GOSPEL ILLUMINATIONS OF DANKNESS | 700 AD | INK AND GOLD ON VELLUM | WITHIN THE TRADITION OF EARLY INSULAR ILLUMINATION, THIS FOLIO, RENDERED IN THE DISTINCTIVE PALETTE AND LINEWORK OF THE PERIOD, APPEARS AT FIRST GLANCE TO MIRROR THE FAMILIAR EVANGELIST PORTRAITS FOUND IN THE LINDISFARNE GOSPELS OR THE BOOK OF KELLS. YET UPON CLOSER STUDY, THE PRESENCE OF THE PEPE EVANGELIST AND HIS WINGED COUNTERPART SHIFTS THE WORK INTO AN ALTOGETHER DIFFERENT REGISTER, ONE WHERE SACRED MANUSCRIPT CULTURE MEETS THE STRANGE DURABILITY OF MEMETIC IMAGERY. THE SEATED FIGURE, TRADITIONALLY ST. LUKE, IS HERE REIMAGINED AS PEPE THE SCRIBE, QUILL IN HAND, POISED OVER A CURLING SCROLL. HIS EXPRESSION, EQUAL PARTS SERENE, KNOWING, AND SLIGHTLY AMUSED, EVOKES THE TEMPERAMENT SO OFTEN ATTRIBUTED TO THE MEME ACROSS CENTURIES, A CALM OBSERVER OF HUMAN FOLLY, YET NOT UNKIND, AND SOMEHOW ALWAYS IN ON THE COSMIC JOKE. THE WINGED PEPE ABOVE HIM, ADAPTED FROM THE SYMBOL OF THE WINGED OX, HOVERS IN QUIET GUIDANCE, AS THOUGH OFFERING EDITORIAL OVERSIGHT NOT OF SCRIPTURE ALONE, BUT OF NARRATIVE ITSELF.

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