Disturbing Art May Keep Christ from Becoming Kitsch

BRISBANE JOURNAL
By Andrew Taylor
Inspired by a childhood drawing ...
a scene from Warwick Thornton's 3D video artwork.
AUSTRALIA - Why can't artists leave Jesus alone? Especially when he's in agony and about to die from being nailed to a cross. The latest artistic crucifixion is by the indigenous filmmaker Warwick Thornton, who nails himself to a fluorescent cross floating above a desert landscape. ''I know Thornton's work and he sympathetically uses the symbolism to say something about Aboriginal identity,'' Dr Rod Pattenden, the chairman of the Blake Prize for religious art, said. ''I understand he identifies as a Christian.'' Pattenden said artists such as Serrano, Roberts and Thornton prevent the story of Christ becoming kitsch. ''Because I work in the church I know that images lose their effect and power when they become familiar.'' [link]

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