It's nice when you can end a long week on just the right note. Thankfully, we have this one: In San Diego, an artist named Glen Tarnowski's raising a ruckus with a painting titled The Gathering, which, as you can see, is a Looney Tuned-up version of Leonardo da Vinci's The Last Supper. And though it's been hanging in the front window of the Chuck Jones Gallery in San Diego on and off for a couple of weeks, this week it began attacting media attention -- because, you guessed it, the painting's been branded the work of a Jesus-hating heathen.
Alas, it came to our attention because Tarnowski's been referred to in myriad San Diego stories as a "Dallas artist." Sadly, it's not true: Mike Dicken, the gallery's national sales director, did a little digging on Unfair Park's behalf and discovered that the painter's actually from Katy -- which, for our purposes this evening, is close enough.
Besides, says Dicken, "It's been a ridiclously big deal" in recent days, the kind of local story that goes national sooner than later.
"There's a Catholic church down the street, and families are abusive, insisting that it's obscene," he says. "It's amazing the way it's become such a big deal. And everyone wants to weigh in with their thoughts. I think also people are a lot angrier in these times. I've gotten a ton of calls, but one of my favorites was the guy who accused me of being a friend of Satan and said the piece is totally obscene and how could I do something like that."
And, yes, The Gathering's for sale -- it'll only run you $20,000. And, look, if I had the dough-re-mi, it would look dynamite hanging over the kid's bed.
"It's a fun piece," Dicken tells Unfair Park. "People love it too. That's why we put in the front window. Because it's awesome."
