What happened here? Did the artist run out of metal? Seriously. I’m sure this meant something to someone but it’s beyond me. It’s pretty tough to mess up a statue of one of the most beloved men of the century. I mean, people want to like it. Just make it look vaguely like him and people will like it.
The nice thing is that homeless people now have a spot to shield themselves from the rain. Of course, this will be a coveted spot by the homeless so there will probably be knife fights in John Paul II’s sternum area.
There’s seriously a lot of room in there. You could hold a Zoomba class in there pretty comfortably. Maybe they could rent out space.
SMH reports:
An enormous statue of John Paul II, unveiled in front of Rome’s central station just weeks after the former pontiff was put on the path to sainthood, has sparked controversy – with locals calling for it to go.
“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.
“I really don’t like it, it looks like a sentry box,” said a priest who had come to watch the unveiling on Wednesday.The five-metre-high bronze statue, designed by the Italian artist Oliviero Rainaldi, depicts John Paul II with his arms outstretched, reflecting the pope’s “message of welcome and openness towards others”.
I’m thinking people will come from far and wide to see this. But not for good reasons.
May 23, 2011 at 9:03 pm
You would think from looking at this menacing statue that JP2 left the Church a hollowed-out version of its former self. Let me pick a title for it. How about "Mysterium Iniquitatis?"
May 23, 2011 at 9:27 pm
Freakishly ugly!
May 23, 2011 at 9:27 pm
What exactly was the artist trying to convey?
May 23, 2011 at 9:33 pm
Interesting that the statue supposedly "depicts John Paul II with his arms outstretched…" I think the artist forgot to glue on the arms…
May 23, 2011 at 9:39 pm
The open body area is a little unnerving, it almost begs to have someone stand there…and the image that conveys isn't pleasant.
May 23, 2011 at 9:46 pm
"depicts John Paul II with his arms outstretched"
Really? I have seen several pictures of this statue, both here and on Father Z's blog, and I can't find any arms on the thing anywhere.
May 23, 2011 at 10:06 pm
"It's pretty tough to mess up a statue of one of the most beloved men of the century."
Tragically, it is all too easy to mess up a statue. What is really very, very difficult is making a good statue of JPII (or any other beloved figure for that matter). And that is why we see so little of it these days – it is just too much work.
May 23, 2011 at 10:18 pm
It does look like an open trench coat. Gross. What was the artist thinking – openess, transparency, the Church as one big tent?
May 23, 2011 at 10:49 pm
It's a metaphor for how the papal states will rise again and swallow Europe in their gaping maw.
Or maybe it's an attack? "John Paul, the empty suit?" Or an Elliot reference to hollow men?
Or maybe it's some weird phenomonology thing we just can't get 'cause we're too dumb……
May 23, 2011 at 11:09 pm
Wasn't JP2 called "the smiling Pope" once? This thing would give my kids nightmares.
May 23, 2011 at 11:50 pm
The statue resembles nothing human.
May 24, 2011 at 12:21 am
The freakish pinched face, the body devoid of texture, the empty shell (no soul)… display the artists contempt for the Church (or JP2 himself).
May 24, 2011 at 3:43 am
I do know something about art, and this isn't it. This obscenity is yet another con pulled by a fast-talking PhD candidate on a dim-witted committee whose members lacked enough self-confidence to look at the mess and dismiss it as the (feces) it is. Thus, it is the perfect accompaniment to happy-clappy Christian rock.
May 24, 2011 at 5:23 am
The whole point wasn't that the Pope was empty inside. He was full of the love of God that it poured out from him and into those whom he ministered to.
Get rid of that statue, and find an artist. No I mean a real artist. There used to be a lot of them in Rome.
May 24, 2011 at 6:49 am
Did anyone else think of Captain Pike when they saw this?
May 24, 2011 at 6:49 pm
Ol' JP looks like he's got a wicked hangover.
May 25, 2011 at 12:37 am
What the HELL?
May 26, 2011 at 8:15 pm
To end up as pissoir is the most likely destiny of the thing.
Until it gets melted of course; which, I think, will be rather soon.
Mundabor