!Non-Controversial Christ Painting Under Fire from Art Community
Kurt Nicklas
http://www.theonion.com/onion3722/christ_painting_under_fire.html
From->The Onion
NEW YORK--Miguel Nunez, a Brooklyn-based artist, has sparked protest and
outrage within the art community with his "Jesus Rising #4," a
non-controversial, non-feces-smeared painting that in no way defiles or
blasphemes Jesus Christ.
"Jesus Rising #4," included in Nunez's new Divinity exhibition at the
Whitney Museum, has received harsh criticism from artists and academics since
its June 6 debut. The painting has been picketed nearly around the clock by
angry protesters, who say they are stunned by its lack of obscene imagery
metaphorically conveying a provocative, highly charged theopolitical message.
"Why isn't this [painting] splattered with donkey semen?" asked sculptor
India Jackson, one of the protesters. "And I defy anyone to find a trace of
urine, human or otherwise, on this entire canvas. The piece does not appear to
be an enraged howl against Christian patriarchal hegemony at all. Frankly, I'm
shocked."
"It's the duty of all artists to expose Judeo-Christian brutality through
images of Christ engaged in acts of masturbation, rape, and torture," said
Diana Bloom-Mutter, curator of New York's Rhone Gallery. "When I look at a
painting of Christ, it's supposed to make me say to the person standing next to
me, 'Yes, this is obscene, but do you know what's really obscene? Two thousand
years of white, male oppression in the name of God.'"
Other detractors point out the "outrageous, inexcusable absence" of
subversive commentary on the pervasiveness of materialism in our consumer
culture.
"[Nunez] could have had a field day with this subject," said Martin
Meyer, a 1960s art-world sensation who made his name with such Pop Art works as
"Mother (Rheingold Beer Ad)" and "General Le Duc Tho Wouldn't Trust Anything
Less Than Oxydol For His Wash." "Divinity and materialism are practically one
and the same in today's world. Instead of Jesus on his throne, why not place
him atop a pile of DVD players? Instead of gold, frankincense, and myrrh, why
not three wise men bearing Cuisinarts, Nokia cell phones, and PlayStations?"
Still others criticized Nunez's failure to make himself part of the work.
Above: Jean Arbus' celebrated 1997 mixed-media piece "Crucifuckwad," a work the
art community says stands in sharp contrast to Nunez's "repulsive non-filth."
"In my 1997 piece 'Shitrock Salad (Eat 'Em Upp) #79,' I placed myself in
a sealed plexiglass coffin for eight days with only a slender tube providing me
air, while maggots writhed about my ranch-dressing-covered body," performance
artist Eugene Weaver said. "While I admit 'Jesus Rising' shows some skill in
composition and color, I think Nunez could have made a far more powerful
statement by scourging his naked flesh with broken glass, rolling in a bed of
salt, and crucifying himself on an old metal mattress frame."
Among the few members of the art community to come to the embattled
painting's defense is New York Times art critic Michael Kimmelman, who called
it "a friskily post-postmodern tour-de-force."
"At first glance, 'Jesus Rising #4' seems to be a competent if
unremarkable devotional work," Kimmelman said. "But look deeper, and you find
that Nunez's main objective is to challenge our preconceptions to the very
core. The beatific visage of Jesus seems to echo the hoariest, most shopworn
Sunday School homilies, but the clichés of religious art are so vigorously
rendered that the viewer comes to realize that this is not a work of slavish
iconography at all, but a shrewd comment on our spiritual limitations."
Continued Kimmelman: "Yet Nunez does not spare the Existentialists and
the Modernists, either. They once somberly proclaimed that 'God is dead,' but
Nunez rejects this, too. His conclusion? 'God is nice.'"
In spite of the uproar over "Jesus Rising #4," Whitney Museum director
Maxwell Anderson said he is committed to keeping the work on display. He is,
however, willing to "open a dialogue" with the protesters.
"Perhaps we can reach some sort of compromise," Anderson said. "I don't
want to go so far as to soak the painting in the menstrual blood of a
13-year-old girl, as some have demanded, but I'm open to other suggestions. We
might be able to scare up a pint or two of rhino vomit to splash on the canvas.
And I know candied yams can be mashed into a nice, viscous paste and spread
pretty easily. Personally, I like the painting as it is, but if a little shock
is all it takes to calm everybody down, I'm all for it."
--
Kurt Nicklas
http://www.geocities.com/knicklas.rm
buttm...@dana.com
> "Perhaps we can reach some sort of compromise," Anderson said. "I don't
>want to go so far as to soak the painting in the menstrual blood of a
>13-year-old girl,
A lot of 11, 12 and 13 year old girls are a lot safer since your messiah
Koresh was roasted, SnicKKKers.
BTW, IDT get back to you yet?
pelmark
"Kurt Nicklas" <tibe...@sprynet.com> wrote in message
news:9g8k6g$csl$2...@slb1.atl.mindspring.net...
> Non-Controversial Christ Painting Under Fire from Art Community
>
> http://www.theonion.com/onion3722/christ_painting_under_fire.html
>
> From->The Onion
>
> NEW YORK--Miguel Nunez, a Brooklyn-based artist, has sparked protest
and
> outrage within the art community with his "Jesus Rising #4," a
> non-controversial, non-feces-smeared painting that in no way defiles or
> blasphemes Jesus Christ.
<SNIP>