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Description
For those who may not be familiar, the central figure in this painting is Alfred E. Neuman, mascot for the long published American humor magazine, MAD magazine, and he is surrounded by some of my favorite members of "the usual gang of idiots" that were active in the magazine when I was a kid in the 80's.

OK, a little explanation about the genesis of this one. I was flipping through a catalog that my Mom receives as chairman of the preschool at her church. It's a catalog from a company called Oriental Trading and contains all kinds of little trinkets and toys for Sunday school classes, Vacation Bible schools, and other little prizes that you'd give to kids for learning their Bible lessons. The catalog I was looking through was the Easter catalog so there were all kinds of happy crucifixion themed toys which I thought were kind of in bad taste, and then I saw the Easter pageant costumes. Nothing too remarkable, just a bunch of kids dressed in togas and robes. Then I saw the Jesus costume. It was a little kid around 6 or 7 years old with a little Jesus wig, beard, and robe on. But the thing that struck me the most was his pose. He was standing with his arms raised in what I suppose was meant to be a "come unto me, my people" pose, but it looked to me more like an "Alfred E. Neuman - What, me worry?" pose. And that's where it all began!

Immediately the cogs began grinding. My initial idea was a Crucifixion painting featuring the MAD magazine mascot, but I was concerned that the humor would get overshadowed by the perceived insensitivity and sacrilege, so I decided I should do an Ascension themed painting instead. The Ascension theme works better anyway, since a Crucifixion pose wouldn't have Alfred's arms in the right position.

I did some research and based the majority of the painting on The Ascension of Christ by Benvenuto Tisi (or Il Garofalo) painted in 1520. The entire background is basically ripped off straight from there. I decided I need a "God"-like figure in there as well, so I tossed in a little bit of Michelangelo's Creation of Adam from the Sistine Chapel.

These guys were all incredibly important to me as a young cartoonist growing up in the 80's with limited access to art and cartooning and these guys are some of the biggest influences on my own work. So please think of this painting as an homage to these artists and MAD magazine and as a representation of their importance to a young bladerunner and not as a slam of any kind on religion, same as my Last Supper/Popeye painting, Supper at Sea.

Cast of characters -

"God" - William Gaines - publisher of MAD magazine for 40 years, always seemed like an omnipotent and mysterious force in the magazine when I was a kid.

"Jesus" - Alfred E. Neuman - mascot for MAD magazine

Cherub/angels - Spy Vs. Spy - long running strip from the magazine created by Antonio Prohias.

"Saints" - left to right - Don Martin, Sergio Aragones, Jack Davis, Al Jaffee.

There were other "saints" I could have included, like Dave Berg, Paul Coker, etc, but these four guys were always my favorites and my biggest influences from the magazine. I also tried to paint each of their characters/caricatures in their styles, or as they saw themselves in their own cartoons. The MAD blimp and the bird on Sergio's finger were "easter eggs" from the magazine that would pop up here and there, and "What, me worry?" is of course, Alfred's catch phrase.

Hope you all dig it, characters copyrighted by MAD magazine, I guess!

Acrylic on canvas - 18" x 36"

***EDIT*** I wasn't happy with Jack's robe, thought the blue was too bright when compared to the other characters, so I toned it down a bit to fit in with the others!

Description
For those who may not be familiar, the central figure in this painting is Alfred E. Neuman, mascot for the long published American humor magazine, MAD magazine, and he is surrounded by some of my favorite members of "the usual gang of idiots" that were active in the magazine when I was a kid in the 80's.

OK, a little explanation about the genesis of this one. I was flipping through a catalog that my Mom receives as chairman of the preschool at her church. It's a catalog from a company called Oriental Trading and contains all kinds of little trinkets and toys for Sunday school classes, Vacation Bible schools, and other little prizes that you'd give to kids for learning their Bible lessons. The catalog I was looking through was the Easter catalog so there were all kinds of happy crucifixion themed toys which I thought were kind of in bad taste, and then I saw the Easter pageant costumes. Nothing too remarkable, just a bunch of kids dressed in togas and robes. Then I saw the Jesus costume. It was a little kid around 6 or 7 years old with a little Jesus wig, beard, and robe on. But the thing that struck me the most was his pose. He was standing with his arms raised in what I suppose was meant to be a "come unto me, my people" pose, but it looked to me more like an "Alfred E. Neuman - What, me worry?" pose. And that's where it all began!

Immediately the cogs began grinding. My initial idea was a Crucifixion painting featuring the MAD magazine mascot, but I was concerned that the humor would get overshadowed by the perceived insensitivity and sacrilege, so I decided I should do an Ascension themed painting instead. The Ascension theme works better anyway, since a Crucifixion pose wouldn't have Alfred's arms in the right position.

I did some research and based the majority of the painting on The Ascension of Christ by Benvenuto Tisi (or Il Garofalo) painted in 1520. The entire background is basically ripped off straight from there. I decided I need a "God"-like figure in there as well, so I tossed in a little bit of Michelangelo's Creation of Adam from the Sistine Chapel.

These guys were all incredibly important to me as a young cartoonist growing up in the 80's with limited access to art and cartooning and these guys are some of the biggest influences on my own work. So please think of this painting as an homage to these artists and MAD magazine and as a representation of their importance to a young bladerunner and not as a slam of any kind on religion, same as my Last Supper/Popeye painting, Supper at Sea.

Cast of characters -

"God" - William Gaines - publisher of MAD magazine for 40 years, always seemed like an omnipotent and mysterious force in the magazine when I was a kid.

"Jesus" - Alfred E. Neuman - mascot for MAD magazine

Cherub/angels - Spy Vs. Spy - long running strip from the magazine created by Antonio Prohias.

"Saints" - left to right - Don Martin, Sergio Aragones, Jack Davis, Al Jaffee.

There were other "saints" I could have included, like Dave Berg, Paul Coker, etc, but these four guys were always my favorites and my biggest influences from the magazine. I also tried to paint each of their characters/caricatures in their styles, or as they saw themselves in their own cartoons. The MAD blimp and the bird on Sergio's finger were "easter eggs" from the magazine that would pop up here and there, and "What, me worry?" is of course, Alfred's catch phrase.

Hope you all dig it, characters copyrighted by MAD magazine, I guess!

Acrylic on canvas - 18" x 36"

***EDIT*** I wasn't happy with Jack's robe, thought the blue was too bright when compared to the other characters, so I toned it down a bit to fit in with the others!