Antique Shops

We recently had a visitor and when this particular visitor comes we find ourselves visiting every antique store in the County. As everyone that has ever gone antiquing before must realize; antique stores usually have less than one percent of their items that are actually antique. The rest of their content is memorabilia, junk and kitsch.

The worst thing that all these stores have in common is paintings and “art work” (for lack of a better term) which are bad depictions of American Indians and Jesus. I think I’ve seen it all. There was the Indian maiden standing in a birch-bark canoe shooting an arrow at some game. Other than the background and her clothing, she didn’t even look like an Indian. It was obviously painted by someone that has some weird huntress fantasy. There were all sorts of Indians with painted faces which weren’t too far off from clown prints. It was the ultimate gallery of Indian stereo types.

The Jesus prints went way beyond any job description that that a savior should have. He’s walking on the water with lambs and babies. He’s kneeling at the rock and praying. His eyes open and close and follow you around the room. Is this meant for worship or parody?

I am curious as to what the circumstances were for these objects created and purchased in the first place.