Ray Harris
ENGL 514
Response Paper
November 25, 2013
NIPPLEJESUS
I can say that I thoroughly enjoyed reading Nipplejesus. The average Joe mentality in this short story really interested me. The protagonist Dave offers a unique perspective on contemporary art, or art in general in this story. It’s been argued that a non-artist opinion is sometimes more honest than someone who works with art as a profession. Dave doesn’t seem to think much of the art gallery experience. He believes that all the galleries look the same, and how they lack the excitement of his former job as a bouncer. Dave doesn’t yearn for his old job, but would rather be without the humdrum one he is in now.
At first he despises the painting, finding it is made up entirely of breasts as he nears it. But as he stands guard, he finds that he rather likes the painting, as well as its painter, Martha. At one point, he compares the painting to his girlfriend Lisa. He explains that she looks beautiful with make up when they go out, but when he rolls over in the night, “and she’s got bad breath and she’s snoring a bit,” going on to say she wouldn’t make much of a model. It all depends on perspective. From Dave’s perspective, if you see something from a distance it may be beautiful, but as you near this object, it may become a thing to be despised or disliked. He did not like the idea that he was “protecting” something that was going to be destroyed all along. Dave leaves us, now sitting on the couch thinking about what he’d like to do, “apart from be Tiger Woods or Richard Branson.”