Ia Cthulhu, Full of Grace...
Saturday, March 29, 2008
This image is making the rounds online, and holds obvious relevance here. This twenty meter wide sculpture behind the current Pope, Benedict XVI, bears a bizarre resemblance to tentacles (among other things). Needless to say, it's easily one of the creepiest pieces of modern Catholic art, a worthy successor to a long line of ancient religious depictions bearing a dark edge.
Despite the sensationally outre appearance of this work, there is a much more mundane surface explanation from the artist. The piece is entitled "The Resurrection," and it can be visited at the Vatican's Paul VI Audience Hall. Still, the sculpture's facets are not totally removed from the weird, as (now deceased) designer Pericle Fazzini explained:
The Vatican commissioned Mr. Fazzini to provide a work for its modern auditorium. The result was ''The Resurrection,'' a statue depicting Jesus rising from a nuclear bomb crater.
''Suddenly there came to me the idea of Christ preaching peace for 2,000 years, and the place where He prayed for the last time: the olive grove of Gethsemane,'' said Mr. Fazzini in a book about the work. ''I had the idea of depicting Christ as if He were rising again from the explosion of this large olive grove, peaceful site of His last prayers. Christ rises from this crater torn open by a nuclear bomb; an atrocious explosion, a vortex of violence and energy.''
It's good to see Christ emerging from the swirling nuclear chaos of Azathoth, rather than joining it. Either that, or the Cult of Cthulhu has placed friends in very high places...
