Contemplating Art

Ponder w/ me - the "Affliction Clothing" line that is N highend retailers & boutiques right now... they make a lot of use of religious themes albeit N a dark way...but are they Christian? Anti-Christian? I haven't found anything offensive, to me. I've seen some designs that R offensive to Catholics. But R they bringing 2 light our mortality & sin affliction N their designs? Is that so bad 2 B reminded of?

Here's one offensive to Catholics.. but I'm not catholic, so I can actually see some good in this shirt... b/c Mary was human and suffered affliction same as the rest of us.

(You can click on the photos to see them better)

Is it a statement towards catholics?

Even this simple design, what does it mean:


Is it saying to NOT live like there is no tomorrow, that our life is fleeting, that we are mortals and need to be concerned with the matters of the cross?

This one seems to represent "death" personified, looking through the book of death (as opposed to the book of life)



What is this one saying? A mortal, holding on to the cross with passion:


Now there are a lot of things that I disagree with in these images, but as ART, what are they trying to say?

This one received a lot of attention recently:


A catholic lady had it pulled from the Nordstom retail chain. It is an adaptation of the famous Millenium painting. This one depicts Mary, again, as a mortal... using the skeleton to symbolize that

Here's another that deals with Catholics again.

This one seems to be promoting prayer, in this case catholic prayer, because of our mortality and sin affliction.

There are a lot of Christian clothiers right now that are less questionable in this vein - Rebel Spirit, Sanctify, and NOTW to name a few. They have high end clothing that has a Christian message in a "cool" and artistic way. But does Affliction really belong in that list?

I'm always on the side of the artist when it comes to any art- whether you are painting with sound or on T-shirts. But I always search through to what the artist is trying to communicate with his work... b/c that is what all artists are doing when they work.... communicating a thought or question in a creative fashion...

So, that being said, do they show case mortality and affliction for the cause of contemplation or do they glorify our sin affliction? Should they be considered as Christian messages, or maybe Anti-Christian messages?

Or maybe, the worst answer of all: maybe they are simply combining things that will sell and there is no artistic significance whatsoever... that thought is always tragic.

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