John Giorno’s Icon of Atheism at Elizabeth Dee

THE DAILY PIC: Good poetry is often all about compression and concision – packing as much meaning as possible into the smallest space. You can tell that John Giorno has practiced as a notable poet, because the art he makes has that same density.

Today’s Daily Pic is on view in his solo show at Elizabeth Dee in New York, and I think it captures, in just four words, the essence of what we atheists believe about divinity – a truth that seems as self-evident to us as the Incarnation does to the Pope. Giorno’s icon of atheism has the numinous perfection, and compression, of a Byzantine image of Christ.

I especially like the way Giorno uses the rainbow stylings of cheap 1960s concert posters to “sell” us his message: What could have more instant credibility, in American culture, than the ad man’s most basic device?

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