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An oil painting portraying Christ carrying the cross, with a cartoon face in the style of Looney Tunes, was taken down from an exhibit in Sydney after numerous complaints that it ridiculed Christianity.

“Jesus Speaks to the Daughters of Jerusalem” by artist Philjames.

48-year-old artist Phil James created the offending piece, titled Jesus Speaks to the Daughters of Jerusalem. It is a distortion of a traditional painting of the eighth Station of the Cross, a common Lenten devotional meditation on the Passion of Jesus Christ, focusing on this verse:

And there followed him a great multitude of people, and of women, who bewailed and lamented him. But Jesus turning to them, said: Daughters of Jerusalem, weep not over me; but weep for yourselves, and for your children… (Luke 23:27-28)

The Sydney Morning Herald‘s art critic James McDonald described Mr James as a “satirist” and “humourist”, who applies his silly treatment to “almost anything”, adding cartoonish characters to old paintings. The magazine Artist Profile stated:

“Rebel Scum” (2014), depicting the Virgin Mary with a ray gun and Star Wars’ rebel flight helmet may not suit everyone’s taste, but as Frost describes it, “this is where Philjames’s paintings find their true and most lasting effect – the apparently joking but deadly serious restaging of archetypes in a cartoonish setting”.

Public Outcry

The Mayor of Liverpool Council, Ned Mannoun, ordered the removal of the artwork from the Blake Prize exhibition at the Casula Powerhouse Arts Centre, after Catholic group Christian Lives Matter (CLM) waged an online campaign against it and was about to organise a few hundred people to protest in person. The piece was pulled two days before the two-month exhibition was due to end.

The Guardian reported:

“The biennial prize at the Liverpool city council gallery recognises contemporary artwork that explore spirituality and religion and draws artists from all beliefs and cultural backgrounds.”

Mayer Mannoun stated that there had been “many complaints from numerous residents who were disgusted and offended that Liverpool Council was displaying this artwork” and added,

“Liverpool is one of the most religious LGAs in Sydney… The Christian Messiah and the Muslim Messiah Jesus has no connection to the cartoon character Goofy. The right to free speech needs to be balanced with the right to practise your religion without fear, persecution or ridicule. Religious art should be respectful and unifying, not divisive and disrespectful.”

The Telegraph noted:

Liverpool covers a large, sprawling area of suburbs in south-western Sydney. It is an area of great cultural diversity, with migrants from Lebanon, Iraq, Vietnam, Fiji, India and many other countries. More than 40 per cent of the population was born outside Australia.

CLM founder Charlie Bakhos posted on Facebook:

“All glory to God,

Within hours of posting this rubbish art mocking Christianity.

Hundreds and hundreds of you uniting by commenting, emailing and calling respectfully, I’ve just gotten word that this shocking disrespectful art mocking Jesus Christ has finally been removed.

This (is) another attack on Christianity we have managed to put a stop to, thanks to everyone’s support.”

Let’s keep defending our faith respectfully, and we will get results as Jesus is on our side.

No faith, no religion, no race, no one should be mocked, full stop.”

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Image courtesy of Adobe.