Images of Jesus in Modern Art - Should it Be Censored?

Considered subversive - 'dangerous' art that is designed to shock and create controversy are routinely banned. Scandalous depictions of religious icons that are made to provoke a visceral reaction from viewers. Should they ever be exhibited? Where does one draw the line between bizarre works of art and tasteless idiocy?

A statue of Mickey Mouse Jesus and Vladimer Lenin angered Orthodox Russians and resulted in not only censorship but a possible sentence of up to three years in prison. The two curators Yuri Samodurov and Andrei Erofeev were fined $6,500 dollars or 200,000 rubles and did not get incarcerated.

MANUFACTURING DISCONTENT

The forbidden art exhibition in 2007 at the Sakharov Museum in Russia was, "closed a few days after it opened after a group of altar boys defaced many of the contemporary paintings."^[1] Samodurov and Erofeev were accused of not choosing art based on artistic merit but only for the "purposes of a stronger expression of negative emotional evaluations, intolerance towards citizens practicing Orthodox Christianity or claiming to belonging or preference for the Orthodox faith, for purposes of a directed, conscious and deliberate demonstration of works blasphemous in a religious sense."^[2]

Is Disney going to sue the artist who depicted Mickey Mouse in the middle holding hands with Lenin and Jesus on each side? Disney is famous for vigorous litigation on copyright infringement for any Disney character is vigorously pursued by that company. Perhaps the images of Lenin & Mickey Mouse have a special cultural meaning that cannot be understood easily by Americans.

There has been other religious iconic work that has been removed from exhibits, but the artists and curators were not legally charged. The Maori art image of Mary and Jesus with tattooed faces was taken down from a show. Tattooing is a deeply embedded cultural practice among the indigenous New Zealanders and the art was not meant to provoke or insult.

On the tiny island of Malta, south of Sicily, Aleksandar Stankovsk's artwork is banned. A protest group called the Front Against Censorship is staging a 'Funeral March of Art' because "State censorship creates a sense of fear, self-censorship, and takes away our civil liberties," FAC affirms. "We will NOT tolerate the death of artistic freedom!"^[3] During the renaissance, Michelangelo's ceiling fresco in the Sistine Chapel was censored by Biagio Da Cesana who found it disgusting to have shameful nude figures in the papal chapel.

NIPPLEGATE

Great historical classical art has been censored by embarrassed contemporary politicians. In 2002, Attorney General John Ashcroft ordered two statues in the Great Hall of the Department of Justice draped over in order to create "a nice background" said spokesman Shane Hix but it was because Ashcroft didn't want to be photographed with the topless 'Spirit of Justice' behind him.

In 2008, Italy's Prime minister, Silvio Berlusconi's press room with the painting by Giambattista Tiepolo called 'Truth' had the nipples air-brushed over which outraged Italian artists because he was tampering with truth in art. There is a recurrent theme of anti female nipples and censorship - even with Facebook who later apologized for removing pictures of breastfeeding.

According to snopes, the rumor is false that there is a 'Citizens Against Breast-feeding'. What is truly bizarre is the outrageous edict from a Egyptian Muslim clerk regarding breastfeeding to adult males in order for a female to be able to be in the same room without having to cover herself and commit the sin of 'khulwa' said by Al-Azhar and Dr. Attya - who later rescinded under pressure the fatwa because of public outrage. Now Dr. Attya says the exception of breast-feeding of a male adult was only given to Abu Huthayfa's wife. But in Saudi Arabia, as reported by Gulf News, Al Obeikan said, ""The man should take the milk, but not directly from the breast of the woman. He should drink it and then becomes a relative of the family, a fact that allows him to come in contact with the women without breaking Islam's rules about mixing."^[4]

Islamic art bans images of any people or animals except in arabesques, calligraphy of the Koran that have geometric symbolic shapes of a bird or piece of fruit much like the stylized Chinese Calligraphy artwork. It would be 'haraam', (forbidden by Islamic law), to dress a toddle in clothing sporting animals or people. The most famous case of censored art in media is the Danish cartoons depicting the Muslim prophet that sparked violent protests on a global scale and a blasphemy fatwa. Kurt Westergaard has so far survived two assassination attempts. The American cartoon series, 'South Park' was blacked out during the depiction of the Prophet Muhammad because the broadcasting network feared violent retaliation form Islamic zealots.

Art censorship in the US includes many record label cover art. The music group, the 'Dead Kennedys' Frankenchrist album faced charges of, "distributing harmful matter to minors but did not result in any convictions."^[5] The 1999 movie 'Dogma' which featured Buddy Jesus had a pre-episode statement because it angered American Catholics who protested its silly depiction of Jesus Christ. Since that time, Buddy Jesus has been an action figure, a bobble head, and has had several cameos appearances in other movies.

Some controversial religious art are by truly religious artists expressing their viewpoint and not merely satirizing. The front yard Christmas display of Jesus shooting Santa was a heartfelt protest against the commercialization of Christmas. Many found it complete tasteless, others funny, a few agreed with the protest display. A 10 year boy called Jackson Potts staged a photo called 'Station 7' that was banned from being displayed in Houston, Texas because it showed a police officer with a raised baton and a bleeding boy on the ground.

Has modern society become overly politically correct and turned into a nanny state that only can tolerate watered down expressions of passion? Tasteless to one is a political statement for others. Dadaist John Heartlfield protesting Hilter and Nazism, moved to England to continue his black and white photomontage in protest. In the fotomontage "Das ist das Heil, das sie bringen!", on the sidebar is a quote form the Nazi scientific journal praising the benefits of American carpet bombing on German cities because bombardment is stressful and those who are already unstable will show their inherent weakness and therefore making it easier to identify and take 'care' of them. The word 'care' is a euphemism for execution in the death camps.

[1] David Nowak, "Russian curators sentenced but not imprisoned" 07.12.2010
[2] GiF.Ru, "Russian art curators face another law-suit" 10.06.2008
[3] Malta Independent Online, "Funeral march in mourning of Maltese art" 07.12.2010
[4] Mumin Salih, 'Breast-Feeding a Man in Islam' 05.26.2009
[5] Wiki, "List of controversial album art" 07.08.2010

Images of Jesus with a gun are numerous. Are they humorous, political statements or blasphemy? The following links all involve Jesus holding a gun or rifle.

Jesus Rifle
Jesus Pistol
Jesus Machine Gun
Buddy Jesus with a Hand Gun
God & Guns Go Together
Jesus Bandito
Pistol Handle Jesus
Cartel Jesus
Chainsaw Jesus with Upraised Rifle
Jesus Praying with Rifle Slung Over Back
Cowboy Jesus with Rifle
RV Jesus with Handgun
Jesus on Rifle Butt
Jesus Playing Card with Rifle
Extreme Jesus
Angry Cartoon Jesus Shooting
Passion of the Ammo Jesus
Jesus Statue 2 Machine Guns
Gun Kata Jesus
Lawn Display Jesus Shoot Santa
Jesus Christ; In the Name of the Gun
Jesus Fires Up in the Air in Celebration
WWJK