Bad Christian art

[Little Nemo]

Some of these have had individual threads in the past but Cracked has now posted a full gallery.

[Max the Immortal]

Dammit, Jesus! Stop stealing my heroin.

[John DiFool]

"Gee her hair smells terrific!"

[Sam A. Robrin]

This site should keep you busy for a while:

http://www.jesusoftheweek.com/

[bobot]

I'm so glad Number Two was on that list, because as soon as I read the thread title, I tried to recall the name of that one. I was at my Grandmother's wake, and that one was hanging on the wall in the funeral home. As I was discussing with my brother in law what a joke the piece was, the funeral director approached us. He was quite proud of the piece, and told us "what it meant". As this guy personally took the passing of my Grandmother very hard, I gave him a pass on his silly artwork.
(On a side note, I was introduced to some amazing technology at that same time. My brother in law used a google ap to snap a picture of the piece with his phone, and the freaking ap recognized the thing, and provided links aplenty about it. I was quite impressed, and felt quite old and out of touch with technology!)

[Inner Stickler]

What, no mention of my favorite piece of christian artwork? I present to you, The Dry Hump.

[Sampiro]

There is no camp half, nea, a tenth, so great as failed earnestness. Stephen Sawyer seems to live to prove this.

[Raguleader]

No discussion of McNaughton's... art... is complete without David Willis's interpretation.

[Gatopescado]

I never realized Jesus was Gay!

Look at that hair and those abs! And those boxing shorts!

[Gatopescado]

I never realized Jesus was Gay!

Look at that hair and those abs! And those boxing shorts!

[drastic_quench]

Originally Posted by Raguleader

No discussion of McNaughton's... art... is complete without David Willis's interpretation.

Or this one:
http://www.google.com/search?q=one+n...w=1787&bih=787

[Raguleader]

There's plenty of good Christian art out there. Generally speaking, it doesn't get featured on Cracked.com because it isn't funny.

[Alka Seltzer]

Always remember my children, wash, rinse then repeat. Always repeat.

[Alessan]

Originally Posted by Raguleader

There's plenty of good Christian art out there. Generally speaking, it doesn't get featured on Cracked.com because it isn't funny.

It's also 500 years old.

[Raguleader]

Originally Posted by Alessan

It's also 500 years old.

Eh, Sturgeon's Law applies to Christian Art just as it applies to pop music, movies, and stool samples. 90% of everything is crap. You just tend not to remember the crap from the past because, well, it was crap and not worth remembering.

[Slithy Tove]

Theodore Sturgeon was probably right: there's been bad art throughout the centuries, much of it Christian. But once Christianity and Art split, around 200 years ago, most Christian art has been pretty bad.

The examples in the OP are mostly products of Revenge Reganism: bland middle American, threatened and hostile. But earlier than that there was bad Modernist Christian art. As much as I like George Roualt, he seems to have spawned a whole school of bad Catholic and Lutheran art done by people who never bothered to learn to draw.

And the architecture! Churches that look like giant ice bags, or huge slabs of plywood propped into tent-shapes. At least the new churches from the OP's McMansion culture don't look like geometric follies.

[Accidental Martyr]

Originally Posted by Inner Stickler

What, no mention of my favorite piece of christian artwork? I present to you, The Dry Hump.

Come on, that has to be a joke!
(What's up with the hammer?)

[vivalostwages]

Nathan Greene's "chief of the medical staff" (the last painting in the gallery that the OP linked to): http://www.nathangreene.com/prod_detail_list/50

is framed on the wall of my mom's orthopedic surgeon's office. He has a smaller one on his desk. I just saw them there today.

[Little Nemo]

Originally Posted by Accidental Martyr

Come on, that has to be a joke!
(What's up with the hammer?)

My WAG is that it's supposed to show that everyone is to blame for sin so it's everyone's fault Jesus was crucified - hence the symbolism of the hammer and spike. But Jesus loves us anyway - hence the symbolism of the sodomy.

[Inner Stickler]

Originally Posted by Accidental Martyr

Come on, that has to be a joke!
(What's up with the hammer?)

I wondered that for years. It took looking it up to post the link in this thread for me to notice the nail in the other hand.

However, if a dude I remembered being buried showed up suddenly and was chasing after me, I'd be tempted to pound a stake in him, too. Vampire Jesi are no joke.

[Nava]

Originally Posted by Slithy Tove

Theodore Sturgeon was probably right: there's been bad art throughout the centuries, much of it Christian. But once Christianity and Art split, around 200 years ago, most Christian art has been pretty bad.

But they haven't, not any more than they were married before (hint: they weren't). There have been both secular and religious themes throughout the centuries, there continue to be both today.

[DrFidelius]

I imagine that people have been complaining about bad religious art forever.

"You call that a Venus Figurine? Her breasts are too small, and you made her buttocks asymmetrical. What a joke! You loser!"

[Accidental Martyr]

Originally Posted by Inner Stickler

I wondered that for years. It took looking it up to post the link in this thread for me to notice the nail in the other hand.

However, if a dude I remembered being buried showed up suddenly and was chasing after me, I'd be tempted to pound a stake in him, too. Vampire Jesi are no joke.

Good point. I didn't even notice the nail/spike.