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Artist crucifies ape and electrocutes Jesus
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There's a new cross on display at the old Holy Trinity Church at Marylebone in the heart of London, but the figure dangling from it isn't Jesus; it's a gorilla. Actually, it's a wax sculpture; one of 60 pieces in an exhibit called The Age of the Marvelous. And the church isn't a church either; at least, not any more. Built in 1825, the former Holy Trinity Church is now One Marylebone, a conference center catering to meetings, events and exhibits, large and small.The very life-like gorilla on a cross was created by artist Paul Fryer with the help of a former Madame Tussauds waxworks expert. The piece is entitled The Privilege of Dominion and is intended to highlight the plight of the Western Lowland Gorilla as well as to challenge the idea that animals have no souls. The artist insists that he didn't intend to offend Christians.
"I do go to church and regard myself as a Christian, though I'm probably a heretic," Fryer said in an interview reported by the London Evening Standard. "I just hope people understand the spirit of it is intended to create discourse and make people think rather than offend anybody."The artist also defended his other work in the exhibit, a Pieta-like sculpture of an electrocuted black Jesus, by saying it was intended to challenge people's notions of race and religion.
"If they had had the chair in Christ's time, people would be wearing little electric chairs now," Fryer said.
The works of fifteen other artists, including a "floating", life-like head of John the Baptist by Martin Sexton and a woman riding a walrus by Keith Tyson, are also in the exhibit.
The Age of the Marvelous will be on display at One Marylebone (né the Holy Trinity Church) in London, from Oct. 14th to October 22nd.
Photo Credit:
1) The Privilege of Dominion (photo from the London Evening Standard)
2) Black Jesus being electrocuted (Paul Fryer)
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