Today, in a blatantly obvious attempt to be provocative, an artist in Los Angeles put a statue of Kanye West as Jesus on Hollywood Boulevard, just a block away from where the Oscars will take place on Sunday night. If this all sounds somewhat familiar to you, perhaps you're remembering when some L.A. street art depicting Kanye as "The New Messiah" surfaced a few years back.
However, unlike that portrayal, this project isn't an entirely positive depiction of Kanye (or at least the public's fixation on him). That is, if the statue's title "False Idol" is any indication.
The golden sculpture, above, shows Kanye as Jesus during the crucifixion, and it was constructed by an artist going by "Plastic Jesus," (here's his personal website). The L.A.-based street artist talked to The Hollywood Reporter, and told them that the statue is intended to symbolize Kanye's "recent fall from grace."
The statue is also meant to poke fun at how the media and public treat West. "The piece is as critical of us as consumers as it is of Kanye himself," Plastic Jesus told THR. "He's a genius at writing and producing but he's not a God, and that's where we put him. Until there's an issue in his life or a hiccup in his career, then we crucify him."
The artist referenced Kanye's recent controversial comments, as well as his hospitalization, as the basis for his public fall from grace. "We've seen it before with people like Britney Spears or Lindsay Lohan," he said. "The same people who put him into a God-like place are the same yapping at his heels for a piece of flesh when something happens."
Plastic Jesus says that he thinks highly of Kanye's music, as well as his creativity. The artist also said that he worked with Las Vegas-based artist Ginger on it. Ginger made the head of Kanye for this piece. And, if Ginger sounds familiar, it's probably because he's the same guy that made those naked Trump statues with the tiny dicks that showed up in several cities, including New York, Los Angeles and San Francisco, this past August.
As for what he wants people to come away with from his work, Plastic Jesus said "I would say the message is this: By all means, treat and respect these people are artists, but don't make them into gods—because we crucify our gods."
Previous works by Plastic Jesus include a giant Oscars statue snorting coke on all fours, a(nother) giant Oscar with a needle full of heroin in his arm (reportedly inspired by the death of Philip Seymour Hoffman), and some graffiti showing Lance Armstrong biking while attached to an IV.
