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“THE EMPEROR WANTED TO BE A JESUS COWBOY”

~ An exhibit by Jude Kallok at the Du Bois Library at UMass Amherst ~

     Amherst, MA – “The Emperor Wanted to be a Jesus Cowboy,” a five-leafed illuminated manuscript by Monson artist, Jude Kallok, visually depicts a philosophical debate between Jesus of Nazareth and “The Emperor,” a man who turns out to be George Walker Bush. The exhibit is on display in the 2nd floor study area of the Du Bois Library at UMass Amherst from July 5 to August 19, 2005.

     Jude Kallok, born in 1955 in Albany , New York , attended Syracuse University in the 1970's where she met members of the emerging feminist art movement. In 1977, she studied with members of the Pattern and Decoration Movement in New York . Also called P and D, the Pattern-and-Decoration movement began in the 1970s, in an effort to challenge the existing taboo in the contemporary art world against the decorative arts.

     Since then she has exhibited with several women's art groups and served as curator for exhibitions. In 2003, Jude earned a BA in Art from Hampshire College focusing on the ritual art of West Africa . At Hampshire, she began a series called The Manuscript Project . “The Emperor Wanted to be a Jesus Cowboy” is the second piece in that series. To date her manuscripts have been exhibited with ArtistsAgainstTheWar in SoHo , libraries, and at other political and social activist events.

     “After the United States invaded Afghanistan, and as it became apparent that an attack on Iraq was probably inevitable,” states Kallok, “I found myself in a recurring and persistent mental struggle. I kept hearing an imaginary argument in my head. The argument was between Jesus of Nazareth and George W. Bush. I began to jot down some of the issues that came out of those mental debates, and they became the seed of this manuscript.”