Mary, Queen of Angels 2018

Mary, Queen of Angels 2018

Feature

A Fire-Stained Cathedral Gargoyle: Leon Bloy and the Catholic Literary Tradition 
Joshua Hren

Fiction

The Light 
James Winter

The Bridal Price
Em Liu

Poetry

Angel of the Spandrel 
Michael Bradburn-Ruster

Because They Have Forsaken 
Michael Bradburn-Ruster

A Garden Regained 
Michael Bradburn-Ruster

La Prière
Michael Bradburn-Ruster

Monastery
Michael Bradburn-Ruster

In Mourning 
Andrew Calis

In Blinding Light 
Andrew Calis

The splash of rain came first 
Andrew Calis

Again, Mother 
Caroline Holme

At the Sink 
Caroline Holme

Peter 
Troy Reeves

Alchemy 
Hannah Marshall

Orpah, Running Free 
Hannah Marshall

Siberian Squill 
Hannah Marshall

Sokugo 
Tolu Oloruntoba

Shadow Government 
Tolu Oloruntoba

Graffiti Paradise 
Tolu Oloruntoba

Sparrow.eye.storm 
Tolu Oloruntoba

The Bridal Price 
Em Liu

Nonfiction

Introducing a Modern Master 
Bernardo Aparicio García

Advent, Suffering, and Sandy Hook 
Jessica Cusato

Book Reviews

Praise the Lord from the Earth: A Review of Kingdom by Michael Cadnum
J.B. Toner

The Sacred and the Profane: A Review of The Hanging God by James Matthew Wilson
Mike Aquilina

How the Spirits Tell Their Stories: A Review of Lincoln in the Bardo by George Saunders
C.J. Karnas-Haines

A Review of Into the Deep: An Unlikely Catholic Conversion by Abigail Rine Favale 
Joshua Hren

Visual Art

Giovanni Gasparro

UPDATE 3/27/20: I was saddened and distressed to learn today that Giovanni Gasparro has turned his considerable talents toward an evil purpose. The ugly, disgustingly antisemitic painting he recently unveiled, in which he reproduces dangerous lies against the Jewish people, left me in disbelief. Such lies have quite directly contributed to the murder of innocent people both in the past and recently, and learning that an artist whose work I have highly praised in the past has used his gifts for such a purpose makes me sick. There is nothing Catholic about such a work, and the fact that Gasparro dresses his lies in religious trappings (alongside gross stereotypes of Jews, well-worthy of Nazi propaganda), is not just a betrayal of the Church, but really an act that I would not hesitate to call satanic. In dehumanizing Jews, he has debased and dehumanized himself.

Mr. Gasparro, as is clear in the article below, once seemed to me a great hope for the revival of Catholic art. While the paintings we selected for publication in Dappled Things, and which I lavished praise upon in the article below, cannot in themselves lose their qualities, a pall is inevitably cast over all of Gasparro’s work. Let it be further evidence that great art is not, as we often romantically hope, evidence of great (or even decent) moral perception. Then again, it is also evidence of how a twisted vision does have the power to destroy great talent, as the painting in question is an artistic embarrassment—an exercise in applying technical proficiency to the most mindless propaganda. Those of us who have admired Mr. Gasparro’s work in the past should pray for his repentance. As for Mr. Gasparro, he should remember that the ultimate judge of his art is one Jewish carpenter who once said of a worthless servant who wasted his talents that he would be cast “into the darkness outside, where there will be wailing and grinding of teeth.”

After seeing the painting, I considered with the editors of Dappled Things whether we should remove his art from our website and my accompanying essay. At present, we have chosen not to do so. I do not like to rewrite the past, and the fact remains that the paintings we selected share none of the ugliness of this latest work and are rather betrayed by what he has done now. I can no longer look at his old work in the same light, but let it stand as a testament to what might have been.