Mark Of The Beast 

Dave Macdowell’s painting 'Mark Of The Beast,' made in the late 20th century, uses oil on canvas to explore the artist’s complex relationship with contemporary society. It's a phantasmagoria of symbols. The beast, with its third eye, is a monstrous hybrid of human and animal. Atop it sits a sad-looking man wearing Frankenstein-like stitches. He is weighed down by money bags and the beast itself has bare breasts and Nazi symbols. All this moves on a slab of meat upon which the title is emblazoned. This imagery can be viewed as a critique of contemporary culture. Macdowell is wrestling with questions about power, corruption, and exploitation in our societies. He is inviting us to reflect on the structures that shape our lives. To fully understand the painting, you need to look at its cultural context and its references to art history. The way its cultural references are put together creates new meanings and reveals uncomfortable truths about our world.