“Holy Virgin Mary”
The above image is a painting entitled “Holy Virgin Mary” and was painted by Chris Ofili. It was on display at the city-funded Brooklyn Museum of Art. It was the center of controversy in 1999 when both the Catholic Church and Mayor Rudy Giuliani. Spoke out against the museum and threatened to cut off funding. The church and mayor alleged that the painting was morally offensive and should not be displayed as artwork. The city did in fact cut off funding to the museum in the form of one month’s rent to prove that they were serious about the offensiveness of the painting. The museum then countersued claiming violation of the first amendment rights. They won the suit, and Giuliani and the city of New York were forced to resume the museum’s funding.
When first examining this “work of art”, I was unsure of what it even was. It looks to me like a bunch of dots surrounding a brown animal with complex shapes making up its body, and a knob on the chest part of its body. I was unaware that it was supposed to be of the Virgin Mary, but I couldn’t see it. She is covered in elephant dung, and sexually explicit cutouts make up her body (although I do not necessarily see either of these). Who would paint such an important religious icon in such an offensive way?
Upon further research of Chris Ofili I found out more of what the painting represented. What I had first thought to be “little dots” surrounding the woman are actually cutouts of female genitalia and other body parts. He paints in a loopy, cartoonish, semiabstract style – part decoration, part dream, and part parody. Ofili is in fact a serious painter, but he uses humor and satire in his paintings. Although he may have been trying to be slightly offensive with this painting, he is also trying to look at the Virgin Mary in a different way. He is showing Mary in a different light. She is almost always painted as a white woman, and he is trying to show her in a different light. Although this painting sparked a lot of controversy, it also got Ofili’s name out. It is still seen today and therefore surpassed all of the initial hatred that it received. Overall, I would consider this a work of art, although it is not one I would hang up in my house!
The above image is a painting entitled “Holy Virgin Mary” and was painted by Chris Ofili. It was on display at the city-funded Brooklyn Museum of Art. It was the center of controversy in 1999 when both the Catholic Church and Mayor Rudy Giuliani. Spoke out against the museum and threatened to cut off funding. The church and mayor alleged that the painting was morally offensive and should not be displayed as artwork. The city did in fact cut off funding to the museum in the form of one month’s rent to prove that they were serious about the offensiveness of the painting. The museum then countersued claiming violation of the first amendment rights. They won the suit, and Giuliani and the city of New York were forced to resume the museum’s funding.
When first examining this “work of art”, I was unsure of what it even was. It looks to me like a bunch of dots surrounding a brown animal with complex shapes making up its body, and a knob on the chest part of its body. I was unaware that it was supposed to be of the Virgin Mary, but I couldn’t see it. She is covered in elephant dung, and sexually explicit cutouts make up her body (although I do not necessarily see either of these). Who would paint such an important religious icon in such an offensive way?
Upon further research of Chris Ofili I found out more of what the painting represented. What I had first thought to be “little dots” surrounding the woman are actually cutouts of female genitalia and other body parts. He paints in a loopy, cartoonish, semiabstract style – part decoration, part dream, and part parody. Ofili is in fact a serious painter, but he uses humor and satire in his paintings. Although he may have been trying to be slightly offensive with this painting, he is also trying to look at the Virgin Mary in a different way. He is showing Mary in a different light. She is almost always painted as a white woman, and he is trying to show her in a different light. Although this painting sparked a lot of controversy, it also got Ofili’s name out. It is still seen today and therefore surpassed all of the initial hatred that it received. Overall, I would consider this a work of art, although it is not one I would hang up in my house!
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