Then the 9/11 event occurred and the painting was in the state you see in fig. 1. Since I was waiting on the finalization of a new commissioned painting I decided that with the new state of Our Nation, "Papal on Pink" would take a hiatus. Little did I know that the hiatus would be this short.

With this new media attention on the Priests of the Catholic Church and the church's handling or not handling the situation, I couldn't resist the opportunity for display and feedback.

If you have visited the section of this site "Portrait of an Unknown Artist" you will know that I consider myself a Christian but have had problems with established religions. I even, at one time, was studying for the ministry but, art won out.

"Papal on Pink" is not intended as a slam on The Catholic Church alone but on all established religion's misguided rules and doctrines that have created such devastating consequences in our society. It may have started with the Catholic Church but once others split off and became denominations of their own, the "If you don't believe the way I believe or you're going to Hell" doctrine pervaded them all. This is the same doctrine that fuels terrorism and hate crimes. I don't think this is what Christ gave his life for.

Though I don't like to discuss what meaning I intend a painting to display, I will make an exception in this case as I'm sure I will have to defend myself and the work over and over again.

The reason I use the current pope is because he is recognizable. The superimposed clown face is John Wayne Gacy's trademark face as a practicing clown. Gacy's clown face symbolizes the extreme of what happens when natural desires are repressed by religion. The clown pompoms on the Popes vestments represent how illogical it is to put the fate of millions of Catholics in one man's hands. I think that even Christ would agree that no living man is infallible, certainly "not without sin."

The walker that the Pope is passing through is a comment on a leader's age. I truly believe that with age comes wisdom but in the case of the Pope, this is ridiculous. Every time we see the Pope on television it looks as if he is about to fall over. Almost everyone has had a Grandmother who was ill and in her later years, even if as they say "she had a sharp mind," would you unquestionably trust her advice?

The pink triangle is obvious so I won't go into that one. The Christ figure is nude because frankly, I'm tired of modesty issues in religious art and the exposing of Christ's sex further symbolizes how God given urges have been not only repressed but made sinful. Christ's face is covered to symbolize that He is blind to the various questionable doctrine that has been added to Christianity for personal and political reasons.

The frame as you can see in fig 2 and fig 3 are in a state of flux. Thus far, I am certain that I want to include images of Jerry Falwell and Pat Robertson which would represent parallels to the Pope in the Right Wing Religious Movement. Again, my intent is not to single out any one particular religion. I am also certain that I would like to include the images of the Rev. Jim Jones and David Koresh which obviously symbolize what happens when the will of man or a particular faction is given too much power in the Church as well as the consequences when one follows anyone or anything blindly.

Further adornment to the frame may or may not consist of various wood trims, beads and rhinestones, lights, votive candles and perhaps a shelf. I as yet have not decided on colors. As I believe that a work of art tends to have a mind of it's own, I usually draw a rough idea of the frame first. I then spend a few hours in the hardware store looking for different woods, trims and ornamentation. I purchase what I think I might use and then spread it out in one area of my studio. I then return to my framing design plans and make modifications.

The oil painting part of this work is still in a state that I consider "roughed in" though to many it might look finished. I love color and when the metallic and iridescent oils came to the art supply market I always wanted a reason to be able to use them and this work is it. I intend the work to be a bit gaudy and pretentious in order to mimic what seems to have occurred with most shrines.

I will be working on the frame and painting simultaneously and will post important changes to these pages on a regular basis.