This art work was painted by the American artist George Condo in 2010 and was an alternate cover for Kanye West’s 2010 album “My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy”. The painting consists of a man that seems to be dressed as a priest, the man seems to have a distorted face. The portrait of the priest has a very dark background, there are also white line that are horizontal and vertical. There is no text on the art which is odd because it is an album cover, with there being no title or artist name on the cover, the intention of this could be the artist saying that the project was created for the art rather than for commercial purposes and money. The art is very ambiguous and it is hard to figure out what the painter is trying to symbolize with the priest. The painting seems to be a mix of a modern style and it reminiscent of a baroque style that depicts members of the clergy. However, the Baroque era paintings in general look like they were done with more skill and detail than Condos artwork. This could be meant to show how modern society is destroying the beauty of older art, culture and traditions. Condo’s album art demonstrates aspects of how difficult it is to be religious by the using dark lighting, an unflattering image of a priest and lines. The art is very challenging for the viewer to figure out and it makes the piece of music more behind make it more intriguing.

What Condo is trying to show in this painting is how its hard to be religious in times of darkness which is why the painting is so dark. The darkness in the painting makes the viewer feel like they are in a confessional face to face with a priest. This may be meant to show how it is difficult for people to recognize and face their mistakes. Especially when they are in dark places, that’s why the darkness is accompanied by blue which signals the emotion of sadness. The darkness of the painting sets the tone for the painting which is meant to be looked from a more somber view point. The darkness could also have correlation with the title of an album which is “My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy”. The Darkness is tool to help frame the priest who looks like he has a light on him.

The Priest in the art is displayed in a very unflattering manner witch makes him almost appear to be a monster. The reason why Condo depicts the priests as such an ugly creature is because he wants to make the priest hard to talk to or approach. This could be because the music in the album is about how mistakes are hard to acknowledge and come face to face with. The priest can also represent the thought of religion as a whole, so the viewer’s perspective of looking at an unattractive priest is a metaphor for how it is difficult for people to face the fact that they may need religion to better themselves. The music in the album could be about living a fast and dangerous life where the listener may need some religion. The priest having three mouths is also meant to show how people are uncomfortable with religion because sometimes religion contradicts itself. The priests having three mouths is similar to the idiom “talking out of both sides of your mouth” except Condo goes one up and gives the priests three months to really emphasize the confusion that can be found in religion. A tremendous reason why people are hesitant to become religious is because religious organizations often do things that contradict their beliefs. The mouths are all shown differently which represents how the words or ideas coming out of them are also different. The mouths are all generally not that aesthetically pleasing which could mean that the words that could come out of them can be just as unattractive to the person as the mouth is. This may be meant to show how people know they could use some religion to center them, but it is to confusing. The unflattering representation of the priest is used to show how scary and difficult it is to be religious.

Condo also uses line to display how it is hard to put trust in religion. There is a vertical white line and there is a horizontal white line, it looks like they could form a cross if the priest wasn’t blocking it. This could be a comment on how priests or other members of the clergy may put themselves before the religion financially or morally, causing the trust within the religion to be blocked. The difficulty to see the real beliefs of the religion is another reason why people are hesitant to become religious. The white lines could also be symbolic of drug use, the lines look kind of chalky and white which is similar to many illegal substances. Often people who are drug addicts try to turn to religion to help cure their disease but often fail. The white lines could be used to symbolize how addicts turn to but are often thrown off by the corruptness of the church. Condo uses the white lines are used to show how hard it is trust religion.

Condo uses many elements to paint a picture of what he thinks of religion. The art work is very thought provoking and instills interest to the viewer. It is powerful because it challenges a belief system, many people may disagree with the premise of the art. The artwork is very thought provoking and sets a tone for the album by being controversial. The elements all have good synergy and they make the artworks message powerful. The way Condo depicts the priest uses lighting and lines highlight how religion is difficult for people to grasp.