“Bizarre By Design” is the title for my senior gallery show that I hosted at John Brown University in the student gallery. I created advertisements for the show using a design I made depicting the Porcupine Crab. In the show, I displayed digital art, paintings, and screenprints.
The following is thesis of my show, which was displayed on a sign at the beginning of the gallery:
"There is no shortage of things created by God that humans find bizarre, gross, or frightening, among other mostly negative emotions. Some people even have very serious phobias for specific creatures.
With that in mind, I want to make my intentions with this gallery clear. I do not intend to tell you not to be scared, disgusted, or intrigued by certain creatures. I believe fear is a very necessary emotion that God has given us to keep us from getting ourselves hurt. To be wary of a creature is not wrong as far as I can tell. Some creatures may make you feel sick to look at or even think of, which is ok too. That said, it is not the goal to shock the audience for no reason.
The goal of this gallery is simply to convince the viewer that, though certain created things are bizarre, gross, or frightening, they are still God’s creation, and are therefore good according to Genesis 1.
So please, be bothered, grossed out, and definitely fascinated. You may even be completely unphased by my attempts to portray the weird side of creation. Whatever way you react to what you see here, know that each creature depicted is designed by an intelligent Creator, and if he says it is good, it is."
To view the paintings in the gallery, click here.