Pieta (Study) Sculpture by Paul Fryer

Purely as a sculpture = good/skilled etc
Content/subject = *yawn* booorinnng.

Echoes the sentiment that if Jesus had been around twenty years ago, people would be wearing electric chairs as pendants around their necks.

http://www.jesusneverexisted.com/

So is the artist trying to saying Jesus has already died for our sins once, but because we have become so corrupt he must do it again?

I'm guessing this sculpture is taking on an anti death penalty view.

if Jesus was around today, same Jesus, same accomplishmets, would we put him to death? I'm sure someone would find a reason to.

@mmmyep, Nah, he'd simply get his own reality show, which would only last for a half season before people got distracted by some celebrity scandal & move on.

Maybe the artist was just updating persecution. If he was persecuted in todays age, it wouldn't have been on a crucifix, it would have been in a gas chamber or electric chair. Or if your a still barbaric society, it would have been hanging like Saddam.

The artist simply thought, "How can I make money with a little controversy? They've already done a chocolate Jesus... I know! An electric chair!"

Good sculpture, good pose, but the "statement" lacks soul.

As we can see, it simply acts as a springboard for people to spout their own agendas.

Might this be a good pic for the caption game?

A meditation on the death penalty.

The Roman authorities, mighty superpower of the known world, were absolutely certain that Jesus was a threat to their arrangements and dominance. He was tried in their courts of law, found guilty, and sentenced to be executed.Without an established system of appeals, there was no reason to delay the sentence.

So Jesus was fastened to the wood contraption and killed.

Yes, if he was to be executed today, he would be strapped to a chair instead of to a cross.

How many people are executed today although innocent of any crime? And how many people are executed today for reasons that we are certain are valid but future opinion will consider barbaric.

I only hope that there is not an underground "Church of Saddam" growing in Iraq.

Not even controversial. If it makes me think anything it would be booooooring.

Every time I see Jesus' image used in some sort of "statement art," I'm always left with the same feeling. Here's an artist with a very cursory, and flawed, understanding of Jesus, his curriculum, and a mature Christians' regard for him. I think we see images of Jesus used too often to try and make some deep statement, clumsily attempting to borrow the dignity and import of Jesus. It's like a comedian who needs to swear constantly to get a reaction. What Magritte did with a pipe, what ter Borch did with satin, what de Kooning did with some yellow, this piece can't do with Jesus. It's college art.

Maybe Costanza thought he'd like a chair.

I'm amused and saddened by the way Europeans view capital punishment today, especially given their bloody history of executions and state-sponsored torture.

This is awesome, as far as art goes. Instead of forcing an explanation on us, it lets us form our own opinions, which vary depending on your beliefs. Cool.

Whereas "Piss Christ" was a deliberate statement regarding the human side of Jesus, this particular juxtaposition could mean many things. My first reaction was, ah- God is dead.

yes piss christ... That piece always made me feel warm and fuzzy inside... *shudders*

Tedious. Yet another "artist" "brave" enough to exploit Jesus as a subject. Thought-provoking it might be by depicting him in the modern execution technology, but Jesus is far, far too easy a target.
Try provoking some thought using Mohammed as your subject matter - oh brave and edgy artistes.

@bean

Could you expand on how you think us Europeans do view capital punishment these days, just out of interest?

i don't know... i'm always a fan of original art, and jesus has been around for what, 2000 years now? at first glimpse, the image is just another "whoa, jesus!" i'm almost neutral to the idea of this one.

Eh. It's somewhat interesting, but it just doesn't resonate with me at all.

Also, I'd be willing to bet that if Jesus were alive today, he'd either be a)a little-known hippy or b)a well-known philanthropist. To suggest he'd be persecuted and executed nowadays is to force an old situation and societal context on the new.

Apathy.

I will go out on a limb and say this represents apathy.

Art is subjective, sometimes you can make something out of nothing. Nothing out of something.

I'll throw a dart blindly and say this represents how people will use a once sacred image, make a controversial piece of artwork of a religion that in some practices states to not worship idols while some religions revere statues.

Up to modern time, the recent incarnations of Jesus and God are in parodies or to stir up those who either once believed or still believe.

Yet in mainstream, most feel more and more apathetic and numb. Both were once shock images that are now almost common to the point of "argumentum ad nauseam".

There is little respect and chivalry in the decadence of a prosperous country. Little can shock, most everything is just annoying.

"nothing is sacred"

going back to "religion is a lie", I will go to Pascal's wager, no matter how crazy it mat sound. If you are supposedly an unbeleiver, you go to hell, wheras if you do beleive, you go to heaven supposedly. You have nothing to lose if you do beleive, but for the former, everything. That is, if all this is true.

oh, and i agree with G

Yeah...the funny thing is I'm a practicing Catholic and sculptor. LOL!

His art has nothing to do with controversy or trying to make money. The idea is that Jesus was crazy and might have been a "good person" but he wasn't the son of god since god does not exist. Much like the Lenny Bruce comment noted regarding electric chairs. We associate criminals and lunatics with electric chairs today and they probably associated crucifying the same. We wouldn't wear an electric chair around our necks so why a cross.
By the way it isnt boring, it captivated you enough to write a comment on how boring it may be. Art is supposed to invoke a response whether positive or negative.

I think that he has done his job.

I think its very powerful. It makes me feel like Jesus is reminding us of the sanctity of life. That we are killing one of his own. Its a reminder of the brutality of capital punishment and how that has not changed.

And yes there is the question of could the same have happened to him in modern times. What if he was one of the the poor, uneducated, marginised men with no funds to pay for a decent attorney who are frequently convicted to die on little if any evidence.