I heard a joke at daily Mass that made me laugh today. As I’ve said before, I don’t hate all modern or contemporary art (though much of it is based on erroneous principles), but a lot of it is characterized by this:

A man is looking at a painting in an art gallery, and is intrigued with one particular painting. It was a canvas covered with black paint, several large orange splotches, with thin, yellow lines criss-crossed. Tilting his head with furrowed brow, the man was approached by the artist.

“I don’t know if I understand this painting at all. What’s it about?” asked the gallery patron.

Nodding seriously, the artist declared, “Few people understand my work. It comes from inside of me.”

“Maybe you should take an Alka-seltzer,” suggested the man.

I laughed out loud. Yes. Maybe you should take an Alka-seltzer!