Right on cue: Catholics are upset with a sculpture of Jesus Christ about to go on display in Chelsea that is made out of chocolate and shows Christ completely naked. They’ve called for a boycott of the Roger Smith Hotel in Manhattan, home of the Lab Gallery that is showing the piece which should really cripple the business of those involved. After all, as everyone knows, the primary demographic for a hotel in Chelsea and abstract sculpture are not just Catholics, but the kind of Catholics who would immediately follow suit whenever the Church tells them who to ignore and who to like. Yeah, Chelsea is swarming with those kind of Catholics.The Church says it is seeking to punish the Hotel exhibiting the piece because the Hotel is responsible for bring the artwork into the mainstream which completely skips over the fact that whenever the Catholic Church bans something or gets offended, it’s usually for reasons so ludicrous and inane that the international media covers the story en masse. That's the reason this story is currently being reported by more than 300 papers and websites worldwide. No, their disapproval certainly didn’t help push images of the sculpture into the mainstream at all. No, no, no. Some people pray to be banned by the Catholic Church. It pays dividends. [source]
Maintaining the same imperious disregard for popular causes that led them to continue nuclear testing in the South Pacific during early 90s despite the horrified public outcry against them, France will also not follow with Spain and uphold an outright ban skinny models. They will make the intolerance voluntary meaning that it’s suggested you eat when you’re a model in France but you don’t have to. To a certain extent, France is to be commended for standing up and stating that they won’t follow along like the sycophant, fad-obsessed fashionistas who claim to support the ban but ultimately can’t actually feel anything let alone concern for the health of their models. And frankly, Karl Lagerfeld has, on previous occasion, thoroughly explained the thinness of his models away when he said, “They have skinny bones”. What more of an explanation is needed after that? In fact, its astounding Lagerfeld isn’t running for President. Of everywhere. The ban on thin models won’t be held up anyway. In a few months, no one will remember a thing about it. [source]
1 comment:
As a sculptor I know that religion provides many interesting and potentially controversial projects. An example from my own work would be:
http://www.bronzedreams.com/supplication.html
When I depict a nude in a situation like this it because the body itself has a message and shrouding it obscures that message and I do not do it out of a desire to offend the sensibilities of others. However even if an artist gravely offends others with his work the artist should never be censored because he serves a greater purpose by essentially serving as a cultural looking glass.
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