(Fig. 1) Jesus and the Basket installation view, 2007. (Fig. 2) Jesus and the Basket installation book detail, 2007.

(Fig. 1) Jesus and the Basket installation panoramic view, 2007. (Fig. 2 left) Jesus and the Basket installation view text pattern installation, 2007. (Fig. 2 right) Jesus and the Basket installation view Jesus head partial form installation, 2007. Edgar Arceneaux's "Jesus and Dinosaurs" solo exhibition is on display from September 8 to October 13 at Praz-Delavallade Gallery in District 13. Edgar Arceneaux is a new generation artist from the East Coast of the United States [Los Angeles], whose work is built upon the artist's personal scientific, philosophical, literary, and religious experiences, creating complex meanings across different figures, histories, and significant concepts. Through his sensitive drawings, sculptures, objects, and innovative installations, he presents extraordinary and intricate strategies that subvert rational order and logic, focusing on subjectivity and poetic interpretation. On this seemingly mismatched theme of Jesus and dinosaurs, looking at these non-figurative totems and installations makes one wonder how to imagine Jesus and dinosaurs? There are no images or even signs; the theme seems to imply philosophy, natural science, or religious/theological discourse, yet it appears closer to poetry and myth. Considering the current new religious landscape in American or Western society, especially the heated debate within Catholicism recently regarding Creationism and Darwinian Evolutionism, creationists' subjective claims—denying Darwin's arguments of survival of the fittest and extinction of the unfit—directly explore the understanding intentions revealed by verifying these natural physical traits. Creationists base their anti-scientific approach on what is visible rather than what is observable. Edgar Arceneaux's work attempts to confuse these two intentions: the existence of the Lord Jesus is not evolutionary, whereas dinosaur fossils are the result of natural evolution. The artist emphasizes that the concept of creationism follows the creator's manifestation in his visual art practice, challenging conventions and traditions while demanding extraordinary subjectivity. Edgar Arceneaux's works (paintings, objects, installations) attempt to expose the ambiguous aspects of creationism and its scientific turmoil under the premise that such dinosaurs existed during Noah's Ark period at the beginning of the world. Through the artist's absurd juxtaposition of Jesus and dinosaurs, he presents a contrast between two creators: God and himself.