If at first you don't succeed, try, try again.
Let's see if I can reformat today's blog. Here are, for your perusal, a World War II poster, and my painting of Leslie as the Good Samaritan.
I am wondering, how do I create art regarding torture? As a Christian, I could do a work about the Crucifixion, which was truly death by slow torture. But the average viewer would not connect it with current events. I could, in the background, have the words: Torture is Wrong. I must ponder this.
My church has regular art exhibits. I doubt such a painting would make it into an exhibit there. Too controversial. That is a shame.
For you Austinites reading this blog, I once did a painting of our colorful local character, Leslie, as the Good Samaritan. It didn't make it into an exhibit at church, and I was truly disappointed. Here is my artist's statement:
We are so used to the term "Good Samaritan" that we don't realize how shocking it was to those hearing Jesus tell this parable. The Samaritans were a despised people group. Jesus tells the story of a man who has been robbed and left for dead by the roadside. A priest passes by, sees him, but fails to help. A Levite (one with responsibilities in the Temple) walks by, sees the man, but walks on. So, the religious leaders fail to show mercy. Jesus' audience would understand that touching a dead body made one ritually unclean. To serve in the temple, they would have to go thru the ceremony making them clean again. What a hassle. So, I think the implication is that they rationalize. "He sure looks dead. He probably is dead. There's no point in checking." The despised Samaritan sees the man, tends to his wounds, puts him on his donkey, takes him to an inn, and pays the innkeeper to look after the man. He continues his journey, but tells the inkeeper he will be back to check on the man's care. I made Leslie the Good Samaritan. He is a homeless cross-dresser, a local colorful character here in Austin. Everyone knows who he is. Some people greet him with kindness, but many turn their heads, as if to say, you are not even worthy of a look from me), and some, often drunken frat boys, get in his face and scream obscenities. I talked with him, and I found him to be a gentle soul, with obvious addiction and mental health issues. His short term memory was obviously impaired. He could keep a conversation going for a while, bu then he seemed to tire out, as if the effort was great. How does God see him? With love. What does Jesus Christ look like? He looks like a homeless crossdresser in Austin, Texas.
