The artist is careful to specify that any changes ''will be minimal. The statue is not being redone.''
Posted on 08/30/2011 9:36:19 PM PDT by bronxville
Controversial John Paul statue looks set for makeover Artist ready to make some alterations 29 August, 16:02
(ANSA) - Rome, August 29 - A statue of the late Pope John Paul II at Rome's main train station looks set to be modified after causing a wave of disapproval.
Its author, Italian sculptor and Pontifical Culture Commission member Oliviero Rainaldi, said he is willing to make small alterations to the statue's head and neck, amid reports that a city commission wants a makeover. Rising in the middle of a flowerbed outside the Termini station, the five-metre bronze monument, which has now oxidized into a green hue, was unveiled on May 18, on what would have been the late pope's 91st birthday. It is an abstract rendering of a disembodied Pope with a minimalist cloak billowing out, symbolizing the beloved late pope's all-embracing nature.
Openly criticized across the political spectrum, on social networks and by commuters, the statue has also brought dim views from the Vatican's daily newspaper itself. L'Osservatore Romano said it ''resembles a sentry box'' and that its head is ''excessively spherical''. The city commission has listed several points it sees in need of intervention. Among them are the statue's face, the head's welding and inclination, the arm, the cloak, and the shoulder.
The artist is careful to specify that any changes ''will be minimal. The statue is not being redone.'' ''Substituting the statue would have been too drastic,'' said Culture Undersecretary Francesco Giro, who praised the artist's ''generosity'' in allowing his work to be altered. Some critics called for the statue to be removed, or at the very least to be repositioned so it does not turn its back on people arriving in Rome by train. Rainaldi told Italian media that people had ''misunderstood'' his concept.
''I wasn't thinking of getting a resemblance but a work that could synthesize, in the posture of the head and body and the draping of the cloak, the way the pope went out into the world,'' Rainaldi said.
Some Romans and tourists think the giant artwork looks more like Fascist dictator Benito Mussolini.
''That bullet-like head on top, it reminds me of Mussolini,'' said Enrico, a 42-year-old computer programmer who commutes from Latina south of Rome...
READ MORE: http://www.ansa.it/web/notizie/rubriche/english/2011/08/29/visualizza_new.html_730664303.html
The artist is careful to specify that any changes ''will be minimal. The statue is not being redone.''
Not a very flattering design at all.
If one set out to create the worlds ugliest statue they couldn't beat this one.
No naughty activities will take place in that great big hollow space at night, I’m just SURE of it.
In other words, despite robust denials all around, the statue WILL be redone at least from the shoulders up.
I bet the sculptor is a commie whose graceless "workers'-of-the-world-unite" style is better suited for Red Square.
Leni
Marlon Brando as Jor-El and Col Kurtz at the same time.
Freegards
Geez, the statue’s head looks like Jabba the Hut.
He’s just a very poor sculptor with no clue how to represent the human body. Out!
I absolutely detest “art” like this. This is “art” the same way Rosanne Barr’s mutilation of the national anthem was “music”.
I wouldn’t trust this “artist” with finger-paint.
The artist belongs to the Commission for Cultural Patrimony. This Commission maintains contacts with international organizations such as the European Union, the Council of Europe, UNESCO, the Central Institute for Restoration, and the Central Institute for Cataloging and Documentation. The president and secretary of the commission participate in congresses and meetings on issues concerning ecclesiastical cultural goods and in celebrations commemorating artistic monuments. The Silvana Paolini Angelucci Foundation donated the statue is also dedicated to humanitarian efforts.
The socalled artist has a collection called malebolge. His works are on the net – a second brings them up. I won’t be posting them. Nothing concrete thusfar but it sure looks suspicious. I’m willing to bet that this artist and/or the director from the Silvana Paolini Angelucci is/are homosexuals. Blessed Pope John Paul II was always a homosexual target – as are all the Popes for that matter.
87% of Italians, used to the beauty surrounding them, abhor the statue and think it looks like Benito. They want it removed but it doesn’t appear to be happening. It’s obvious that the EU et al want it exactly as depicted, i.e., the Pope as Mussolini - the dictator.
This fits my definition of “not art”.
That definition being, if it looks like I could have done a better job, its not art.
Where does the EU come into this? Sounds like the statue was commissioned by the Vatican. (Strangely, other than this article, google turns up no hits for "Pontifical Culture Commission" - but a "Pontifical Council for Culture" does exist. Just a mix-up by the author?)
Here is what John Paul II's statue should look like.
Or even this one........
Comissioned, no. Approved, yes. From an earlier thread:
"The statue, paid for by a foundation at no cost to the city of Rome....The city noted that Vatican culture officials had seen a sketch of the work and approved it. Vatican spokesman, the Rev. Federico Lombardi, confirmed that the sketch "received a positive opinion by the culture commission" of the Holy See."
-- Pope John Paul II or Mussolini? Statue sparks uproar [Pope given "the head of a Fascist"]
For the record before someone comes along and dumps blasphemous keywords on this thread:
**KEYWORDS: popejohnpaulii; Click to Add Keyword**
It looks like Young Frankenstein shoved into a busted soda can.
Thank you for your clarifying remarks.
It was approved but apparently the sketch that was approved wasn’t like the end-product. I still think there;s something stinks - the truth willout as it mostly does.
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