Red Hot Cain and Abel in Kansas City Show

KANSAS CITY STAR
By Alice Thorson

Cain y Abel al Rojo Vivo” (Red Hot Cain and Abel) (2008), by Victor Cartagena,
is part of his exhibit of monoprints at Cara and Cabezas Contemporary.

MISSOURI - A new show at Cara and Cabezas Contemporary gallery will pair monoprints by San Francisco-based Victor Cartagena with etchings by Kansas City artist Nicholas Naughton. Cartagena, a native of El Salvador, “makes a lot of installations that comment on war, violence and immigration,” says Cara Lewis, the gallery’s curator. “These prints kind of reference that, but they’re more like interior maps exploring the human condition with simple symbols and references.” The monoprints focus on heads and faces, rendered in profile and enhanced by elements of Chine colle. Leading Mexican American artist Enrique Chagoya characterized them as “a spiritual journey in search of identity.” [link]

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Memorial for Jonestown Mass-Suicide Erected After 32 Years

INTERNATIONAL BUSINESS TIMES

Friends and family members were encouraged to make crayon rubbings
of the Jonestown memorial plaque unveiled Sunday (Image Courtesy OaklandNorth)

CALIFORNIA - 32 years ago, 918 followers of Jim Jones died at Jonestown, the spiritual encampment established in the jungles of Guyana intended to be utopia. The victims were coerced by Jim Jones in the Peoples Temple to drink cyanide-laced koolaid as authorities closed in on his camp, resulting in one of the largest mass suicides in history. Red tape and conflicts among families over whether to include Jones' name on the memorial spanned 32 years until a resolution was made Thursday when an Alameda County Superior Court judge gave permission to proceed with the memorial, which includes Jones' name among the victims.[link]

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Travel to Where, My Jesus is Bigger Than Yours

HUFFINGTON POST
By Kevin Richberg

BRAZIL - The world is currently gripped in a struggle to see who has the biggest Jesus Christ. This "tourist envy" battle began in the late 1920s with this famous Art Deco Jesus featured in this postcard from The 30 Postcards Project. My prediction is that within the next two years someone, somewhere will build a larger Jesus. The tourist world's appetite for huge things will never be satiated. Build them and they will come! [link]

• The artistic and powerful Cristo Redentor (Christ the Redeemer) Statue on Corcovado Mountain in the Tijuca Forest National Park overlooking the entire city of Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. Cristo was unveiled in 1931 as the World's Largest Statue of Jesus Christ.
• Contemporary to Christ the Redeemer was Cristo del Otero, a statue in Palencia, Spain designed to be the largest in Europe (world) at the time but without the funding power of the Rio project.
• Fast forward to 1994 and you have Bolivia, Brazil's neighbor, getting in on the action. Bolivia goes for the gold by designing the Cristo de la Concordia, which becomes not only the largest statue of Jesus Christ in the world but also the largest statue of any kind in South America.
• By this time in history Protugal, Vietnam, East Timor, Peru, Colombia, France and Mexico all have built Jesus statues between 25 and 30 meters tall, just shy of Cristo in Rio.
• Enter the small town of Świebodzin, Poland on the border with Germany (population ~21,000). They revealed in November of last year the World's Largest Jesus, much to the dismay of folks in Brazil. 

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Graffiti: The Sacred Art of Brazil

THE STAR
By T. Selva

Holy symbols, including Lord Ganesha, are drawn on
walls and buildings to ward off the curse of the evil eye.

BRAZIL - Similar to how Hindus place symbols like the swastika at the main entrance of their houses to ward off the curse of the evil eye, Brazilians too have a way to protect themselves – using graffiti. Considered their sacred art, graffiti is found in every conceivable space in major cities. It is also a way to remove any negative appearance of a property. During my recent trip to São Paulo and Rio de Janeiro, I was amazed by the rich mystical culture and beliefs the Brazilians practised which bear similarities to Indian beliefs. Among the symbols on the walls and buildings were Lord Ganesha, the crucifix, dragon, snake, marine life, animals and holy signs. [link]

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