The Glitter Painting

I'm not sure how to feel about a painting I saw today. Firstly, it wasn't technically a painting; it was made with glitter rather than paint. But that's not what has me emotionally confused. What troubles me is the subject. The "painting" is of a modern family on the beach, posing like the figures in a famous Italian painting. It looks like fun, and the people who posed for this picture probably had a lot of fun posing for that picture and spending the day at the beach. There's just one problem: The painting they're mimicking depicts the burial of Jesus Christ.

The original painting is, naturally, far more serious than the "painting" I saw today. The original painting uses serious expressions, dark tones and shades, and generally a far more reverent attitude toward the subject it was depicting. Today's painting, using glitter to show casually-dressed people represent a sacred subject as part of their fun day at the beach, showed a certain amount of disrespect for Jesus Christ.

Yet, I'm not sure they meant it that way. Perhaps, rather than mocking Jesus Himself, they were mocking the melodramatic way in which He had been painted. Or maybe they weren't trying to make such a statement at all. It could be that they were all just having fun, not thinking about what message(s) their playful pose might inadvertently send.

Then again, one should probably always assume that there's a deeper message to just about every painting or sculpture one sees. If that's the case, then what is the message here? To not take oneself too seriously? To not take art to seriously? To not take Christ seriously? This "painting" is rather casual, which is in stark contrast to the original painting, but I'm not sure what that contrast is trying to say. I don't know whether to be pleased that a group of friends had a fun day at the beach, amused that the artist made a silly version of an ultra-serious painting, or bothered that the artist and her friends seem to be mocking Christ.

This painting should be interesting to write about in my Response Paper, largely because ot the many conflicting feelings this glitter "painting" gives me.