Photo by Jordan Riefe
In 2013, Kanye West rapped about talking to Jesus on his divisive album, Yeezus. He subsequently brought a Jesus look-alike onstage while he performed “Jesus Walks” on the Yeezus tour. Now, he’s been immortalized as a giant gold Jesus sculpture.
Entitled “False Idol,” the piece was unveiled Wednesday on the corner of Los Angeles’ Hollywood Boulevard and La Brea Avenue. It casts West as Jesus during the crucifixion, with a wreath on his head and a nail hammered into each hand. Ironically, the sculpture appears to be wearing a Jesus piece chain around its neck.
The appropriately named Plastic Jesus, a LA-based street artist who created the sculpture, told The Hollywood Reporter that the statue represents West’s recent fall from grace. In the past several months, the Chicago rapper-producer has made controversial statements supporting now President Donald Trump, been hospitalized after a mental breakdown, and drawn yet further criticism for meeting with Trump.
“He’s a genius at writing and producing but he’s not a God, and that’s where we put him,” Plastic Jesus explained. “Until there’s an issue in his life or a hiccup in his career, then we crucify him. We’ve seen it before with people like Britney Spears or Lindsay Lohan. The same people who put him into a God-like place are the same yapping at his heels for a piece of flesh when something happens.”
Plastic Jesus previously made headlines for a sculpture he created around the 2015 Academy Awards in which a life-size Oscar statue is depicted snorting cocaine all fours. He also designed a statue with a heroin needle in its arm inspired by Philip Seymour Hoffman’s death and a graffiti piece featuring Lance Armstrong cycling while attached to an IV bag.
Las Vegas-based artist Ginger create the head for “False Idol” piece. You probably know him as the guy behind the giant naked Donald Trump statues that appeared in Seattle, New York, San Francisco, Cleveland and L.A. back in August.
