St. Donald Duck

American Prayer, by Gottfried Helnwein 2000

Don't get giddy to press "Comment" and say I'm full of BS what with all my "prayers work" post and stuff because of the title...Before you say something about it, read on...

Look at what Gottfried Helnwein (whose birthday falls on October 8, along with John Lennon) painted back in 2000. I did a report this morning for Visual Arts on the international art scene covering June-December of 2004 and probably the one that really stood out was Gottfriend Helnwein and his, bizarre, incredibly meaningful paintings and photos.

I seriously love Donald Duck and one of my best friends, Tj, had known this enough to make me bag with Donald Duck on it and bring me a pen from Hong Kong Disneyland. For some reason I find myself more like Donald than the very famous Mickey, but people think I'm more of a Mickey than a Donald.

Well, after this, I fell in more love with Donald Duck. Though Helnwein's painting (all of his works actually) has that undercurrent of some subtly sick expression and darkness to it, I couldn't help but smile when the apparition of Donald Duck is gazing straight at me, like he's about to crack some joke. Study it, cause it's supposed to say something more about American culture, religion and childhood than what you instantly see.

But it's really more haunting than humorous right? After my homeworks, I'd jump right into this painting and check it out for myself.

.Gerard