Wednesday, May 25, 2011

Art for the Non-Stupid


So, everyone still seems pretty upset about this new JPII statue.

The Romans want to get rid of it:
"We don't want this statue, they have to get rid of it. It looks like a box and it's embarrassing us in front of the tourists," said an elderly woman quoted in Italy's Repubblica daily.

Mayor Gianni Alemano said [Termini train station] was "the best place for the statue, which will welcome and protect everyone".

"Homeless people will sleep in there in the winter: the welcoming sense is guaranteed," a protesting bystander told the Repubblica.


Now that everyone hates it so much the City officials are getting busy pointing fingers and saying, "Not my fault".
Rome’s superintendent for cultural heritage Umberto Broccoli has defended the city’s role in the commissioning process. He said that the scheme was endorsed by the Vatican authorities and the ministry of culture, both of which viewed computer-rendered images and photographs of the work in progress, and followed the project step by step.


Even the usually determinedly earnest CNS has had a bit of a laugh at its expense.

But I've really only got one thing to say.

The artist has a website. It was really easy to find out what his stuff is like.

Seriously, did anyone really think regular, non-stupid, non-trendy people wouldn't hate it?

Just ask the Tat Modern.



~

5 comments:

DK said...

Italy should sell it to Britain. It looks like Churchill.

DP said...

I was going to say the same thing--Churchill as a phone booth.

That said, I don't know why the Brits would be interested in buying the creepy thing. Besides, Churchill was already mangled in Graham Sutherland's official portrait while he was alive. Winnie had it burned. Why pile on with this?

DP said...

Correction: I meant Clemmie, not Winnie.

Sue Sims said...

Come on, folks: what do you expect from a guy called Broccoli? When he commissioned it (or possibly his committee, but it's the same difference), he was obviously trying to get back at the whole of mankind for giggling whenever his name was mentioned.

Dymphna said...

It looks like the stone idol from the Zardoz movie. It needs a Sean Connery in a loin cloth running around it.