Relativist Art Ideas for The Big Existential Dinner Party

Dick Van der Wurst on August 30, 2012

We’ve all heard about combining food with other pleasurable sensory experiences like cheese and art shows, prime rib and strippers, sex and pastrami, so why not combine delicious food with a debilitating existential crisis? Can’t recall how or why this pairing came up in an electronic conversation but it did. I’ve had “acrimony and cheese” in my idea box for a while so maybe it just took seed.

The menu so far includes:

  • acrimony and cheese
  • cinnabons and self analysis
  • deviled eggs and despair
  • ennui and baked brie
  • french fried fear of death
  • judgement and jellied eggs
  • night terrors and tapas
  • paralyzing fear and fresh fruit
  • regret au gratin
  • self doubt and sauerkraut
  • spiritual death and duck sauce
  • singularity and cinnamon sticks

Pieces in progress

“Ennui a Jus” (photoshop mock up)

The point is just about associations word play and emotional responses through the juxtaposition of unrelated subjects. I once heard you don’t stop with one great idea, you take two or more good ideas and somehow bring them together. I’m not sure “sauerkraut” constitutes a “good idea” but it certainly evokes associations to smell and taste and unique cultural influences.

“Self Doubt and Sauerkraut” (photoshop mock up)

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Lesser of Two Evils: Relativist Pop Art Painting by Moe Profane

Lesser of Two Evils: Suddenly Less Evil Sounds Pretty Good

Dick Van der Wurst on March 16, 2012

2011     •     20″ x 12″
acrylic, spray paint, fabric on panel

What happens when we dress up the lesser of two evils with the trappings of goodness? Nothing. It is still essentially evil and it makes the angels sad.

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Blue Martini (2011)

Blue Martini: A Startling Color to Consume

Dick Van der Wurst on March 16, 2012

2011     •     36″ x 24″
acrylic, spray paint, fabric on panel

div class=”portfolio_desc”>The coy young woman with her good and bad conscience on her shoulders pretends to not notice as they ply her with drink. The Ty-D-Bol blue martini is as much a jab at trendy martinis as it is on the people who market them to women.

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Appletini: Relativist Pop Art Painting by Moe Profane

Appletini: Reliable As Original Sin

Dick Van der Wurst on March 16, 2012

2011     •     36″ x 24″
acrylic, spray paint, fabric on panel

Woman’s role in the fall of man has long set the tone for her role in the patriarchal Abrahamic religions. The apple martini being poured by Eve’s good and bad consciences put power, and responsibility, back in Eve’s hands as the snake, the mythical embodiment of the forked tongue trickster who so easily manipulated poor Eve into ruining man’s place in paradise, no longer has a role in anything.

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Here's To Your Malaria: Relativist Pop Art Painting by Moe Profane

Here’s to Malaria: Unlock The Healing Power of Quinine

Dick Van der Wurst on March 15, 2012

2010     •     36″ x 24″
acrylic, spray paint, fabric on panel

Just a spoon full of liquor helps the medicine go down, and why not prevent that malaria with some quinine tonic water and gin? In India and other tropical regions, malaria was a persistent problem. In the 1700s it was discovered that quinine could be used to treat the disease, although the bitter taste was unpleasant. British officers in India in the early 19th century took to adding a mixture of water, sugar, lime and gin to the quinine in order to make the drink more palatable. The masculine suit, the facial hair, the concern over malaria shared with British imperialist soldiers all hearken to the expectation and hidden dangers of manly pursuits.

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Ash Wednesday: Relativist Pop Art Painting by Moe Profane

Ash Wednesday: Famous Mardi Gras Party Has To End

Dick Van der Wurst on March 10, 2012

2009     •     48″ x 48″
acrylic, spray paint, fabric on panel

We see here, early in the morning of Ash Wednesday, the aftermath following the Fat Tuesday debauchery. A Christ figure is passed out on the New Orleans riverfront with both the unapologetic party animal and the rationalizing church-goer in similar states of disrepair.

This started with an invitation to make a piece or two for a New Orleans themed fundraiser at The Louisville Visual Arts Association (LVAA) Water Tower.

  • Ash Wednesday: Relativist Pop Art Sketch by Moe Profane
  • Ash Wednesday: Relativist Pop Art Painting Progress by Moe Profane

The idea put a man draped on a Riverwalk park bench like he’s been crucified, sleeping off the Marti Gras fun early into the next morning. An angel prays a devil nurses hang over above his head, each with beads AND ashes smudged on their heads. At his feet aren’t the same lamenting saints Jesus often is seen with. Instead, he is flanked by two fellow partiers sleeping off their binges.

It turned out a bit different but the best paintings always do.

This is supposed to remind one of the oft forgotten hypocrisy of the Mardi Gras celebration. Like most Christian traditions, it has its roots in paganism. Ancient Greek and Roman festivals involved sacrifice drunkenness and much of the fun stuff we associate with Mardi Gras. There were parades where images of gods are worshiped above the assembly. Pagan priests in the parade shower the crowds with spring flowers, herbs, grain and coins.

That what one would think would be apposed to Christian thought is now accepted as a blend of pagan rites, animism and religion. In an attempt to convert the masses the Catholic church, fixed Easter to the full moon of the spring equinox allowing the non-scriptural traditions of Lent and ash Wednesday to follow Mardi Gras. In a brilliant PR move, the early Church absorbed many of these festivals in hopes that it would convert the pagans.

My point isn’t to judge the hypocrisy of course, but to have fun with how little people actually understand their religion. They aren’t necessary hypocrites but ignorant fools slave to their instincts and animal desires as any heathen, but too self righteous in their so called “faith” to acknowledge it.

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