The Deification of Celebrity

The True Meaning of Heaven and Hell.

Since the unveiling of this artwork on December 28th, I have heard many things said about it. Sacrilegious. Offensive. Pop Art. Liberal-minded trash. Brilliant.

To me most of these comments are symptomatic of our easily offended and way too uptight society. This painting speaks volumes of where we are as a society. A society based on rampant consumerism and 10 second sound bites. Anyway, on with this painting.

“Blessed Art Thou” was painted by North Carolina artist Kate Kretz. It’s a mural size painting measuring 88' x 60", and it’s canvas is oil & acrylic on linen. The painting will be on display at the Chelsea Galleria booth at the Art Miami Fair at the Miami Beach Convention Center, January 5-8th and is on sale for $50,000.
You can check out her other work here.

In her blog, Ms. Kretz states; “This painting addresses the celebrity worship cycle. The title, “Blessed Art Thou”, is taken from a line in the Catholic prayer “Hail Mary”: “…blessed art thou among women”. Our culture is deifying celebrities, but in the bible, it is the meek who are blessed, so the title presents a question for the viewer to ponder.”It’s no secret that we live in a celebrity obsessed society where Britney Spears, Paris Hilton, Lindsay Lohan and yes, Angelina Jolie’s every move is painstakingly reported. Someone once said that the reason we deify our celebrities is because we don’t have any royalty, like England. Celebs are our royalty. I don’t know how true that is since the British tabloids are ruthlessly efficient in getting the “celebrity” story.

Ms. Kretz further says; “I chose a setting where the cycle begins: psychologically oppressive environments like this one are one of the feeding sources for the consumer, hungry for “information” about the celebrity's private life. I am interested in the psychological ramifications of celebrity worship, particularly as they relate to class”

It’s more than fitting that Wal-Mart is depicted as the “psychologically oppressive environments” or in layman’s terms, hell on earth. The true axis of evil of consumerism is Wal-Mart, Starbucks and Microsoft.Finally, Ms. Kretz explains why she chose Angelina Jolie as the “Virgin Mary” like deity; “Angelina Jolie was chosen as the subject because of her unavoidable presence in the media, the world-wide anticipation of her child, her "unattainable" beauty and the good that she is doing in the world through her example, which adds another layer to the already complicated questions surrounding her status.”

Probably has something to do with her having three children as well. I can accept Angelina in this much more than Britney.

Final thoughts?
If you take away any religious implications, first and foremost you have to give Ms. Kretz kudos for her imagination, style, attention to detail, fearlessness, humor and above all, her sense of irony. I think this painting will be appreciated and talked about for years to come. I wish I had the money to buy this as I think it’s a brilliant statement of our obsessive and superficial culture. We are fascinated with celebrities lives because most people are like sheep, with lives that are unfulfilled and meaningless. To see someone looking perfect and jet setting all over the world doing untold fascinating things is what most people strive for. The grass is ALWAYS greener isn’t it?

But one question still remains.

Does this mean Brad Pitt is Jesus Christ?