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The Last Supper - part 1 of 1 2

by Tracy Willis Published 01/04/2017

Tracy ‘s picture, The Last Supper is part of her Animal Antics series. It fits well with the preceding discussion of creativity in that her series shows a continuous theme of development over an extended period. In Csikszentmihalyi’s terms we are at the Elaboration stage; having developed the skills and a number of ideas Tracy has explored various themes or elaborations on the idea within her series.

The notion of using Leonardo da Vinci’s Last Supper extends all the way back to his original of 1496, when the 30 -foot fresco was completed. The original is significantly degraded and much of what is known about its composition is derived from an oil-on-canvas copy made in the 16th century and now hanging in Tongerlo Abbey. The picture has spawned a great many ‘copies’ and parodies ranging from the gentler animal variants through Star Wars, Batman, Dali and Spencer until finally we are brought bang up to date with Jesus holding a selfie stick for a phone image of himself and his disciples. Not all the parodies have been well received, with a gay orgy version for the Folsom St Fair provoking considerable outrage. Even a modest search of ‘animal last supper image’ offered 107 variants on Google.

Following on the theme of the preceding article, combining the creative prod from Tracy and the anti-Trump sentiment (the Trump Swamp image is considered complete at the time of writing and other avenues are being explored!) led to some thought creations based on the two. A Last Supper parody with Trump centre stage? Kellyanne Conway is a shoe-in for Mary Magdalen, but who to cast as Judas? – Scott Pruitt grasping his 30 pieces of silver from the big oil companies for betraying the environment is an obvious choice. Filling the rest of the cast is tricky – where in the Trump administration might you find the remaining supposedly upright disciples!

Thinking out ‘loud’ onto the page, how about a negative of Last Supper. Trump cast as Judas lording it up centre stage and surrounded by his crooked cronies, with Jesus off to one side as an outcast. Remember you saw it first in Imagemaker!

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1st Published 01/04/2017
last update 09/12/2022 14:59:42

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