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Nude: A Critical History The Essay

The beauty of the human body is bought into derision by its wearing socks and the loss of hope for the earth is represented by the gas mask. Adam is no longer necked, his wardrobe consists of a mask and socks. An imaginary character is bringing him to life, while two cans of spray lay beside him. The central character in the episode of creation does not life too seriously since it did not even take the socks out. Adam's whole attitude is the very expression of carelessness and a certain degree of laziness. He leaves himself in the hands of a cartoon character to save him from destruction. Five centuries later, the Creation episode of the Sistine Chapel becomes a motif for a pop artist who wants to present the world with the results of its foolishness and lack of better judgment. The capital of "western Christendom" was presented to the Christian world by Pope Julius II through its many emissaries among whom: artists. Vatican was a city of pilgrimage and the symbols represented in artworks had to be powerful and up-to-date. On a different scale,, but almost as powerful in its message, Jimmy Cauty depicted Adam, the representation of our collective carelessness and foolishness when it comes to the saving of our own world, being given spirit by a Mickey Mouse as a Supreme Creator. If one would take the image seriously and consider Mickey as the symbol of innocence, the image could be interpreted as the corrupted spirit of mankind being saved by innocence. But, Mickey Mouse represented numerous other often contradictory theories.

The necked image of an adult young man who lies under a Mickey Mouse God is also grotesque. Its initial graciousness and greatness is reduced to a great deal by the fact that it wears socks. The mask is another element that adds to the impression of witnessing something that is rather suggesting the idea of imperfection than what the image originally signified. The dignity and beauty of the human body and the greatness...

The message was sent, it is "over and out." The collapse and Closure series are created to be depicted on stamps. The meanings are obviously completely different and yet, they are so alike. The Sistine Chapel, a place still visited and marveled at by millions of visitors every year is as good a vehicle as a stamp. The support of a stamp is enormously weaker that that of the walls and ceilings of a Chapel in the Vatican, yet it can transport a message as easily and effectively, although on a much shorter time span. A stamp has a limited edition and seems more like a newspaper in its ephemerity. Maybe that is why the artist chose to be less serious about his subject and leave the socks on Adams feet while taking life from the most iconic cartoon character of the pop culture. The scene is obscene and innocent at the same time. Placing the human body at the center of all things was a good move after the centuries of darkness due to religious indoctrination and yet, any extreme is bad. Humanity became too obsessed with itself and it became pray of its own obsession. The necked beauty of the young man is no longer able to save himself. He is already wearing a mask that protects him from the environment he and the generations before him helped damage and his Savior appears to be Mickey Mouse.
Seymour, Charles. Michelangelo: The Sistine Chapel Ceiling: Illustrations, Introductory Essay, Backgrounds and Sources, Critical Essays W.W. Norton & Company, 1995

Mickey Mouse and Disney Land. Retrieved: 27 May, 2009. Available at: http://madeinatlantis.com/popular_culture/features/mickeymouse.htm

Over&Out. Collapse and Closure. The Cautese National Stamp Reserve. Available at: http://www.cnpdonline.com/archive/CollapseAndClosure/19.html

Sources used in this document:
Sources, Critical Essays W.W. Norton & Company, 1995

Mickey Mouse and Disney Land. Retrieved: 27 May, 2009. Available at: http://madeinatlantis.com/popular_culture/features/mickeymouse.htm

Over&Out. Collapse and Closure. The Cautese National Stamp Reserve. Available at: http://www.cnpdonline.com/archive/CollapseAndClosure/19.html
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