Daylife/Reuters Pictures used by permission
Street artist Banksy has installed a vandalised sculpture of a priest in a gallery in Liverpool.
Cardinal Sin is a bust with its face sawn off and replaced by blank tiles, designed as a response to the child abuse scandal in the Catholic church.
In a statement, Banksy said: “I’m never sure who deserves to be put on a pedestal or crushed under one.”
The sculpture was unveiled at the Walker Art Gallery, where it is sitting alongside 17th Century religious art. The bathroom tiles have been put in place of the priest’s face to create a pixelated effect…
“The statue? I guess you could call it a Christmas present. At this time of year it’s easy to forget the true meaning of Christianity – the lies, the corruption, the abuse…”
This is only the second time that the secretive artist, known for his subversive images on street walls, has created work for a gallery.
As much as I dislike graffiti, I love Banksy.
When will these “avant-garde” artists get that they are conformists. It is trivial, accepted and PC to bash Christianity and related. Hence, this piece of Banksy is literally kitch.
Now, when he dares and makes some art criticizing some Iranian mullah for executing homosexuals or something other non-PC, less accepted and consequential (as in his head may get on the same list as young Vang Gogh did…) – I’ll look.
Huh? That is so out of no where response. It sounds like you are trying to move people’s attention away for a sore topic you don’t want to be talked about.
Re:Tigerjuju… Bingo!
Ah, the ol’, “If I’m not doing anything important I’ll just critique others for what they ARE doing” argument.
I’m sure if Banksy was living in Iran, he would create art based on what was happening there. Since he lives in a country where the leaders of the church do things that INVITE bashing (diddling little boys, for instance), I guess he chose to address what was germain.
Seriously, dude, if you just want to obfuscate the issue based on your own hang-ups, use colored smoke or something.
Save your scorn for the priests.
I’m glad that Banksy is using his art for something that is politically and emotionally relevant. Christianity has long been held as elitist and holier-than-thou. Though not all Christians are intrinsically “bad”, it does help to remember the horrendous atrosities have occured at the hands of its most prized and esteemed members.
This is a sign of the times, an awakening that these acts are no longer to be tolerated. It’s good to see that the sign of the times is showcased through contemporary artwork, …even if some people still wish to put their heads in the sand.
Beth
Nutrition and Spiritual Writer
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Thanks for the spam.
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“At this time of year it’s easy to forget the true meaning of Christianity – the lies, the corruption, the abuse…”
Keep on rockin’ in the Free World!
It’s about time the sheeple become outraged at the abuses of God’s children (many of them white) by the Vatican and their service outlet stores.
The Vatican is a power unto itself. The richest Church in the world is dedicated to caring for the sick and the poor while taking their money to build golden cathedrals.
I do not pretend to know the mind of God, but I suspect there is a special place in Hell reserved for the holy.
Why doesn’t he make one for school teachers? Someone is letting his anti-christian bias show…
“According to a draft report commissioned by the U.S. Department of Education, in compliance with the 2002 “No Child Left Behind” act signed into law by President Bush, between 6 percent and 10 percent of public school children across the country have been sexually abused or harassed by school employees and teachers.”
http://goodtherapy.org/blog/preparing-your-child-for-school%E2%80%94more-than-supplies-and-clothes/
There are strict laws covering teachers that require incidents be immediately reported to the authorities. If you become aware of an incident involving sexual abuse of a minor and do not report it, then you are held accountable by the law.
In the case of the Catholic church, it is easy to search Google and find a number of incidents where people in senior positions were aware of abuse and did nothing except shuffle the offenders to another location, putting the offenders in a position where they could abuse again.
I have several friends who are Catholic and it never ceases to amaze me how they hate the fags and the addicts and so on, but when it comes to the question of sexual abuse they are uncomfortable with the question and address it as an issue of asking for forgiveness. I am not Catholic, but the response reeks of hypocrisy. If the Catholic Church issues a decree that any abuse of children would result in priests losing their position and being reported to authorities, I would have a lot more respect for the establishment.
If the Catholic Church went so far as to treat the abusers and isolate them from children, I would have a small (very small) amount of sympathy.
Look, look! Someone other than your friendly local priest is diddling young boys! That means we can IGNORE THE FACT THAT RELIGIOUS LEADERS DIDDLE YOUNG BOYS! That’s what you’re saying, right?
That’s like saying, “Yeah, I stole that car, but THAT dude mugged an old lady!”.
So far you’re in the lead for the Neener Neener Award.
I met a rather nice girl at a party in Dallas, Texas, some years ago.
She told me an interesting story.
She said she was running away from a bad situation up North and was starting her life over in Texas.
She said she had been having an affair since she was 12 years old with a Bishop of her church. The Bishop had made her a secretary in his office and kept her quiet by paying her apartment rent and car payments. The Bishop was married, so I assume the church was not Catholic.
She then went on to say that she found out the Bishop was also having affairs with two other women in the church and he was embezzling money from the church to keep all of these women quiet and comfortable.
She said she confronted the Bishop about the other women and the embezzling, and the Bishop told her that she had no idea what would happen to her if she talked to anyone. He told her that she was alive because he wanted her that way.
She said she was so frightened of the situation that she left everything behind and fled to Texas to stay with a distant relative so she could start over with her life.
She may have been making it all up. I suspect not.
I suspect not as well. Totally believable.
I truly think God will forgive me if I am a skeptic.
Anything’s possible. Santa forgave me for lighting a fire in the fireplace on Christmas Eve. I didn’t get turkey for breakfast (as planned), but I got a cool train set.
My parents did not celebrate Christmas in the traditional way with a Christmas tree and all the rest because they said Santa Claus was a fantasy.
Then they forced me to go to church on Sunday.
How ironic.
More important, did you get laid?
#1–dismal==well done, I liked what you said. Thoughtful. Independent. Then I read Tiger and Skeptic. Also well said, Thoughtful—only maybe a knee jerk response to your typical BS?==Ha, ha.
Well, now==what to think? ………….yeah…………I’m making it three to one. I’d be with you except the Church is out there every Sunday if not every day of the week pimping for holiness and the mother church. Seems to me that a truthful response every few months is warranted?
maybe you can save your post/idea by connecting the dots for me? What does Vang Gogh illustrate about institutional corruption?
“lies, corruption, abuse…”/// Looking around, I have to ask: What isn’t? Individuals are free from this I think. Get more than 2 or 3 acting in concert and all is subverted. Whats up wid dat?
Buddhists.
Bobbo, Re #14: “Also well said, Thoughtful—only maybe a knee jerk response to your typical BS?==Ha, ha”
I suspect that most praying in church is also a knee-jerk response. (badda boom)
I wouldn’t expect any progressive ideas from the “Church”, which only as recently as 1994, finally admitted that the Earth goes around the Sun !!! I have just resolved to keep myself and children AS FAR AWAY FROM RELIGIOUS FANATICS OF ALL STRIPES AS POSSIBLE !!!
From my experience, I would say you are on the right track. Good Luck with that.
Re: JimD
Yeah, it’s those striped ones that are really dangerous.
I fear those church ladies that have the fish symbol on their Hummer and the giant crucifix in jewels on the front of their purse.
Yep–local church on Sunday afternoon. Sent home with a note not to come back because I was too disruptive. What was I?–6 or 7? Very Young.
I still remember the issue too which is rare for me: “Where did all the water come from?” I can now only imagine the answers and what followed from that. God had to have created water from nothing to make it rain and come forth from the earth, and then make it all disappear. A real miracle==not freak weather conditions like the parting of the Red Sea.
But every single word is the unalterable truth directly from god. No allegories involved.
and if you do believe in the allegory spin==what then is god an allegory for?
Yes, its all a great mystery unless you see it for a lie. All the mystery goes……”poof!”
Yea…..verily!
Buddhism.
#17–Jim==I’ll recommend the OPPOSITE approach: teach your kiddies all about the religion. Otherwise they will grow up ignorant and more susceptible to its siren call. Religion appeals to something inherent within the human psyche. You have to build the walls, not hope you won’t run into the challenge.
How to teach your kiddies about religion gives you many options==but don’t avoid it. Time and place appropriate like everything else we do with our posterity.
Perhaps in a real sense you could just leave them alone to the vagaries of the world and simply give them your honest opinion when they bring Jebus or L Ron Hubarb home?
Or will you teach them Santy Claus and Tooth Fairy as a harmless child’s diversion? I think its harmless, but who really knows and aren’t we all a little bit different on such issues?
Any body Know????—I wonder how “dangerous” it is to let your kiddies go to Sunday School without warning or even with warnings? My parents sent me there as a kiddie until I got kicked out for asking too many questions. Why did they send me? Too late to ask them now. DARN===another good missed opportunity. I don’t remember a single conversation with Mom and Dad about religion. No==there is just one: Mom was adopted and raised by a Lutheran Minister and his equally religious but also long suffering wifey. Mom hated playing the violin at funerals and got married as soon as she could to get away from her father who was…………..wait for it……….lying, cheating, and corrupt====at checkers but who knows how far it went?
I remember Granpapa–he was grumpy and withdrawn. Probably reciting the mantra of the Lords Prayer? Worst dinner prayers—-ever!! comical now in memory. No wonder my father could never make it.
Ha, ha. Silly Hoomans. Broken Families.
Amen, Brother.
Bobbo, wait a gosh darn minute. YOU were kicked out of Catechism class as well? How did I miss that? We arepart of the 1%! Let’s occupy some religious street somewhere… ah, St. Peter’s Square!
I’m going to start begging for airfare today!
Occupy The Vatican.
Occupy the Thomas Jefferson Memorial.
Occupy the Pentagon.
Occupy the Media.
Occupy the law schools.
Occupy the universities.
Occupy the corporations.
Occupy Life.
Skeptic–somehow I posted my response at #34 above. No doubt==my fault.
should I post again at the end of this thread?
OH God Dvorak: take pity on your minions and fix this Blog!!!!!!!! Do it for the children!
I kind of figured that post #34 was for me.
Yeah, I was 6 years old too. If they have caught me earlier, the brainwashing might have worked. I shudder to think about it.
I remember that the nun was talking about Adam and Eve, and I started asking questions like, how do you know that’s what happened? Were Adam, and Eve apes? (I had a child’s book on natural science… the usual picture of an ape transitioning into an upright walking hooman.) I basically questioned the validity of the story. I also remember that the nun got very upset at me and said that If I didn’t believe the Bible I was an atheist. I asked what an atheist was and she said that they are people who don’t believe what is written in the Bible and they will go to Hell. Do you want to go to Hell Jimmy? I remember looking around the class, we were all sitting on the floor in a semi-circle. Everyone was staring at me with shocked looks. I felt embarrassed. By the time I got home from class they had called my mother and suggested that she wasn’t teaching me well enough at home. That ticked her off… she thought my questions were good ones. So I said I didn’t want to go back. That was the end of my religious indoctrination.
Hallelujah!
Here are 96 posters of his work you can buy. As political graffiti, the “Girl Searched by Soldier” and the “Girl with Balloons” are quite effective—assuming the right location.
http://allposters.com/gallery.asp?aid=1023741760&c=c&search=95313&DestType=12&Referrer=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.google.com%2Faclk%3Fsa%3Dl%26ai%3DC6qVXds_wTsWoE8WyiAL14pX2CYCw01Cmur-4GYakrcZDCAAQASC2VCgDUMb6lqX-&KWID=370433177&gclid=CJiglc-fka0CFQhbhwod0VOdlw&SEM=lang%3D1%26c%3Dc%26search%3D95313%26AID%3D1023741760%26KWID%3D370433177%26gclid%3DCJiglc-fka0CFQhbhwod0VOdlw
Your link is broken.
Its on http://allposters.com and you search, or==
google (banksy posters) and its the first link for me.
worth the look. Not “graffiti” as much as political/artistic.
I like the Stop and Search Girl poster.
I know somebody that would like to have one as a Christmas present.
Thanks for the tip.
The Fast Food Caveman poster will occupy my office.
“‘Cardinal Sin’ a new work by British artist Banksy”
How is this a “vandalized” sculpture? The artist created it, that way. It wasn’t named as any previously well know replica sculpture, that then had its features removed. And faux digital blurring tiles cemented in their place. It’s an ORIGINAL work, from this news account. So I can’t be labeled as “vandalized”. The base sculpture, what ever its source, does not have any rights to exist untampered with. Or should I say, “unmolested”.
Ironically, it’s now the main stream press that seems to be defending generic sculptures of priests, from being molested by activist artists. Where were these persons, when living breathing children, weren’t being equally defended against the abuses they faced? The Priesthood wasn’t the only ones keeping things secret. But now, let’s get all in a huff about the possible sacrilege of defaced saint statuary.