#THE SCRIPTURES

#The Scriptures is a vital text-based artwork which accompanies the #Iconograph paintings. It it essentially the doctrine of the #Iconograph universe.

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#I The Icon cannot exist without reverence. It is a delicate being, susceptible to expiration if it does not offer a regular Spectacle to an exponentially gratified & enlarging audience.

#II We see the Icon through lenses - a barrier to protect against unwanted intimacy from the very Spectators to which it aims to reveal itself in gratuitous exhibition. The lenses imply transparency, while serving to filter, mislead & distract from the Icon's innate social inadequacies. The more lenses the Icon applies, the further & more protected it is from reality.

#III The Icon is fortified in an attire of borrowed skin (or morally justified skin alternatives) allowing it to masquerade as the previous inhabitant. The topical application makes the Icon look cool enough to warrant the acquisition of followers, validation, & ideally sponsorship from the animal in question.

#IV Though relatable in its humanoid appearance, the Icon resembles a Mannerist form. Modified & idealised through post-production, for the sake of aesthetic composition over biological viability. The resulting form has an appeal to followers, who find the manufactured body to be more god-like, & as a result easier to believe. An Icon that appears as too anatomically correct is likely to be received as an undesirable "nobody”.

#V The Icon presents itself to spectators as a Guru, dispensing wisdom with a by-product of awe, however the lens through which the Icon is seen is opposingly flopped in selfie mode, changing the dynamics of the scene. Without the lens amendments, it is apparent that the Icon is solely a dispenser of awe, & the perceived wisdom is in fact the by-product.

NB:  The lens notoriously adds ten pounds (4.536 kg) to make the wisdom appear bigger than it actually is.

#VI The Icon's ability to produce awe is limitless, provided that trace wisdoms can be acquired regularly from external sources, to be processed & amplified as a source of fuel - a little goes a long way. The Icon extracts & appropriates these wisdoms from other Icons it professes to hold in regard, or, in an act of noblesse oblige, from the Sapient (literally meaning wise, or attempting to appear wise) - those of a lower caste who follow & submit themselves to the Icon in their attempts to become Icons themselves.

#VII The Icon shows magnanimity in triumph by the token anointing of select Sapients in a pyramid strategy of trickle down praise, to strengthen the foundation on which the Icon rises up.

#VIII It is common for Icons to work in communion with others who hold similar appeal & mass following, revering one another in the manner of back-scratching, & keeping rivals & enemies close.

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#IX The Icon is self-aware, self-conscious, & pre-approving of itself by having witnessed its own spectacle by means of second order observation. An Icon exists only through approval, if not directly from spectators, then from itself as the “Royal We”.

#X Every action the Icon displays is intended, whether it was, or wasn't. If it is, it was meant. Every action is acknowledged & justified, & if deemed unfavourable - apologised for as being a mistake caused by external parties.

#XI At times the Icon appears contrived & tense, but decidedly good-looking enough to disperse its effigy in that state. At other times the Icon appears relaxed, & though apparently candid, the Icon is just as contrived - possibly more so, as these expressions are harder to get right without looking disingenuous. When the Icon achieves this coveted skill, spectators respond with praise, shares, & the summoning of new followers.

#XII The Icon performs gestures, pre-validated by previous Icons' use, which it appropriates as its own. In the case that the gesture is retrospectively original, it shall be likened, & liked, as a simile of the closest pre-validated gesture.

#XIII The way the Icon appears is the way the Icon is in entirety. The symbolisms it uses are integrated as part of the Icon, & their meanings are reduced to apparatuses of composition, & hashtags.

#XIV The Icon is just like you and me, but not like all the others. The Icon is different - just like us. The Icon is a perfect entity & one to aspire to, yet relatable by admitting ownership of its flaws which it conquered by its own authorship. The Icon parades this conquest with the promise of divulging the secret of its success to those who pledge allegiance by liking & subscribing.

#XV The Icon is forever in a state of ado. Its modus operandi requires it summarises & concludes its Spectacle without further ado, just as it begins its Spectacle - without further ado. The Icon’s ado requires frequent cessation at any given phase of the Spectacle.

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#XVI The Icon appears as culturally aware, deep in original thought, & worldly opinion, professing its ambivalence as to whether spectators should care, while musing altruistic hypotheses of how they should better themselves to reach the Icon's pinnacle of accomplishment.

#XVII The Icon displays objects that spectators are encouraged to acquire, such as innovative lenses or additional skins, so that spectators can appropriately adorn their endeavour to become Icons themselves - provided they purchase the promoted products with the Icon's discount code.

#XVIII The Icon is the most coveted objective of any spectator - to witness in order to become, to emulate in order to be discovered as a unique Spectacle. Timeless, yet cutting edge. Worshipped, yet relatable. Mysterious, yet understood.

#XIX The prime objective of the Icon is to be the Icon.

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#XX At the Icon's disgrace &/or demise, a new Icon inevitably & automatically exists. With a perpetual supply of fresher, sexier, cutting-edgier, more provocative, more sponsored, more liked, &  more spectacular prospective Icons - with more novel & innovative lenses, there is always an Icon.