This artwork, by Everett Moseley, is named “Jesus and His Friends. ” I decided to choose Moseley’s artwork because it is a parody of the famous artwork, “Last Supper. ” The original artwork “Last Supper,” was painted by the infamous artist Leonardo da Vinci. Because the painting “Jesus and His Friends” is the parody of “Last Supper,” I was able to recognize the painting and feel more familiar with the painting. Although the two painting is based on the same biblical event, there are differences among the two paintings.
First of all, I received the feeling of happiness in the painting of “Jesus and His Friends. ” The Original art “Last Supper” however, has the atmosphere full of sadness and remorse. Similar to the title “Last Supper,” the painting depicted Jesus’s last supper with his disciples before Jesus’s incarceration by the Roman soldiers. In Contrast, Moseley’s depiction of “Last Supper” includes laughter and smiles among both Jesus and his disciples.
Another different quality of Mosely’s painting is the quality of “round-faced” of all the 13 individuals. Although I do not fully understand Mosely’s intentions behind “round-faced” individuals, I am attracted to his comical portrayal of the acclaimed biblical event. Also in the painting “Jesus and His Friends,” Moseley decided to use different colors on the table. In da Vinci’s original painting, the color of the table is portrayed white due to the white cloth; however, in Mosely’s “Jesus and His Friends,” the color of the table is blue.
At first, the blue-colored table seemed odd to me, but when incorporating the color’s psychology into the overall atmosphere of the painting, everything seems to fit in perfectly. The color of blue symbolizes trust, loyalty, wisdom, confidence, intelligence, faith, truth, and heaven. When applying blue’s symbolism to the painting’s atmosphere, it makes sense why the 13 individuals are fully of happiness and confidence, despite Jesus’s upcoming incarceration. Similar to the color of the table, Mosely also decided to use different colors to depict the clothing of the disciples.
Mosely’s choice of the disciples’ clothing is red and green. The color of red symbolizes power, passion, love, and aggression. The color of green symbolizes nature, renewal, youth, and service. Artist Everett Moseley also portrayed the thirteen individuals’ hair color using thick and black coloring. By using the color black, the artist is symbolizing power, formality, elegance, mystery, and death. Another unique feature about the painting “Jesus and His Friends” is the individuals’ hands.
Although I do not fully understand Moseley’s intentions, the artist painted the hands of the individuals very big. Also different from original painting, I received the feelings of happiness due to the cartoon-like portrayal of the overall atmosphere. When analyzing Moseley’s painting of “Jesus and His Friends,” there are pros and cons to the artwork. Because Moseley tried to emphasize cartoon-like atmosphere, the artwork looks as if a child drew the painting. Due to the simple colors, shape, and lines used by the artist, I could not feel the depth to this artwork.
On the other hands, because of the antithetical mood of the overall painting compared to the “Last Supper,” I received the feeling of purity and chastity from “Jesus and His Friends. ” I believe Moseley was able to generate such feelings for the viewers by emphasizing the individuals’ [removed]big smiles). Even in other paintings of Moseley, the artist emphasizes happy expression among the main figure to generate positive atmosphere. Although there aren’t any depth and details to the painting, I decided to choose this artwork because of its positive atmosphere of purity.
