have managed to put a stop to thanks to everyone’s support. Let’s keep defending our faith respectfully and we will get results as Jesus is on our side.”

Oh, THOSE cunts. How surprising to find them apparently involved.

Anyway, as I often say in these instances, if you find your faith under attack from bullshit like this thing, your faith isn’t worth piss. Cos, frankly, neither is this art; it’s just a co-opting of some other religious painting and slapping a few cartoon faces on it (are they even “Looney Tunes” characters as such?) and… to no point that I can see. James has another picture of Jesus leading some children but he’s added the “born to kill” helmet from Full Metal Jacket and stuck it on Jesus’ head. THAT actually makes some kind of point which this thing doesn’t, it’s just vacuous. And James actually says as much himself, he reckons it was just a bit of absurd fun. So probably as little point in me getting worked up about it as Charlie Bakhos and Ned Mannoun? I don’t know. But I think I find this picture I found on Tumblr of the Last Supper painted on a saltine cracker more valuable as art:

A semi-precious shell

Saw this on the socials this evening. This is by one Auguste Leroux (apparently no relation to Gaston) and apparently it’s from a 1920 edition of J.K. Huysmans’ A rebours, which is a fairly peculiar book and this is one of its more grotesque moments… A rebours was one of the key texts of the later 1800s’ Decadence and Symbolist movements (and probably the “poisonous French novel” in The Picture of Dorian Gray), it’s about a somewhat etiolated aristocrat who withdraws from society into a world of his own aesthetic satisfaction; nothing much really happens as such, it’s Des Esseintes having sensory and literary experiences of various kinds, including one point where he does notably leave his house (cos reading Dickens inspires him to go to London, but he decides that eating at an English restaurant in Paris was near enough and the real thing would only disappoint him).

But there’s one particular episode that this picture shows, i.e. the one with the bejewelled tortoise. Astonishingly, this actually seems to have been based on an actual thing; the book’s Wiki entry notes that one of the models for Des Esseintes was the real aristocrat Robert de Montesquiou, who once invited the poet Stephan Mallarmé to his house, with the latter reporting that one of the many sights he saw there was “the remains of an unfortunate tortoise whose shell had been coated with gold paint”. Huysmans obviously jacked that up by having Des Esseintes cover his tortoise’s shell in gemstones, which makes the shell weigh so much the poor bloody animal dies as a result. It’s a really kind of obnoxious moment that’s lingered in my memory more than most of the details in that book (I can’t remember how long it’s been since I read it, but it’s probably not since at least the early oughts, possibly even the late 90s), hence how I managed to recognise it immediately even before I read the caption identifying it. I probably should re-read it at some point.

Worth a thousand words?

Gina Rinehart demands National Gallery of Australia remove her portrait

The mining billionaire Gina Rinehart has demanded the National Gallery of Australia remove her portrait from an exhibition by the award-winning artist Vincent Namatjira.
The image, arguably an unflattering picture of Australia’s richest woman, is one of many portraits unveiled at the Canberra gallery as part of the Archibald prize-winning artist’s first major survey exhibition.
The National Gallery has rebuffed efforts to have the picture taken down and said in a statement that it welcomed public dialogue on its collection and displays.

I can’t say that I don’t entirely see Gina’s point, cos it’s really not flattering to her… but by the same token she’s also one of the worst people in Australia, so we may ask if she deserved a flattering portrait in the first place.

Talking of portraits…

…Chuckles has unveiled his, and… it’s… red?

Jonathon Yeo was chosen to do the portrait – he’s done paintings of lots of other famous figures, including Sir David Attenborough and Malala Yousafzai.
The artist said he wanted to make a break with the past. This means he wanted to paint something slightly different to other, more traditional paintings of monarchs.
This is why he used a bright red colour throughout the painting.

The portrait seems to have drawn mixed reviews (though his kingship seems satisfied with it). I… kind of like it? I suspect my mum would’ve hated it, but I do think it’s interesting at least. However, Nigel Farage says he likes it too, so I don’t know how to feel about that…

We’re praying for England (Eng-er-land!)

This was a slightly disconcerting find tonight:

Attributed to Raphael, here’s Jesus coming out of his cage and he’s been feeling ju… er, you know what I mean. I’m not surprised by the depiction of the Son of Man and his fellows as medieval white Europeans, but that thing Jesus is holding is a St George’s Cross. Is Raphael trying to imply that Jesus was English? But at least he woke up the people loitering around his tomb…

…unlike Piero della Francesca’s pack of layabouts. Jesus doesn’t look entirely bright-eyed and bushy-tailed to me either, mind you. And he’s packing the England flag again. I jest somewhat when I call it that, but I do see it occurring in quite a few paintings of him getting out bed that fateful Sunday (I’m only researching it now cos I was looking for something else entirely and somehow happened on the first painting), I see similar things by Botticelli, Bellini, a few others, and I’m just wondering what it’s about… I did find one article suggesting it’s about symbolising Christ’s overcoming of death, but that article also posts some pictures where he’s not carrying a banner at all…

…or, in El Greco’s version, a strategically flapping all-white one (with, apparently, a red cape and a weird square halo)…

…or, in Rubens’ version, an all-red one.

Then there’s this, by Juan Bautista Maino/Mayno, in which Jesus appears to be collecting for the Red Cross or something. I’m particularly fascinated by this because of the bloke who’s about to draw his sword on Jesus: “Didn’t you die last Friday? All right, you pasty undead weirdo, let’s get you back in there permanently…”

To end this post, my own favourite resurrection image:

Starship of Bethlehem?

Found on Facebook, Baptism of Christ from 1710 by Aert de Gelder:

I know there’s other pages that have already brought up the “UFOs in classic art” thing before, so I’m hardly bringing anything new to the table here (what, me come up with something original? Perish the thought), but I still find this kind of startling. I’m sure the thing apparently firing lasers at Jesus and John the Baptist is meant to be the spirit of God being pleased with the proceedings, but it’s a very odd depiction of something the book says descended on Jesus like a dove. Wonder what the reason for rendering that God character quite like this was…