Vatican Nativity Display

2,160 Views | 22 Replies | Last: 3 yr ago by PabloSerna
UTExan
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Quote:

Weaponized Ugliness

Titled "Monumental Nativity", this Nativity scene was originally created between 1965 and 1975 by students and teachers from the FA Grue Art School in Castelli, Italy. The original work contained over 50 pieces, but only a few were selected for the Vatican's Nativity scene and they chose an executioner wearing a horned mask.
"Monumental Nativity" is said to be a tribute to the world-renowned ceramic works of the Abruzzo region while giving a post-modern twist to the classic Nativity scene.
Speaking with a local newspaper, Italian art historian Andrea Cionci asked if it was a "nightmare or a masterpiece".
Quote:

"Forget the sweet face of the Madonna, the tender, luminous incarnation of the Child Jesus, the paternal sweetness of St. Joseph and the devout wonder of the shepherds. For the first time in the middle of Bernini's colonnade, the Vatican has erected a brutally postmodern work dating back to the sixties.

https://vigilantcitizen.com/sinistersites/the-occult-symbolism-of-the-vaticans-2020-nativity-scene/


And there is this:

Quote:

The Vatican's nativity scene in St. Peter's Square is always one of Rome's biggest tourist attractions. But in keeping with the worst trends of 2020, this year's nativity scene is being mocked, belittled and roundly panned.

The primary sin, it appears, is that the scene features an astronaut.

"The Christmas presepio in St. Peter's Square contains 20 modernistic ceramic objects, including the main figures in the story of the Nativity but with toy-like faces alongside the presence of an astronaut and a morbid, satanic-looking executioner but no manger," complained the National Catholic Register.

"Vatican 'Darth Vader' nativity scene gets earthly thumbs down," dismissed Reuters. "It is absolutely terrifying," tweeted Tim Stanley, a contributor to the Daily Telegraph and Catholic Herald.


https://www.forbes.com/sites/suzannerowankelleher/2020/12/15/why-there-is-an-astronaut-in-the-vaticans-nativity-scene-this-year/?sh=618c8e3c4311

An astronaut? Well, we know that the Vatican awaits their "space brothers" and their longtime interest in ETs is well-documented.
It is better to light a flamethrower than to curse the darkness- Sir Terence Pratchett
“ III stooges si viveret et nos omnes ad quos etiam probabile est mittent custard pies”
amercer
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AG
schmendeler
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AG
it seems to be people that dislike the way it looks trying to come up with non-subjective reasons to say that it's bad.
UTExan
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schmendeler said:

it seems to be people that dislike the way it looks trying to come up with non-subjective reasons to say that it's bad.
Well, I guess there is this theory that art should uplift and inspire...
It is better to light a flamethrower than to curse the darkness- Sir Terence Pratchett
“ III stooges si viveret et nos omnes ad quos etiam probabile est mittent custard pies”
schmendeler
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UTExan said:

schmendeler said:

it seems to be people that dislike the way it looks trying to come up with non-subjective reasons to say that it's bad.
Well, I guess there is this theory that art should uplift and inspire...
1. that's not all art is supposed to do.
2. can you speak for everyone that this nativity scene doesn't uplift or inspire them?
Star Wars Memes Only
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UTExan said:

Quote:

'Darth Vader' nativity scene


UTExan
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schmendeler said:

UTExan said:

schmendeler said:

it seems to be people that dislike the way it looks trying to come up with non-subjective reasons to say that it's bad.
Well, I guess there is this theory that art should uplift and inspire...
1. that's not all art is supposed to do.
2. can you speak for everyone that this nativity scene doesn't uplift or inspire them?


Call me crazy. I am certain it inspires the Deconstructionists of the world.
It is better to light a flamethrower than to curse the darkness- Sir Terence Pratchett
“ III stooges si viveret et nos omnes ad quos etiam probabile est mittent custard pies”
chimpanzee
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Well, the Pope is in favor of making messes, up to and including taking the junk out of the attic and throwing in into the Piazza, apparently
RAB91
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schmendeler said:

UTExan said:

schmendeler said:

it seems to be people that dislike the way it looks trying to come up with non-subjective reasons to say that it's bad.
Well, I guess there is this theory that art should uplift and inspire...
1. that's not all art is supposed to do.
2. can you speak for everyone that this nativity scene doesn't uplift or inspire them?
You're trying too hard. That nativity scene looks like something a depressed teenager did. There's nothing inspiring about it at all.
PabloSerna
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Speaking as an artist... art matters and can stir the pot from time to time. I think we have plenty of beautiful Madonna with Baby Jesus - nothing wrong with shaking it up. Made me go and Google it!!



Saint Pablo
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I'm fine with shaking it up a bit, but man this is stupid...
chimpanzee
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This is the Pontiac Aztek of nativity scenes.

Beer Baron
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Great description. I don't get the outcry though. There's been ugly art for as long as there's been art.
schmendeler
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chimpanzee said:

This is the Pontiac Aztek of nativity scenes.


Lol and yet people bought those, too!
chimpanzee
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Beer Baron said:

Great description. I don't get the outcry though. There's been ugly art for as long as there's been art.
Well, don't count my complaints as any kind of outcry. It's worth a chuckle, which is more than I got out of the Vatican nativity scene in prior years.

bmks270
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Why a nativity would have a space man and an executioner is beyond me.

It's more modern art and less nativity.

It's not that the pieces may be ugly or strange looking, it's that some of the pieces shouldn't be there to begin with.
PabloSerna
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...." if this year's minimalist nativity scene is not your cup of tea, there's a more traditional creche with moving figures in the basilica's baptistery chapel. Painted angels hover above the scene's wooden manger, and there is a long row of kneelers for those who wish to pray for a better 2021."



+++


Hey art noobies... go visit a museum from time to time. It's OK, God gave artist a wonderful heart and a critical role in our world.

I am also of the belief that artist are in some ways modern day prophets. Take Salvador Dali for example. A sandwich short of a picnic as the saying goes - he was one of a kind. Dali was always interested in religion and science. He was a master technician with oil and paint brushes at an early age - so he was not going to live his life out painting like Rafael. That would be too boring and a waste of his God given talent. Instead, he dabbled in visionary works like Vision of the Atomic Age (1948) or his more famous The Persistence of Memory (1931). Here is a link to an interview with Mike Wallace if you want to know more about a true genius.

The point being that, it would seem that some folks think that art is only useful if pleases the eye and fits within a box of what many can agree is "beauty". I would argue that, authentic art, is much deeper than a beautiful surface. That "true art" stirs the imagination and can be confrontational - where words fail, art can move us.
Saint Pablo
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Astro wiseman and peg Jesus neither stir my imagination or are beautiful. But to each their own I suppose.
94chem
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schmendeler said:

chimpanzee said:

This is the Pontiac Aztek of nativity scenes.


Lol and yet people bought those, too!
To be fair, it was the first cross-over out there. And it made it easier to keep track of Walter White during the first 4 seasons of Breaking Bad.
kurt vonnegut
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it looks a little less weird during the day


the nighttime scene made me immediately think of Frankenstein.
Saint Pablo
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Not much
Buck Turgidson
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Just call it what it is: disrespectful trash created by people who are likely non-believers. There is no reverence in that junk pile.
Duncan Idaho
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kurt vonnegut said:

it looks a little less weird during the day


the nighttime scene made me immediately think of Frankenstein.

That is pretty cool. Id put that in my front yard
PabloSerna
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Buck Turgidson said:

Just call it what it is: disrespectful trash created by people who are likely non-believers. There is no reverence in that junk pile.

Because you brought it up.. It occurred to me what if they are believers? What if in their own way they wanted to honor God through their work? Do you think God cares if many of us cannot see any artistic merit in this work? Maybe, God is pleased and can appreciate this work in a way we cannot?

My kids love to draw. It runs in the family. I still have very crude drawings they gave to me for Father's Day. Artistically, there are some issues, let's just say. However, for me, it means a lot and that is what is beautiful.

Read a little bit about the origins of that particular piece - especially the reference to the time period it was done (1960's). I don't see junk.

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