McReligious Imagery
November 27, 2002 2:31 PM   Subscribe

The White Cube Gallery's current show features the work of two artists that produced ethnic religious imagery. The pieces appear ancient and authentic on first pass, but second glances reveal some element of McDonald's trademark logos, food, and/or characters. [via BoingBoing]
posted by mathowie (7 comments total)
 
...Western modernism exploited tribal art, tearing it out of context to make it the vessel of primitivism...

When i first i saw it (before reading the article) it seemed to me as reflecting our culture as no different than any other. just my take.

oh, and nice craftmanship.
posted by poopy at 2:38 PM on November 27, 2002


one more thing...is it just me or is their preloader all screwed up? i'm on cable and half the time the mouseovers were broken.
posted by poopy at 2:43 PM on November 27, 2002


Yeah the preloader didn't load all previews for me too. The statues are pretty good. It took me a second before I saw what Matt meant.
posted by riffola at 2:54 PM on November 27, 2002


For a hot contemporary art gallery, the site is a crock, but there's more of the Chapmans' work visible (just) on it here.
posted by liam at 2:58 PM on November 27, 2002


yeah, i agree, although their sculputures are very nice.

i've never been a big fan of conceptual art however. it's overused, abused, been there, done that sorta thing. it's what our teachers in art school thought was the shining pinnacle of high art. i can't tell you how many pieces of crap (including my own) the teacher praised because we had come up with some lame-ass theory behind the actual work itself.
posted by poopy at 3:09 PM on November 27, 2002


Wow, I love this exhibit - quite humorous and the actual pieces are very well done. "Genuinely offensive"?? Not to me. I see it as being more a statement about the absurdity of our fetishizing and deifying our "brands" than as any indictment of ethnographic or primitive objects as art, although there is no doubt a well-aimed poke in the eye of that sacred cow too. Thanks, Matt, quite amusing - I'll have to keep an eye out for more of their works.
posted by madamjujujive at 3:32 PM on November 27, 2002


The McDonald's shield was pretty spiffy, and the wood texture was perfect for the faux-antique theme. The Mayor McCheese head fetish was especially nice, but the crucifix one seemed a little out of place, or maybe of a different imaginary time.

Interesting link.
posted by hama7 at 5:01 PM on November 27, 2002


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