Hey, welcome to my NEW BLOG. I’m not quite sure how to start this off, but that’s alright, because I doubt too many PEOPLE will ever see what’s written here. Even fewer will care, but I think it’ll be rather INTERESTING.
So, the purpose of this wonderful space is to document my thoughts on life. Just to introduce myself, (feel free to skip over to the next paragraph)I am a freshman at the Macaulay Honors College and among my friends, I am considered an absolute anomaly. Okay, boring stuff over.
Anyway, I was reading amNew York today and I came across an article about religious figures and modern art. For anyone who isn’t certain, amNew York is a free newspaper distributed throughout the five boroughs that make up New York City. The article, titled “Chocolate Jesus Returns,” was about several very controversial pieces of art and their critics, which tend to be pious and religious and etc. Of all of the sculptures and installations mentioned (and there were a few really interesting ones, like Andre Serrano’s Piss Christ, which was a photograph of an urine-filled jar with a figure of Christ inside), what really got me interested was Cosimo Cavallaro’s Chocolate Jesus. The next logical step would be chocolate Eucharist. Eucharist being the body of Christ, of course, so if the Child of the Virgin Conception is chocolate, so should be his body. Obviously, this is rather disrespectful to the Catholics and their eke, so I can see way Giuliani might have a slight hissy-fit over it. But it really brings up the nature of art and the question of what is art, which is something my class has been talking about lately. It all stems back to Marcel Duchamp’s infamous urinal.
Do note ‘R Mutt’ scribbled on the side.
Basically, Duchamp was questioning the nature of art and whether normal objects can become art just because it’s put on display. Fascinating subject really, but modern artists have pushed the envelope to the point where it become somewhat absurd. I have no problem with the Chocolate Jesus or Piss Jesus, because those are actually making statements. But art pieces such as the increasingly common blank canvas and other ordinary objects, like an ice cream scope, being put on display have become played out and cliché. Sometimes I wish people would come up with something more creative. (For the record, I’m talking about things solely in the realm of Modern Art. I’ve my issues with other artistic mediums and styles.) At least, Cavallaro thought of a new medium for an old subject. He embodies, or at least holds a candle to, the spirit that Duchamp invoked; he was looking at something people take for granted and forcing people to pay attention to it again. So more power to him and if does come out with chocolate Eucharist, I might actually be tempted to convert.
