It’s no secret that I am a man of strong opinions when it comes to art. I am an artist, after all, and I am prone to strong feelings about my craft. I am also something a student of religion. I don’t talk about Christianity much on here; I don’t feel that I need to preach to anyone what I believe, but again, I don’t hide it either. All religions have some form of iconography. The purpose of iconography is to give us an ideal to strive toward. A hero to admire. It shows us what we are to value as a culture. This is no different with the Cult of Ugliness.
Many of you who have been following my blogs and newsletters for a long time now might remember me mentioning the Cult of Ugliness before. I believe that there is a concerted effort to destroy objective art and beauty by people who worship ugliness and perversity. A hideous mockery of all that is good about the human spirit is crawling its way into our schools, our public spaces, our television, our very souls.
If you don’t believe me, all you have to do is look around you at the ugly, flat grey boxes in all our towns and cities, while classical architecture languishes. Men no longer build great and glorious buildings.
Look in the museums where you can see nonsensical objects displayed as “sculpture” or “paintings” indistinguishable from the scribbling of wild animals.
Look at the works of public “art” in our town squares. Look at this evil statue erected over a New York City courthouse:
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">A new statue atop a New York City courthouse. The artist says it’s part of an “urgent and necessary cultural reckoning underway as New York reconsiders traditional representations of power in public spaces and recasts civic structures to better reflect 21st-century social mores.” <a href="
25, 2023</a></blockquote> <script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>
This is one of the most disturbing pieces of modern art I’ve ever seen. It looks just like something out of a Lovecraftian horror story, with her tentacle arms and goat-horned head. It immediately put me in mind of Lilith, the queen of demons from Semitic folklore. According to legend, Lilith would come in the dead of night to drink the blood of infants; the parallels are interesting, to say the least. The artist who erected this monstrosity consciously did so to undermine and subvert Western social mores and values. She made no secret of that.
And this is not confined to the Left; oh no, on the contrary, the Right has been complicit, and very much so.
Firstly, much of the Right doesn’t see the value of art and beauty, but rather scoffs at it. They think we artists should just “get a real job” and stop complaining. They don’t understand that art DOES have practical value. It lifts the spirit of the common folk and the educated alike. It gives life meaning and value. They’ve allowed the Cult to flourish without even putting up the barest hint of a fight.
Secondly, there is the dissident right, who while they may rail against the Cult of Ugliness, are in reality just as much pawns of it. Their mascot is this poorly drawn cartoon frog known as Pepe:
This isn’t good art. This image seems to breed anger, resentment and spitefulness in all who use it. I’ve had multiple interactions with the people who have Pepe as their profile images and very few of them have been positive. It’s to the point where if I run across someone on Twitter who has it, I oftentimes just block them without another word.
So you see, ugliness, hatred, perversity, and degeneracy have run rampant, and it’s all connected to the Cult of Ugliness.
So what are we to do?
Create good art. Buy good art. Support good artists. See good movies. Listen to uplifting music. Sing uplifting songs. Support beautiful churches. Plant flowers. Spend time in nature. See the mountains. Do not patronize artists who celebrate ugliness. Do not go to museums that display ugly “art”. Speak out. Talk to your local officials about public buildings.
And you can start here. I have a variety of artworks available on my website for purchase. By buying my prints, you are supporting an artist dedicated to fighting Ugliness wherever he finds it.
As always, thanks for reading and be sure to share it with all your friends.