Sculpture of Obama as Jesus, campaign not a fan ‘of art that offends religious sensibilities’

[Skip Intro]

CHICAGO - He wears Jesus' robes and a neon blue halo, looks like Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama and is causing a stir at a Chicago art school. An undergraduate student's papier mache sculpture of Obama as a messianic figure — entitled "Blessing" — went on display Saturday at a downtown gallery run by the School of the Art Institute of Chicago.

By Monday, word of the piece had spread on political blogs, and the school had been flooded with calls.

David Cordero, 24, made the sculpture for his senior show after noticing all the attention Obama has received since he first hinted he may run for the presidency.

"All of this is a response to what I've been witnessing and hearing, this idea that Barack is sort of a potential savior that might come and absolve the country of all its sins," Cordero said. "In a lot of ways it's about caution in assigning all these inflated expectations on one individual, and expecting them to change something that many hands have shaped."

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/17927102/

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from last April - yep, somebody had the glasses way back then...

[nonconformist]

1. K & R. nt

[QC]

2. DON'T YOU PEOPLE DARE USE THE C-WORD!!!!! n/t

[sueragingroz]

21. cult :P

[smalll]

3. Take a rec. And thank God (the real one, not Obama) for young men like David Cordero.

I guess not all 24-year-olds and latte liberals (he's an art student, after all) have been swept up in the mania!

[frazzled]

9. Um, he's an Obama supporter

We happen to know the student who made this sculpture. And I was at the undergrad end-of-year gallery show at which it was displayed as his senior project. The kid knows how to get attention, too: he contacted all the local news media himself, and pretty soon it was on the national networks.

His point was to be realistic about what Obama can be. But he was in every way a supporter.

The faculty was not so impressed with his art work ... but very impressed with the way he was able to sell it to the media. (Undergrad art students are all in competition to see who can make the most controversial work; by the time they get to graduate school, that sort of dissipates.)

[mopinko]

12. i second this reply.

i went there. it is a place unto itself. controversy is oxygen.

[griffi94]

13. jmho

but if the artist is really an obama fan...well that's even more creepy than if he was just making a joke......

[Skip Intro]

15. "creepy" is being kind

[robbedvoter]

24. I got that he was a supporter. Like Joel Stein in LA Times & al who caution

the others not to go to far - only to get excommunicated on DU by those whom they are trying to reach. The lucid ones, getting drowned by the others.

[Change has come]

20. You sound like Pat Buchanan.

Nifty. :hi: Any other Democrats you want to slam?

[JVS]

26. Nice sig pic.

The peace dollar was a nice coin

[ClericJohnPreston]

4. Wasn't this

the inevitable outcome of Messianic type hysteria? Look at the "logic" of the Obamites in this forum, who jump over each other in ever ascending outrages of sense or sensibility.

They are now just opening threads ( thank goodness for limits )to recite nonsense statements like my five year old daughter. Even she is more level-headed than Gobama, yomama,fofama......

It's all just so sick and twisted, it is usurping Republican dirty politics. Until now, the Obamite with the sig line of Superman with his arms on his hips, COPIED consciously by Obama, was the most sickening manipulative use of imagery to date.

This one crosses the line into the absurd...

[ClericJohnPreston]

5. K&R

:kick: and recommended!

[theaxe7]

16. well said

[MagsDem]

29. LOL I know what you mean

Speaking of kids, I have a 15 yr old son, and I swear, I rarely talk politics with him unless he brings it up. And he was watching the debates with me, and the coverage after and he was like, "What the heck mom, he's NOT god! These people are insane. If you ask me he's a phony."

Full disclaimer, he DOES pay a lot of attention to politics (probably because I have dragged him to so many damn meeting), AND he was excited beyond belief that Hillary was running. I was an Edwards supporter, but I will never forget the day he found out she was running and came to me all excited and said, "Mom, we are FINALLY going to have a woman as president in this country." He just assumes that people will all vote for her because she is smart, and experienced, and a democrat. LOL!

[DemGa]

6. Interesting concept that has entered cultural thought

Quite a strange phenomenon we have going on here.

[smalll]

7. People, for your information: it is polite to "kick" a thread when you recommend it!

This should not be missed.

[alteredstate]

8. Gee, this is from April

and it was posted here 10 months ago!

[QC]

10. But...but...but...I thought the cult "meme" originated just last week

in Billary's underground lair!

Apparently some people were picking up on something really creepy last spring.

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11. and....

[TheDonkey]

14. but...but...but... I saw this on FOX business news! Murdoch is werning uz!

[gordianot]

17. After 8 years of Bush this is inevitable. It may take a messiah.

Whoever rescues the Nation and Constitution will be viewed as a saviour. That is if we are not too far gone and we can be rescued.

[Skip Intro]

18. Has Obama pledged to rescue our Consitution?

It's hard to tell with him - all I get is vague terms like hope and change you can believe in. That could mean anything to anyone. We all want change. But what change is he promising? What are we supposed to be hopeful about?

It's all like a seductive credit card commerical.

[gordianot]

23. I'm not sure anyone has made that promise.

I listened to Christopher Dodd (Democrat member of the Senatorial Majority Party) yesterday on CSPAN declaring himself as in the minority (FISA) and how someday his desire to restore the Constitution will become a majority view. Senator Dodd went on to say future generations will not judge us well (if scholarship is even allowed at some future date). Someday they will come for us and many will have regrets. Alas, we fall victim to the fate of all Republics.

It would not be wise of any candidate to point out the current state of the Constitution, you risk being ridiculed by the talking heads, or relegated to an empty Senate televised on CSPAN.

We are at the mercy of the executive branch from now on no matter who becomes President, and as long as they please the Corporate Masters. That is the Bush legacy.

[madrchsod]

19. not as controversial as some of the art

that has been displayed there...actually rather tame...

[wiggle-room]

22. scary as hell, tho.

[pepperbear]

25. with all due respect, we really don't need to see THIS image again, no matter...

...who the candidate is.

[jackson_dem]

27. Why do people keep seeing similarities between his "movement" and a cult?

Where do you smear artists get such an idea! :mad:

[NMMNG]

28. Backing away very slowly

:yoiks: