Online reviews on the art of Becki Jayne

online reviews

From the writer of GayHistory.com
—Wik Wikholm
mail@gayhistory.com
Santa Barbara, CA, USA

It's Sunday morning and instead of burying myself in the Sunday New York Times like I usually do, I visited your web site. I feel privileged to have been invited. A photo of a painting (especially one on a computer monitor) is never as real as the thing itself, but even the RGB images on my tube conveyed the power of your art.

At first glance, the paintings' combination of technical virtuosity and the familiar props of religious paintings seemed to promise an uncomplicated exercise in belief. After a second or two, though, the tension set in, a tension that challenges belief and disbelief in different but
equal ways.

I am now an atheist and when I look at the paintings the religious props remind me of the illustrations in the Bible I was forced to read as a child. They challenge my disbelief, my rejection of myth as a proper human endeavor. To my atheist eye, Piss Christ is far easier to look at than The Crucifixion of Christ.

Having been reared a Christian, though, I can still see the paintings with a believer's eye, an eye that sees sacrilege. The Bible never says that Jesus was called a faggot, that a woman raised Christ from the dead, or that the Son of God protected drag queens. I imagine a self-righteous preacher growling “How dare you!”

For me, the magic in these pieces is the way they combine unexpected elements like Jesus and "Faggot" on a single canvas to challenge belief and disbelief at the same time. The paintings don't reject myth in the atheist way, but they aren't fawning expressions of belief, either. Instead, they play with Bible stories by rewriting them so that they are more inclusive than the ones we were raised with. I can see that some would experience your paintings as an expression of ambivalence about belief, but to me they seem like visual creations of new stories that appropriate not just the props of Christian art, but its power, too. The size, the color palette and the skilled execution of the paintings demand that they be treated with as much reverence as any painting hanging in a church.

No wonder your work inspires so much controversy!

I hope that you find more venues that will display your work. I respect your courage in trying to show it in Atlanta, right in the middle of the Bible Belt.

Inspiring and helpful
—Sarah Dawson
sezza@interact.net.au
Goulburn, Australia
This is just a little note to say thanks for the inspiration. I was just surfing the Web hoping to find some stuff to help me out with a religion assessment I have to do and I found your site. Not only did it help me with the assessment, but it also helped me to think of other ways art and religion can be incorporated into two in order to get across social justice issues. You're one contemporary artist that I admire. Thanks and don't ever give up.

A fan and fellow believer
—Alice, email withheld by request
Decatur, GA, USA
What a special creative genius you are! Your work opens the windows of our minds, letting new light flow in to illuminate our vision of divinity. You remind us that God is great enough to bless us all.

Thank you, kindred spirit!
—Duane Simolke, Author of "Holding Me Together," "The Acorn Stories," "Stein, Gender, Isolation, and Industrialism: New Readings of Winesburg, Ohio"
http://www.geocities.com/duanesimolke/
Lubbock, TX, USA

I found your work striking and provocative. I think my web site visitors will as well. The fact that some people become so upset by your artwork says to me that it's evoking a response. What scares me more than not having my work liked is not having my work noticed. People aren't just dismissing your work. It's questioning some things they're afraid to question.

I enjoy the metaphoric look at religion you offer. This is just my interpretation, but I see your work as a very simple message reflecting the points that Christ often made: we are all images of God and loved by God. Jesus said that what we do to others, we also do to him. When Jesus defended the woman caught in adultery, he also showed his protection of other condemned people. When Jesus socialized with prostitutes, a tax collector, and (gasp!) the common people, he also showed his willingness to fellowship with gays and lesbians. When we assault women, blacks, or homosexuals, we also assault the Creator. I'm sure it gets more complicated than that, but those are the central messages I see.

Powerful art
—Name and email withheld by request
Marietta, GA, USA
Thank you for adding commentaries to the art. It helped me understand where the artist is coming from. What might have caused me to take issue fell away in light of the explanations of the art. I can also relate to the condemnations that are often heaped upon gay people by religion. I cannot believe in a religion that condemns people to hellfire if they don't love a certain way. Thank you for your work.

Congratulations!
—Name and email withheld by request
New York, NY, USA
I see that you have finally gotten your own website. After having seen your art in New York and on the Leslie-Lohman site, I'm happy to be able to view it online. I can't wait to see the finished oil of Stoning of the Drag Queen. Keep painting. We need more art like this.

			The magic in these pieces is the way they combine unexpected elements like Jesus and "Faggot" on a single canvas to challenge belief and disbelief gayhistory.com offers an introduction to the stories and the people of modern gay history (1700-1973)
Judas Kiss debuted at Leslie-Lohman in New York 1995. Madonna, Lover & Son debuted at Leslie-Lohman in New York 1998 The Crucifixion of Christ debuted at Blue Milk Group in Atlanta 2001 sold		online reviews From the writer of GayHistory.com —Wik Wikholm mail@gayhistory.com Santa Barbara, CA, USA It's Sunday morning and instead of burying myself in the Sunday New York Times like I usually do, I visited your web site. I feel privileged to have been invited. A photo of a painting (especially one on a computer monitor) is never as real as the thing itself, but even the RGB images on my tube conveyed the power of your art. At first glance, the paintings' combination of technical virtuosity and the familiar props of religious paintings seemed to promise an uncomplicated exercise in belief. After a second or two, though, the tension set in, a tension that challenges belief and disbelief in different but equal ways. I am now an atheist and when I look at the paintings the religious props remind me of the illustrations in the Bible I was forced to read as a child. They challenge my disbelief, my rejection of myth as a proper human endeavor. To my atheist eye, Piss Christ is far easier to look at than The Crucifixion of Christ. Having been reared a Christian, though, I can still see the paintings with a believer's eye, an eye that sees sacrilege. The Bible never says that Jesus was called a faggot, that a woman raised Christ from the dead, or that the Son of God protected drag queens. I imagine a self-righteous preacher growling “How dare you!” For me, the magic in these pieces is the way they combine unexpected elements like Jesus and "Faggot" on a single canvas to challenge belief and disbelief at the same time. The paintings don't reject myth in the atheist way, but they aren't fawning expressions of belief, either. Instead, they play with Bible stories by rewriting them so that they are more inclusive than the ones we were raised with. I can see that some would experience your paintings as an expression of ambivalence about belief, but to me they seem like visual creations of new stories that appropriate not just the props of Christian art, but its power, too. The size, the color palette and the skilled execution of the paintings demand that they be treated with as much reverence as any painting hanging in a church. No wonder your work inspires so much controversy! I hope that you find more venues that will display your work. I respect your courage in trying to show it in Atlanta, right in the middle of the Bible Belt. Inspiring and helpful —Sarah Dawson sezza@interact.net.au Goulburn, Australia This is just a little note to say thanks for the inspiration. I was just surfing the Web hoping to find some stuff to help me out with a religion assessment I have to do and I found your site. Not only did it help me with the assessment, but it also helped me to think of other ways art and religion can be incorporated into two in order to get across social justice issues. You're one contemporary artist that I admire. Thanks and don't ever give up. A fan and fellow believer —Alice, email withheld by request Decatur, GA, USA What a special creative genius you are! Your work opens the windows of our minds, letting new light flow in to illuminate our vision of divinity. You remind us that God is great enough to bless us all. Thank you, kindred spirit! —Duane Simolke, Author of "Holding Me Together," "The Acorn Stories," "Stein, Gender, Isolation, and Industrialism: New Readings of Winesburg, Ohio" http://www.geocities.com/duanesimolke/ Lubbock, TX, USA I found your work striking and provocative. I think my web site visitors will as well. The fact that some people become so upset by your artwork says to me that it's evoking a response. What scares me more than not having my work liked is not having my work noticed. People aren't just dismissing your work. It's questioning some things they're afraid to question. I enjoy the metaphoric look at religion you offer. This is just my interpretation, but I see your work as a very simple message reflecting the points that Christ often made: we are all images of God and loved by God. Jesus said that what we do to others, we also do to him. When Jesus defended the woman caught in adultery, he also showed his protection of other condemned people. When Jesus socialized with prostitutes, a tax collector, and (gasp!) the common people, he also showed his willingness to fellowship with gays and lesbians. When we assault women, blacks, or homosexuals, we also assault the Creator. I'm sure it gets more complicated than that, but those are the central messages I see. Powerful art —Name and email withheld by request Marietta, GA, USA Thank you for adding commentaries to the art. It helped me understand where the artist is coming from. What might have caused me to take issue fell away in light of the explanations of the art. I can also relate to the condemnations that are often heaped upon gay people by religion. I cannot believe in a religion that condemns people to hellfire if they don't love a certain way. Thank you for your work. Congratulations! —Name and email withheld by request New York, NY, USA I see that you have finally gotten your own website. After having seen your art in New York and on the Leslie-Lohman site, I'm happy to be able to view it online. I can't wait to see the finished oil of Stoning of the Drag Queen. Keep painting. We need more art like this. TOP © Copyright 1993 Becki Jayne Harrelson