Fencing Bear at Prayer

click to enlarge Key to Red Bear's allusions in panel 4 1. Bricolage : "the construction or creation of a work from a diverse range of things which happen to be available; a work created by such a process" (Wikipedia) 2. Walter Benjamin, " The Work of Art in the Age of Mechanical Reproduction " (1936) 3. Andy Warhol, especially Campbell's Soup I (1968) Historical note: the first pet I had as a child was a dog named Puppy. Our cat was named Kitty. So, yes, my toys really are named Fencing Bear, American Girl, Red Bear, Teddy Bear and (unusually) Sugar Bear. I'm not sure whether this makes me a nominalist or a realist at heart, although I suspect I am a realist (names carry essences, if not universals) with nominalist tendencies (it takes many names to pray to God because no one name can ever be adequate to express divinity). Perhaps it makes me a Hobbit. In my head, I live in the City by the Lake and teach at the University. You get the idea.