salvation: the moral suasion of intelligent design

What is this salvation business anyway…..

Art Chantry (art@artchantry.com)

Happy pagan holiday of rebirth, sexuality and fertility (usurped by the christian church in an effort to compete with the locals. smart move, guys! it worked). So, I have to ask, “what is this salvation business?”

Religious flyers like this are a unique and pervasive form of graphic design language that pepper our consciousness (and unconsciousness). The classic example image is the “road to perdition” type of image that has been around throughout most of our history. You know the image (with variations) of a guy standing at the beginning of a path? And the that path has many forks in it, some sinful, some foolish, many ‘incorrect’? and the true path (if you navigate all the horrors along the way) leads to personal salvation? THAT’s the salvation business.

I found this laying on a sidewalk (scattered among the hooker cards and spent needles). I love finding this stuff. I collect them. for instance, I have a great pile of Jack Chick comics (included the classic “bad bob” printed entirely in thai!) I think Jack Chick began his career as an EC horror comic artist, then followed the light into this religious stuff. That seems to happen to a lot of graphic designers and illustrators and marketing folks. Among them, Reed Crandall (another EC dude also doing street jesus flyers), and the mighty Steve Ditko (his ‘religion’ was more of a paranoid john bircher conspiracy world, however).

There was a local ad agency art director who was one of the most successful ad guys in Seattle for years. he gave it up to become a public access television preacher. his technique was astonishing – he glared straight into the camera lens (i mean UP CLOSE – his eyes, nose and mouth filled the entire tv screen) and he FURIOUSLY SCREAMED into your FACE about how you were going to hell – top volume. amazing to see. horrifying, actually. and extremely effective. It was brilliant marketing language.

My favorite is a fella name of Dick Sutphen, however. But his story is so good that i’m going to save that for a posting all by it’s lonesome. You won’t believe his story.

My point is that a LOT of designers/illustrators/ad guys sort take this propagandist manipulation language game that we all master and sorta crack. They now use it as a nearly mad way to control their environment as best hey can. It seems to tweak the obsessive/compulsive side of the creative process (many studies are beginning to show chemical linkage between these things.) This can be the entry into madness for some.

True believers who can control this visual language we all speak (and don’t know we speak) can do untold amounts of damage to all of us. We are just so vulnerable in our ignorance. Because we so thoughtlessly accept what they say, simply because we ignore the langauge, is enormous power blindly placed in their hands. we should never forget who gave us the conservative revolution – Michael Deaver. he was one of the most successful and powerful men in california advertising history. Eventually took on a new client and focused his efforts for him. A client by the name of Ronald Reagan. He built Reagan’s ad campaign. Deaver was the guy who put president Ronald Reagan in office. And the rest is history. Always remember that, ok?

We need to be aware out there. this stuff we do isn’t ‘art’ – it’s marketing language and propaganda. We live in a capitalist industrial marketing culture. This visual language is the common language of our culture. It&

7;s our truest FOLK art. And it’s a service industry – so, who do you serve?

Never forget that one of the greatest marketing art director/designers in the 20th century was a guy name of Adolph Hitler.

ADDENDUM:

art chantry:just accept “______” (fill blank with icon of your choice), and you will be forgiven of every awful thing you’ve ever done (or will do) and be one with “_____” (fill in blank with divine being of your choice.)

works every time….the swastika existed independently in every primal culture ever to have existed on earth. but, hitler took it and re-defined it and now it’s universal symbol of evil. THAT’s marketing.

it’s not “who invented it” but, “who used it effectively” that counts. it’s language. hemingway didn’t create the words he used. but he used them better than most. right? so, he should be discounted for not inventing language?…three things:

one, it will take the vatican 75 years to respond. they work at a GLACIAL pace.

two, when the women start to talk up about sexual abuse by the priesthood, watch out. that’s been going on for CENTURIES. the whole idea that this is some sort of “homosexual aberration” is so far off the mark that it’s grotesquely funny.

three, when is somebody going to stop using the phrase “sexual abuse” and use the term “RAPE”? i mean, c’mon. this is rape we’re discussing here. why water it down? it’s not about sex (especially “gay sex”. pedophiila is different turn on. often pedophile assault is not gender specific), it’s not about religion, it’s not about the vatican or the pope. it’s about a power abuse, aka “RAPE.” until that word starts getting tossed around, it’s all window dressing….a funny thing about hitler’s other work – his painting. he did really great architectural renderings. he could have gone pro if his ideas about architecture in general weren’t moribund.

but, the skecthes i’ve seen where he drew people? not so good. all his proportions are a little skewed, deformed looking. he couldn’t really draw people for shit. they always looked all fucked up.

art speaks louder than words. i rest my case.