Tuesday, January 12, 2010

Huge Lenin-Mao Sculpture In Richmond Draws Controversy

The Lenin and Mao bust at the corner of Elmbridge and Alderbridge in Richmond, December 23, 2009.

Story here.

But it's NOT intended to glorify those evil monsters.
She said the artists have said they are thrilled the piece has got Richmond residents "standing around the water cooler ... talking about Lenin and Mao," which is what they wanted.

Fans of Chairman Mao the brothers Gao are not. Their father was killed during the Cultural Revolution. As if to prove their stance, the Gaos smashed one of their own Mao statues with mallets in a performance in Moscow last summer. Ms. Blume said the artists' Beijing studio is regularly raided by censorious Chinese authorities, and the men have been forced to exhibit their art "underground."

Richard Rhodes, editor of Canadian Art magazine, agreed that to his eyes, Miss Mao looks more like a dissident statement than an endorsement of communism.

"I haven't seen the sculpture, but from looking at the image of it, they've certainly set both figures in what we call in the art world a critical context. They're [provoking] a reinterpretation of meaning of these figures, and I certainly don't see anything pro-totalitarian," said Mr. Rhodes. He said Mao's balancing act could refer to contemporary China's difficulty of reconciling the late Chairman's communism with its present capitalist zeal.
At first glance I was appalled that a gigantic Lenin Bust was being erected in public.

But now I see that the purpose is actually to piss off the Chinese Communist Party.  What better way to do it than in Richmond, B.C., which has a huge population of Chinese immigrants, so that, no doubt, word about the sculpture will somehow get to the Commies, as well as to the People in China, who'll probably talk about it there and spread the word.  Every little bit matters.  Gotta take down the Commies bit by bit...

And I do "get" the message of the artwork.

Hmm.  Hey, y'know what'd be a great idea?  A massive sculpture of Mohammed wearing explosive panties...  What better way than that to get everybody talking about the message behind it?

8 comments:

John Paolozzi said...

If he's also giving Jesus a reach-around, I'll donate $20

John Paolozzi said...

I don't deny it. But how exactly is it okay to piss all over the holy man of one religion because of the actions of a few nuts, but not another?

Canadian Sentinel said...

Incredible. You actually believe the two are equal.

How ignorant, uninformed, arrogant.

John Paolozzi said...

Are you aware of what's going on in Uganda right now? A Christianist government has basically just made being gay a death sentence for hundreds of thousands of its citizens. If that isn't practicing in terror, than what is? Do you deny they're Christians, albeit crazy ones?

What were you saying about me being arrogant and ignorant again?

Canadian Sentinel said...

"Christianist government"?

I'm afraid someone lied to you, or that you received false information.

There is, by the Constitution, NO state religion in Uganda.

3. State religion. (Article7)
Uganda shall not have a State religion.
.

The latest:

http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601116&sid=anA5gaYkTzoE

The Kampala-based Daily Monitor newspaper reported today that the government may try to convince a member of parliament who is sponsoring the draft law to abandon it because of pressure from the international community. The report cited Aston Kajara, minister of state for investments. David Bahati, a Ugandan lawmaker, originally tabled the proposal in October.

“The truth of the matter is that there is no way government can withdraw that bill,” Buturo said in a phone interview today. “The matter is beyond our hands and we can’t interfere with the work of parliament.”

The original draft of the law proposed the death penalty and life imprisonment for gays, where Buturo has said homosexuality is considered “repugnant to the Ugandan culture.” The two punishments may be dropped in a refined version of the bill that was proposed last month in a bid to attract the support of religious leaders opposed to those penalties.


AND... religious leaders are OPPOSED to the penalties. The government also aims to try to get the proposing Member to abandon the bill.

NOW... what evidence do you have to back up your claim that the whole thing is "Christianist" and that the government is "Christianist"? You wouldn't be prejudiced against Christianity/Christians, would you? You aren't looking for a convenient excuse to blame something on Christianity/Christians, are you? You're not just a Christianophobe full of received prejudices, are you?

Canadian Sentinel said...

By the way, I was calling you ignorant because you assert that Mohammed and Jesus were equal, which couldn't be further from the truth and is completely absurd.

Also, it's completely absurd to equate Islam and Christianity. Anyone who'd do this is misinformed/prejudiced/lazy-minded. You don't want to be like that, I'm certain. You want to be evidence-oriented, open-minded, tolerant and fair, don't you?

You also want to be enlightened as to reality and truth? The way to achieve this is the hard way. It's no good to rely on your ears and believe just whatever you hear from the Left, which is dishonest and prejudiced and harbors a hateful agenda towards JudeoChristians, whilst refusing to acknowledge the frightening, concrete-evidence-supported, politically-incorrect, taboo truth about Islam.

Canadian Sentinel said...

Further, for the record, I don't agree with that Ugandan MP who brought forth that Private Member's Bill on the penalties.

I do NOT believe that homosexuals should be imprisoned or executed just because of their sexual choices, and I hope such penalties do NOT become law.

Bet you're surprised.

Now, what about the Islamist governments in the Islamic World who execute homosexuals according to Shariah Law, which Islamists in the Free World indubitably want to impose onto us in the long run, and are following a plan to eventually become the majority via rapid immigration and forcing enslaved Islamic women to be baby factories and take over the governments democratically so as to Islamize everything? Yes, those extremists ARE moving in that direction, because their faith tells them they must.

Not all Muslims in the Free World are like this, but there's definitely a LOT like this, and their numbers keep expanding rapidly.

John Paolozzi said...

Okay, no official state religion, in Uganda, just a significant number of crazy homophobic Christians who are elected members, and who may happily pass this bill. In fact the MP behind the bill, David Bahati is very clearly a Christian, and has links to US evangelical groups. Here's a link:

http://www.npr.org/templates/transcript/transcript.php?storyId=120746516

Do you deny this?

To be sure, many Christian organizations have condemned this bill, and rightly so. Doesn't change the fact that the people behind it, are in fact Christian.

Now, here's the thing... I'm not blaming anything on Christians as a group. My original point was to demonstrate that you had no problem insulting the religion of nearly one billion people because of the actions of a few, and so you should have no problem with me doing the same for Christians. Clearly you do, because you hate and fear Muslims as a group, and you demonstrate this through your blog.

Me, I don't hate anybody other than people who go through their lives acting like dicks.