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 Artist Sebastian Errazuriz says he wants "Christian Popsicles" to spark dialogue about fanaticism and violence.
May 17th, 2012
05:24 PM ET
Artist wants Jesus Popsicles to stand as statement on fanaticism, violenceBy Eliott C. McLaughlin, CNN (CNN)–Sebastian Errazuriz has used art to take on an array of issues: New York's death rate, the Occupy movement, military suicide, children with disabilities, the brutal reign of Chilean dictator Augusto Pinochet. Now, the Brooklyn-based artist is taking aim at what he sees as religious extremism. At a party this weekend celebrating New York Design Week, which begins today, the Chilean-born artist plans to hand out 100 "Christian Popsicles" made of "frozen holy wine transformed into the blood of Christ" and featuring a crucifix instead of the tongue depressor that typically hosts the frozen treats, he said. An image of Jesus Christ positioned traditionally on the cross is visible once the ice pop is consumed. As for the frozen wine, Errazuriz said, he concealed it in a cooler and took it into a church, where it was "inadvertently blessed by the priest while turning wine into the blood of Christ during the Eucharist." Errazuriz will hand out the wine creations on Saturday at Gallery R'Pure in Manhattan's Flatiron District before the "Love It or Leave it" exhibit. According to Gallery R'Pure, 10 artists are taking part in the exhibit, which asks attendees "to revisit the objects and symbols that have forged the American landscape through the eyes of their creators." CNN’s Belief Blog: The faith angles behind the biggest stories "Each piece is a personal interpretation of some aspect of American life, be it celebratory, critical or simply observational. The exhibition intends to question what the American life is, whether real or perceived," according to a news release from the gallery. Other installments include a briefcase used to address obesity in America, a white picket fence intended as a statement on the American Dream and a "MTA chair" representing the loss of New York's old wooden subway benches. While many of the pieces are provocative, none is quite so controversial as Jesus on a Popsicle stick. No stranger to controversy, Errazuriz said his intention isn't to upset people. "It's not that I purposely want to get in trouble. I just believe if you are not doing work that can make people stop, think and discuss, then it's better not to make any work at all," he said.  Once consumed, the Popsicle features Jesus positioned traditionally on the cross. Raised in a Catholic household, Errazuriz is now a "practicing atheist," but he has many friends and family members who are religious, and he respects their beliefs. He has always been vexed by religion, however, particularly the practitioners who wish to force their beliefs on others. "(I'm) more than happy to recommend that thinking for ourselves and questioning the realities we received from previous generations can be incredibly liberating," he said. Today, he feels that America is growing more extreme in its dogma, which is "holding a growing influence over American politics." He is especially unnerved by demands that U.S. leaders "publicly profess their faith in their god and enforce laws that defend the ideology of the Bible over individual liberties," he said. His frozen cocktails stand as a symbol, he said, an invitation to "drink the Kool-Aid" that he feels so many religious zealots are stirring up. He hopes the Popsicles will remind the gallery's visitors to take their religions - whatever they may be - a little less seriously. The United States is "rightly worried" about the threat of Islamic fanaticism, but Errazuriz wants to remind people that extremism is never acceptable, regardless of religion. "In the land of the free, it's everyone's responsibility to make sure no one will ever force their beliefs on to others," Errazuriz said. He pointed to the Ku Klux Klan, which decades ago was "a functioning, dominant political force in American society which identified (itself) as a Christian organization, carrying out ‘God’s work,’ branding the flaming cross as (its) symbol," he said. Errazuriz wants his "Christian Popsicles," which will be stained red by the wine after their consumption, to signify the relationship between fanaticism and historic religious violence. He also has hopes that the sticks "will prove Christians can take a little humor and irony - always a healthy indicator that might be harder to find amongst religious fanatics of other religions."
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MASSIVE
I think u r the only human who does not feel bad for doing wrong and good for doing well! Congrats u r a new species. got to go to work too!
Define "wrong." And don't use the bible for references. It's been proven to be a collection of fictional books.
See ya later, troll.
"It's been proven to be a collection of fictional books."
Really? Then cite some of the proof.
BALLS (evan massive) don't have brains. AND IT SHOWS !!!!! LOL
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r0xQcEH7Dqo&feature=related
He looks like his rehab is going very badly.
All the Prophets taught that Love is the fulfillment of the Law. Mercy is one of the workings of mercy! If gays and atheists only ask what the Bibles judgements on being gay are that is what will be given! Ask us about justice, mercy and love too.
Huh?
Have you even read the bible? Something tells me that you're just a well-vested troll that doesn't really believe in any of what you talk about.
The Myth of xtians hate gays!
The Law (Genesis-Deuteronomy) recommends the death penalty for a vast array of crimes n if implemented few wud be alive with a good criminal justice system!
At the same time it contains the two Love Commandments which point to mercy. We are all bound by sin.
Incorrect. I am not bound by "sin." I'm bound to my job so I can earn a paycheck to pay for a place to live and food. By all means, tell me what terrible sins and atrocities I've committed that justify an eternal residence in "hell."
How many children will Jesus choke to death with his Palito de la Muerte?
If you're curious to know what the bible says to do with children, here you go:
http://skepticsannotatedbible.com/says_about/pedophilia.html
If you swallow a popsicle stick, you will probably die whether it has a crossbar or not.
Try again, Massive (No)Balls, since none of those passages specify ages they prove nothing.
Cu nt blood frozen straight from your lords fat pus sy for your enjoyment.
I see the atheist hate community is alive and well lol. Everyone will have to answer for their actions in the end so feel free to believe whatever you want, just realize it's your decision and yours only. You can't hide your heart from God. May God have mercy on us all.
The Apostles' Creed 2011: (updated by yours truly and based on the studies of historians and theologians of the past 200 years)
Should I believe in a god whose existence cannot be proven
and said god if he/she/it exists resides in an unproven,
human-created, spirit state of bliss called heaven??
I believe there was a 1st century CE, Jewish, simple,
preacher-man who was conceived by a Jewish carpenter
named Joseph living in Nazareth and born of a young Jewish
girl named Mary. (Some say he was a mamzer.)
Jesus was summarily crucified for being a temple rabble-rouser by
the Roman troops in Jerusalem serving under Pontius Pilate,
He was buried in an unmarked grave and still lies
a-mouldering in the ground somewhere outside of
Jerusalem.
Said Jesus' story was embellished and "mythicized" by
many semi-fiction writers. A descent into Hell, a bodily resurrection
and ascension stories were promulgated to compete with the
Caesar myths. Said stories were so popular that they
grew into a religion known today as Catholicism/Christianity
and featuring dark-age, daily wine to blood and bread to body rituals
called the eucharistic sacrifice of the non-atoning Jesus.
Amen
(references used are available upon request)
Which god, weak sauce? There are a couple thousand to choose from.
1. You equate disagreeing with hate.
2. You disagree with atheism.
3. You are a hate-filled person.
Enjoy your tasty slice of hypocrite pie!
I see the extremist-fundamentalist fearmongering religious intolerance hate community is awake and well represented by "weaksauce" as well.
Disagreeing doesn't equal hate... but hate sure equals hate. You can't tell me that atheists posting here are just "disagreeing", not when there are comments about "religious extremist wackjobs" and wanting cardinals and the Pope to be dead.
Reality, Peter didn't believe either. He saw Jesus crucified and died. Even when John believed a miricle peter did not. Until he saw the risen Christ face to face. You will get that chance one day.
@Weak Sauce " Everyone will have to answer for their actions in the end so feel free to believe whatever you want,"
That statement makes me want to believe God is real, because he's got a lot to answer for. Unfortunately, that won't happen. The bible is NOT the proof, it is the claim. I don't have to prove God doesn't exist, because whatever can be accepted without evidence can be dismissed without evidence.
The Last Supper? It was not an historic event. See http://wiki.faithfutures.org/index.php/016_Supper_and_Eucharist
An excerpt:
"At the same time, (Professor) Luedemann concludes that the portrayal of Jesus celebrating such a ritual on the night before his death is not historical. He is clear that there is "no generic relationship" between any actual final meal and the Lord's Supper understood in cultic terms. He also denies the Passover character of the supper as a Markan creation. Like Meier (below), Luedemann does accept the saying (Mark 14:25) about drinking wine in the kingdom of God as authentic. He concludes: (this saying) "hardly came into being in the early community, for in it Jesus does not exercise any special function for believers at the festal meal in heaven which is imminent. Only Jesus' expectation of a the future kingdom of God stands at the centre, not Jesus as saviour, judge or intercessor."
Anyone else think the whole Christian idea of eating Jesus' flesh and drinking his blood is really fvcking weird and gothic?
Colin, this is not only weird, it is none Biblical just like so much of the Catholic dogma.
Ritualized cannibalism is actually pretty common in a lot of belief systems. (Christians hate it when you call it that)
The Catholic God does have an uncanny resemblance to Marilyn Manson's stage personna. The big difference is, of course, that Marilyn Manson actually exists, and he has never slaughtered most of the human race.
@Bo,
You are obviously mistaken. "This IS my body, which will be given for you; do this in memory of me." Many followers even left Christ when he preached on the subject because he stood his ground and did not digress from his own statements on the topic of the Eucharist.
@Proud Catholic –
"If you wake up tomorrow morning thinking that saying a few Latin words over your pancakes will turn them into the body of Elvis Presley you have lost your mind. But if you think more or less the same thing about a crac ker and the body of Jesus, you’re just a Catholic."
Sam Harris
Prayer changes things
Every child on Earth was born an atheist. It is thus quite healthy for children.
Prayer changes things, all right. Instead of doing something to improve your life, you sit and wait for divine influence. You've changed the lives of people you could be helping – changed them for the worse.
If prayer changes things, then you will stop posting. Plenty of us are praying that religious-extremist fundamentalist fearmonger wackjobs will all disappear.
prayer does change things, I would not be here if it did not. Back in 2004 my Mother had a dream that my sister come over to her house to give her the news that I had dies in a car crash and they could not get in touch with her.
In her dream my mother said if god can raise Lazarus from the dead he can bring my son back. After waking up my mother and sister both prayed together for my safety, and at the time I knew nothing about her dream.
A week after that dream I was on my way in to work and I was going around a curve when my front tire caught on the part were the gravel meets the raise of the road, which scared me so I pulled the wheel hard to the left and that is when I lost control and hit a telephone pole snapped it in half and flipped on to the roof of my car.
A few hours after the wreck when I was sitting in the hospital my mom tells me about the dream she had and how that just like in the dream my sister had to nock on the door and deliver the news, but this time I was alive
@Lovethyneighbor: While you were in the hospital, did you ever think about thanking the doctors who might have saved your life? Or would they only have been mentioned if things had not turned out as well?
gotta love the christians when it comes to marketing! if there is money to be made they are there in droves!!!! However, they do have some killer marketing skills...ever wonder why its always a christian bible in the hotel drawer?
Didn't get past the picture, did you?
Gotta love the idiotic theist who makes incorrect assumptions claiming to be sooooo smart. The maker of the popsicles is an atheist clown. Bet you feel du,b
Gotta Iove the idiotic theist who makes incorrect assumptions claiming to be sooooo smart. The maker of the popsicles is an atheist clown. Bet you feel dumb
Atheist*
Third time's the charm, Weak Sauce. Bet you feel dumb.
hippypoet is a blathering dolt. Pay it no attention.
of course i didn't read the sad space filler called an article by some less then intelligent folk but thats just me, i don't normally waste time even considering the idea of having a freeze pop on a cross stick – i lose space for my frozen treat with the unneeded wood in my mouth....but hey, i guess some people like that kinda thing! isn't that against the law...i mean if you also buy into that whole god thing? we all have to grow up and stop living as if the elves are watching us on santa's behalf from just out of sight! There is no great mystery to life but understanding how to co-exist in harmony...plain and simple. 🙂 thats some great wisdom for ya. 🙂
I am marketing a Jesus tampon. After using it, the woman can attach a cross bar and place it in a holder to stand on a mantel, coffee table, or shelf.
"........inadvertently blessed by the priest while turning wine into the blood of Christ during the Eucharist."
I've often wondered how that works. Is there a distance limit on the magic words that a priest utters? For instance, if a church were located near a liquor store, would the entire inventory of wine be turned into Christ's blood? Does just red wine get turned into holy blood, or does white wine work as well? How 'bout wine coolers? Is there someone out there that knows the technical aspects of turning wine into blood?
Excellent question, Woodie, and we at the Vatican have been carefully studying the matter of eucharistical ballistics for centuries now with all of the scientific precision you have come to expect from the Catholic Church. First we get good wine, not the really nasty stuff we give you, then we place it at various distances in various environments. Then we drink it, and eventually we analize the results when we regain consciousness and say our procelain prayers.
We continue to test rigorously, but initial results are that Eucharist sacraments are effective out to 750 meters with a carefully trained Eucharist-sniper-priest, though occasional we have been successful out to 1,100 meters, and Father Alfie Slurman holds the record of 1947 meters on a positively smashing case of Burgundy, uh, I mean Jesus blood.
As you can imagine, many of our priest-scientists must follow their service here with a stint at the Congregation of the Holy Office of Eucharist Rehab, but no turns will be left unstoned in the quest for truth!
^best response I have read today. 100 internets to, creative sir.
Thanks, guys! Gave me a great laugh before turning in for the night.
Thanks for clearing that up, "Congregation of the Holy Office , etc.". When one needs the facts, always go to the experts. What you're saying is, that in a theoretical best case scenario, the "magic words" range radius would be 1947 meters. That's absolutely astounding! How many wine drinking neighbors in the vicinity of the church are unknowingly drinking the blood of Christ? I'm sure this will probably upset the non-Catholic people in the area, especially the Jewish neighbors and Vegans. I'll not be surprised that when these facts become wide spread public knowledge, there will be an outcry for some sort of shielding around every Catholic Church.
(at the fancy French restaurant down the block from the church)
"And zis one 'ere, madame, eet ees a ver' nice 1957 Chateaubriand – 'ave a leetle taste? Sacrebleu, zat ees not wine – eet ees BLOOD! Zat dam' priest 'e did eet again!"
You know, if he hadn't have said anything about his thoughts behind it but just marketed them in the South, he would have made a fortune. They are totally conditioned to shell out cash at any mention of Jesus.
Actually, considering that you can buy a Jesus action figure, Jesus underwear, Jesus pajamas, and Jesus toilet seat covers, Jesus popsicles are pretty banal in the creativity department.
If you collect them all and wear them all do you become Jesus? lol
This is great you can lick Jesus.
Amen.
You're still licking a stick. Made of wood. The Jesus part is your mind wanting an attachment to your idol. Seek help for your delusions.
A better work of art would be if they slaughtered the pope and all the cardinals and made a waterfall of their blood cascading down the Spanish Steps.
That would be far too derivative of all the blood spilt by the Catholic clergy in the Inquisition and religious wars and colonization of South America. Art needs to be original, not just a copy like that.
Yall been zapped!
Yet another atheist promoting violence and the kiIling of certain Christians......what a surprise from the all knowing, logical, and oh so tolerant atheist community.
I don't know what is weirder, a popsicle that is supposedly Jesus' blood, of the fact that some priestly magic is supposed to turn wine into blood, and that millions actually believe it.
You obviously don't understand Christinanith, yet I'd bet youre the first one to talk about how you know so much more than Christians. Do you know what symbolic references are?
Christianity*
Not really his blood. It is blessed wine that represents his blood. The author and CNN knew that non christians would jump on that which is again why CNN puts out articles like this one. Viva la CNN, the anti christian/religion news.
Transubstantiation. Look it up.
Capitalism at its best......A full blog publicizing the dude's popsicles. When's the IPO?
Life is just so much easier when you don't bother to understand, isn't it Tony?
He's an artist, he's only making 100, and he's giving them away.
The vast vast majority of products pimped here are lame books by Christians.
What else is new? Just another one making a buck off of Jesus.
Amen.
What else is new? HeavenSent the troll pretending to be a believer continues stating the same things over and over and over. The obtuse comment that the artist is trying to make money after it has been clearly stated that it is not trying to make money demonstrates obvious troll behavior. In fact, you aren't even that good at trolling. You're pretty terrible, actually. You know, because of the obvious nature of the whole thing.
Don't agree with the thoughts behind it..but I can't deny that it's creative.
I WANT ONE!!!!