The Virginia Museum of Contemporary Art (VAMOCA) is unveiling a show this coming weekend called “Turn the Page: The First 10 Years of Hi-Fructose.” Hi-Fructose is a San Francisco based magazine devoted to contemporary art. According to VAMOCA, the exhibition is scheduled to run from 22 May through 31 December.
Of issue is that the exhibition prominently features the image at the head of this article. The painting by Mark Ryden bears the title “Rosie’s Tea Party,” and laced throughout the picture are blasphemous references to the Catholic Church.
The little girl in the painting is wearing a cross around her neck and what appears to be a first Communion dress. She is sawing into a a ham that bears the inscription, “Mystici Corpis Christi,” which is Latin for “Mystical Body of Christ.” To her right is a bottle of red wine bearing an image of the Sacred Heart of Jesus, and to the right of the bottle is a demented looking bunny with red eyes pouring out a red liquid into a tea cup with the word “Sanguis Christi” (Latin for “Blood of Christ”) written on the saucer. An Abraham Lincoln doll has a smaller cup of red liquid before it, while assorted other meats are strewn about being eyed by a kitten and what seem to be two weasels or ferrets.
The offensive nature of this painting is clear on several levels. It mocks the Sacrament of Holy Communion, it mocks the Catholic belief in transubstantiation, and in fact, it mocks the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass.
But Ryden’s works have been fraught with controversy for over over 16 years. This painting from 1997 is titled, “Dead Characters.” At the bow of a boat filled with business mascots is our Lord Jesus Christ, indicating that Jesus is fictional, and by account of the name of the piece, a “dead character.”
This one also from 1997, bearing the title, “A Dog Named Jesus,” shows a little girl feeding a dog with a crown on it’s head, and a dog house with the cross on the top with INRI across the entry way. The meaning is clear, as is the mockery of Our Blessed Lord.
Many other images by Ryder are far too disturbing to reproduce here, but in 2006, Ryder conducted an interview with Hi-Fructose specifically about the painting featured in the VAMOCA exhibit, “Rosie’s Tea Party.” The article, titled, “Ring Around the Rosie,” includes the following exchange:
You poke fun of religion, replacing the stars of the Bible with Barbie and the KFC Colonel. Do you get harassed by orthodox religious stalwarts who lack a sense of humor?
I am really not poking fun at religion. I am just looking at it in different ways. Someone ought to poke fun at those Christians, though. They are the ones responsible for putting that evil clown in the white house.
What is being displayed by the Virginia Museum of Contemporary Art goes well beyond “poking fun.” It’s outright blasphemy and mockery of the Catholic faith, and it’s not something Catholics should tolerate, and it’s certainly not something Virginia taxpayers should be funding.
Contact the Virginia Museum of Contemporary Art and demand that the “Rosie’s Tea Party” be removed.
757-425-0000
[email protected]
I will be contacting the museum about this blasphemous exhibit but more importantly questioning my representatives in the Virginia General Assembly about their support of the Virginia Museum of Contemporary Art — and by proxy blasphemy of God — in the state budget. While I desire to follow Our Lord’s guidance, “Render to Caesar the things that are Caesars and to God the things that are God’s”, it is getting impossible to do that without offending my conscience: Caesar (our government) is using my money to usurp and degrade what belongs to God — the other side of my coin.
I just emailed them the following:
Mark Ryden and his blasphemous so-called ‘art’, “Rosie’s Tea Party” needs to be removed from this upcoming exhibit.
Orthodox Catholics are tired of taking it on the chin whenever it comes to ‘art’ that mocks and blasphemes Jesus Christ and the Catholic Church. If this exhibit blasphemed the rabbinate and its ‘holy book’ the Talmud, it wouldn’t make it’s way out of the ‘art’ studio, and if it did, it wouldn’t last 30 seconds out in the open.
In 2006, Mark Ryden was interviewed by Hi-Fructose about his little ‘art’ piece “Rosie’s Tea Party”. The article, titled, “Ring Around the Rosie” included the following exchange:
Question: “You poke fun of religion, replacing the stars of the Bible with Barbie and the KFC Colonel. Do you get harassed by orthodox religious stalwarts who lack a sense of humor?”
Answer: “I am really not poking fun at religion. I am just looking at it in different ways. Someone ought to poke fun at those Christians, though. They are the ones responsible for putting that evil clown in the White House.”
First, the question is disingenuous and demeaning of Catholics and Catholicism, because with Catholicism, there’d be no Bible and no “stars” of the Bible. And Mr. Ryden’s response is the height of dishonesty. I’m sure Mr. Ryden knows, and if he doesn’t, he should know, “those Christians” didn’t put “that evil clown” in the White House. The Supreme(ly stacked) Court did that.
Secondly, Mr. Ryden is correct. He isn’t “poking fun” at religion. He is denigrating, defaming and blaspheming Catholicism in particular. His other ‘art’ pieces are replete with anti-Catholic blasphemy as well. This isn’t ‘art’. It’s trash, and the Virginia Museum of Contemporary Art should be embarrassed by whoever on staff decided to include it in this exhibit. The Arts and Humanities Commission of the City of Virginia Beach should be embarrassed and all the other “supporters” of the museum should be embarrassed as well.
What is the e-mail address please? I will write. However, please realize that this kind of display offends more than just the Roman Catholic Church, but all Christians of any denomination. My husband is Minister of Word & Sacrament ordained clergy as a Rev. Dr. Thank you. We support your efforts. Our daughter teaches @ a Catholic private school.
I also emailed the VA Beach Arts and Humanities Commission, the VA Tourism Corporation, the National Endowment of the Arts, the Business Consortium for Arts Support, the Unites States Conference of Catholic Bishops, the Diocese of Richmond, the Catholic Virginian, various Catholic parishes in Virginia Beach, the VA Beach Hotel-Motel Association, Virginia Natural Gas, Acoustical Sheet metal, Rutter Mills Attorneys at Law, Tito’s Handmade Vodka, the PRA Group, the Virginian-Pilot, vbnightlife.com, Virginia is for Lovers media contacts, and the office of the Governor of Virginia,Terry McAuliffe.
Oh….so what.
What Mark Ryden has been doing for a very long time has become passe. His exquisite little paintings though beautifully executed, have been done to death by lots of contemporary artists– with a lot more wit and irony. He’s not SAYING much of anything with these things. There’s no real insight. He is a grown man selling sophomoric imagery to deep pocketed hipsters.
Ryden can’t grasp the spiritual principles he is mocking. The secular world will never get it. Jesus said as much. So…so what? Those principles are still true and eternal.
Shutting Ryden down is akin to threatening violence over a “Draw Muhammad”
contest. The best way to ‘fight” this kind of thing is to shrug it off. Or—-Turn the other cheek.
—-A practicing Catholic and art lover…
While I can agree we might just ignore it, I can’t agree that registering a complaint and ASKing it be taken down, is ANYwhere near ‘akin’ to threatening violence over the Mohammed drawings. As you recall there WAS actual violence over the Mohammed drawings, and there continues to be. Please don’t make an equivalence between the two-asking for a piece to be removed, and ‘threatening’ (and committing) violence.
I doubt poking such fun at Judaism would be a problem either. However, Islam is another matter entirely. This artist, wouldn’t be brave enough to, and the museum wouldn’t touch any such pieces with a 10 foot pole. The president & federal attorney general would speak out about it, as well, if you remember back to some years to a planed performance of Koran burning.
Just like the Mapplethorpe exhibition! Where’s Jesse Helms when you need him! Jesse Oh Jesse!
Well I hope this guy enjoys his one way ticket to the fiery place after he dies. God is not mocked
It is really sad that religious symbols are taken out of context. Art shouldn’t be blasphemous.
This painting is real
Your god is not
Be adults about it ffs
I called two people and left messages on their machines informing them of the blasphemous and offensive nature of the image, and demanded for the sake of all that are offended by this image that it be removed from the museum. I noted that “You wouldn’t expect the press to rail against Christianity without some sort of major protest, and it’s the same thing with this. You can’t just put up an offensive image like that- for many reasons. You’re teaching our children to disrespect first off, God, and his Body and Blood. This image is blasphemous, and on behalf of all my catholic friends I demand you remove it from your museum.
If He really has the ‘balls’ let’s see he do a painting mocking Mohammed and Islam