That botched painting of Jesus Christ is art in its purest form.

HAHAHA! Oh my God, you must watch this video of the woman who took it upon herself to restore a classic painting of Christ and transformed it into an internet meme.

I know I’m late to the game with my analysis of this, but…I kinda think it’s art now.

Before, it was yet another dull, lifeless representation of Jesus that was technically sound but whose lack of expression and passion betrayed the stakes of what the artist was trying to portray. It’s Jesus with a crown of thorns, presumably at or near the time of his death, during or shortly after vicious torture at the hands of his tormentors. Yet his expression portrays none of this, and instead looks like he’s trying to decide if it’s worth it to buy the entire tin of Cat Cookies for Peoples from Trader Joe’s if he’s not even going to be in town next week.

Now, after the botched restoration, it has new life. It has become an allegory for so many things that are deeply prevalent in our culture. The first being the propensity of ignorant amateurs to take it upon themselves to execute tasks that require mastery and skill far beyond their reach; a reckless arrogance that has brought us everything from ruined Renaissance paintings to Ted Talks.

The second, more obvious allegory is to religion itself. It is a thing, after all, that gets represented, embraced, and executed in very strange ways. You have to admit that even the original piece was yet another example of the strange fascination with and fetishization of suffering that has been so rampant in religious art throughout the centuries. Then, in a panic, it is transformed into this ghastly thing by an anxious parishioner who could not stand the thought of it changing and, subsequently, transformed it into something unrecognizable to suit her own ends.

It is art, folks. It is more art than most anyone else who ever tries at it can ever hope.

They should never fix it. It means more now than it ever did before.