My prior Art posts can be found HERE.
How do we move away from being a civilization that produces art that causes comments like, “my five year old could make this,” back to being one that creates beauty and inspires deep questions? We must reject modernity and embrace tradition. To embrace tradition, we must first learn about it..
Let’s study art history together.
Christ of the Ozarks
| Location | Eureka Springs, Arkansas, United States |
|---|---|
| Coordinates |  36.409000°N 93.725268°W |
| Type | statue |
| Height | 20 metres (66 ft) |
| Completion date | 1966 |
| Dedicated to | Jesus Christ |
Out in the (relatively speaking) middle of nowhere, this statue of Jesus Christ stands as one of the most famous landmarks in the United States. Despite being colorless and minimalistic as to details, the installation is unmistakably intended to be an image of Christ. From finger tip to fingertip, the statue stretches 65 feet across and it is 66 feet high. Emmet Sullivan was the artist behind the statue. Sullivan’s best known work (he contributed, anyway) was the Mt. Rushmore monument to American Presidents.
However, this project is not without controversy – at least via association. Sullivan was commissioned to build the statue by a man named Gerald K. Smith, and Smith was – and is for anyone aware of his background – a very controversial figure due to his political and racial views.
For me, this raises some philosophical questions. How do we view art? Do the flaws and failings of the artist impact how we view the art? What about the flaws and failings of the person who commissioned the art? What about the flaws and failings of the people who view the art?
I don’t have any ready-made answers, but it’s worth considering. For example, as I keep up with the Diddy trial, and the celebrities who are implicated alongside him, I wonder which of the music and movies that I’ve enjoyed over the last three decades should elicit some self-reflection and how I will do that self-reflecting.
(More on the Christ of the Ozarks statue, via wiki)
Christ of the Ozarks statue is a monumental sculpture of Jesus located near Eureka Springs, Arkansas, atop Magnetic Mountain. It was erected in 1966 as a “Sacred Project” by populist and white supremacist Gerald L. K. Smith. The statue stands 65.5 feet (20.0 meters) high.
Background
During the Great Depression, Gerald L. K. Smith served as an organizer for Huey P. Long‘s Share Our Wealth movement and led it briefly following Long’s assassination in 1935. After many years of highly controversial, religiously charged activism that was primarily characterized by Holocaust denial, virulent racism, antisemitism, and pro-Nazi sympathies, Smith retired to Eureka Springs, Arkansas, where he bought and renovated an old mansion. On other parts of the estate property, he planned a religious theme park, which he called “Sacred Projects”. He commissioned the centerpiece, a gigantic statue of Jesus, completed in 1966. It is called Christ of the Ozarks.
He also completed a 4,100-seat amphitheater. This is the site of seasonal annual outdoor performances of The Great Passion Play. It is performed 3 nights a week from the last week of May through the end of October.
Design
The statue was primarily the work of Emmet Sullivan, who also worked on nearby Dinosaur World. He had assisted in the work at Mount Rushmore. The statue is modernistic and minimalistic; there is little facial detail or expression, and the lines and forms are generally simplified. The arms are outstretched straight, sixty five feet from the tip of one finger to another, suggesting the Crucifixion; however the cross is not depicted.
It sits on 320 tons of concrete and was designed to withstand winds of 500 miles an hour. The statue, which was completely built by hand out of steel and mortar, is also reinforced in a way to withstand the force of a passing tornado.
It has been nicknamed “Gumby Jesus” and “Our Milk Carton with Arms” by critics.
In popular culture
The Christ of the Ozarks is featured briefly in the 2005 movie Elizabethtown and in the 1988 movie Pass the Ammo. It is also featured during the intro theme to True Detective, Season 3, which was filmed in the Ozarks region of Arkansas. It is featured in a 2018 documentary The Gospel of Eureka. The art collective Indecline hung a banner on it in July 2021 that said “God Bless Abortions”; the banner was removed. It was also featured on The Daily Show in 2022 while discussing the topic of LGBT rights in Arkansas.
For a cool video with excellent drone footage, I recommend the following:
