biblical appropriation -- visual redemption

Ezekiel was lifted up in a vivid dream and came down on a great plain covered with human carrion, nothing but rags and bone, and heard the lord’s command to preach. Ezekiel suggested to the lord that they might not be able to hear and the lord said ‘preach anyway.’ Once on tv I saw a black guest pastor harangue an affluent white congregation with this story and I wondered if they heard. Visual artists with something to say face a similar dilemma, a public that won’t listen and doesn’t look, but it’s not entirely their fault.

The self-loathing celebrity tripe marketed to status-seeking new wealth leaves ordinary people so disinterested they’ve failed to notice the dirty millions being laundered by donations to museums and rigged auctions, but that rock is being turned over now. The question rephrased for the visual artist would be ‘ but can they see,’ and the answer comes back ‘paint anyway’ and maybe they’ll begin to look. Like in Zeke’s dream, the people in the valley would then begin to put themselves together and turn back into living flesh, but it starts with the eyes.