Don’t call these Christians meek and mild!
Protesting artist Andres Serrano‘s “Piss Christ,” a photograph of a crucifix dipped in the artist’s urine and shown as part of a group exhibition titled “I Believe in Miracles,” angry Christians had a go at the work of art with hammers and screwdrivers at a museum in France over the weekend.
Writes the Guardian UK: Just after 11am on Sunday, four people in sunglasses entered the gallery where the exhibition was being held. One took a hammer from his sock and threatened security staff. A guard restrained one man, but the remaining members of the group managed to smash an acrylic screen and slash the photograph with what police believe was a screwdriver or ice pick. They then destroyed another photograph, of nuns’ hands in prayer.
“Piss Christ” is part of a series by Serrano showing religious objects submerged in fluid such as blood and milk. It was being shown in an exhibition to mark 10 years of the art dealer Yvon Lambert’s personal collection in his 18th-century mansion. The photograph caused consternation here in the U.S. in 1987 and was denounced by venomous racist hypocrite Jesse Helms. The work has been attacked physically in Australia.
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The attack and destruction of the work came two weeks after Gaugin’s “Two Tahitian Women” was targeted for destruction by a deranged homophobe at the National Gallery in Washington DC.
“I feel that Gaugin is evil,” the attacker said in a statement. “He has nudity and is bad for the children. He has two women in the painting and it’s very homosexual. I was trying to remove it. I think it should be burned. I am from the American CIA and I have a radio in my head. I am going to kill you.”
Prior to the attack on the Gaugin, Kathy Folden, a crowbar wielding Christian trucker and a rejected fiance destroyed Enrique Chegoya’s “The Misadventures of The Romantic Cannibals” at the Loveland Museum in 2010.
“Whereas, upon hearing about the crucifix soaking in urine,” explained Kathy in a statement after the work’s destruction, “I was utterly livid, upon hearing about Jesus in a dress, having breasts, and being serviced by a man with a big, ugly, red tongue, I was utterly calm and steadfast.”
Chegoya’s and Gaugin’s work can be seen after the break.
Above: “Immersion (Piss Christ” after it was attacked in France.
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“The Church” by Andres Serrano was also damaged in the exhibition.
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Catholic art lover and critic Sister Wendy on “Piss Christ.”
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Gaugin’s “Two Tahitian Women.”
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Enrique Chagoya’s “The Misadventures of the Romanic Cannibals.”
