Friday, July 24, 2009

Mary, Mary, quite contrary

Marcellus residents were amazed Friday morning to open their local fishwraps and find their little town in large letters. The Syracuse Post-Standard reported the whining of a local church (not affiliated with the Syracuse diocese) that a bit of Mexican folk art by Trumansburg artist Geri Keil was not to be tolerated and should be removed. Though the artist is purportedly merely commenting on the current nexus of religious and commercial interests in our southerly neighbor, the church, a St. Pias X community (or perhaps just Pepsi fanciers?) objects to the use of an icon in such a discussion. In an interesting turn of events, a statement by the board of trustees of the Marcellus Free Library said that most of the 78 people who signed the petition did not live in Marcellus and had not seen the piece.
As Oscar Wilde said, "There is only one thing worse than being talked about and that is NOT being talked about", so perhaps, this is an answer to a prayer by the struggling young artist.

3 comments:

kateo said...

If this person was a true artist, she wouldn't have to resort to objectionable material in order to be recognized. It's the oldest trick in the book, and shows that she has no morals for respecting other people's faith, but is just another self-serving person.

Anonymous said...

Context is content. Read the artist's thoughtful statement before jumping to a (piously self-serving judgmental) conclusion.

-21st century artist

kateo said...

You (anonymous) are obviously someone who accuses others of being judgmental when they don't agree with you. 'Open-minded' is another catch-all word used by those who attempt to make others somehow feel bad because they are calling a spade a spade. It's morally disrespectful to Catholics - that's the truth! And nothing you or anyone else says is going to change that.

Tell your friends!