2011-11-07
Explanation
This comic depicts a hostage situation at an art museum where a man with a gun threatens to shoot the Mona Lisa, shouting "Stay back! Back, or I'''ll turn her into modern art!" The police yell "Get him!" as the man screams in panic. This setup plays on the common perception that modern art is often just the destruction or distortion of classical forms -- so shooting the Mona Lisa would, in this logic, simply transform it from Renaissance masterwork to modern art piece.
The punchline comes in the final panel, set sometime after the incident. The painting is now displayed with bullet holes and damage, and two art gallery attendees admire it. One says, "I adore what it says about aesthetic militarization in a post-ironic society," speaking in the kind of pretentious, jargon-laden language often associated with modern art criticism. The joke is that the man'''s threat was literally fulfilled -- destroying the classical painting did indeed turn it into something the modern art world embraces and intellectualizes.
The votey panel shows the now-damaged Mona Lisa rendered in Weinersmith'''s cartoon style, still wearing her enigmatic smile despite the ordeal -- perhaps a commentary on the painting'''s enduring iconic status, or simply a funny image of the Mona Lisa looking smugly content about her transformation into a modern art piece worth even more critical attention than before.