NEDERLAND -- On Friday, December 12, 2025, the Nederland Community Library hosted a reception for its current art exhibit, A Plague of Parody, with its artist, Brent Warren.

Community members mingled and drank amongst the artwork in the library’s community room, with the filmmaker, musician, magician, and multimedia artist providing guitar accompaniment.

Warren also discussed the meanings of his artwork, digital graphic photos that he creates with the help of Photoshop. The photos, often accompanied by captions, poke fun at the “things we take for granted in our lives,” as Warren writes.

Some of the photos serve as social commentary for the world today, including a side-by-side comparison of a car “then” with only a “Save the Whales” bumper sticker with a car “now” completely covered with similarly-messaged stickers.

Others subvert historical moments, such as “A rare picture of Abe Lincoln giving the Gettysburg Address using teleprompters,” and famous images and stories, such as a version of Michelangelo’s “The Creation of Adam” that replaces God with a golden retriever.

Warren explains that these collages started when he altered a photo he took of fellow magician Lamont Ream for a magazine article. Warren took the original photo, which prominently features Ream tied to inactive train tracks, and added the background element he felt was missing – a train.

In addition, Warren brought photos not selected for the final exhibition as a one-night-only display. Attendees could also write their own captions for the altered photo of Lamont, the one that started it all.

Warren ultimately hopes that these expressions of the absurd elements of reality “will bring a smile or two” to the faces of those who observe them.

Visitors to the Nederland Community Library, located at 200 N Highway 72 in Nederland, can see A Plague of Parody through January 15, 2026.