Jerzy Kalina’s installation outside the National Museum, titled Poisoned Source, shows the Polish pope holding the meteorite high over a pool of red water representing blood.
A statement on
the museum’s website said: “In Kalina’s view, John Paul II is not a powerless
old man crushed by a meteorite, but a titan of superhuman strength.”
The installation
prompted swift online derision and criticism from art commentators on Thursday
who said it reflects the ultra-Catholic outlook of Poland’s populist
government.
One image shared
on social media transforms the statue into a depiction of a plane passenger
trying to put a suitcase into an overhead compartment, while another image showed
people fleeing the advance of a giant version of the statue.
The Italian
artist Maurizio Cattelan drew controversy in Poland for his wax
statue shown at the 1999 Venice Biennale depicting Pope John Paul II – then
living – being crushed by a meteor.
When the sculpture, titled La Nona Ora, was
exhibited at the Zacheta National Gallery of Art in Warsaw in 2000, two lawmakers tried to remove the
rock and stand the statue upright, according to media reports. The head of the
museum was forced to resign.
Kalina’s statue is intended to mark the 100th anniversary of
John Paul II’s birth.
The museum said:
“The artist himself perceives the pope as a man who played a decisive role in
the recent history of Poland and Europe and set in motion a process
of historical, social and spiritual transformation.”
While he is also
still widely revered in Poland for his role in helping to inspire the
anti-communist movement, the pope’s handling of sexual abuse scandals in the
Catholic church has increasingly come under scrutiny.
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