KING OF JEWS, KING OF BEERS

From the Houston Chronicle:

For two weeks, on a billboard near downtown Houston, a radiant, blond Jesus hoisted a can of Budweiser.

"King of Jews," the text proclaimed. "King of Beers."

Clear Channel Outdoor, which owns the billboard at La Branch and Winbern, says the professional-looking ad wasn't paid for. Essentially, a company spokesman said, the billboard — like at least two others in the past two months — was hijacked.

And

The hijacking, a misdemeanor in Texas carrying up to six months jail time and a $2,000 fine, resembles the work of New Jersey-based artist Ron English, 46. And the billboard appeared around June 21 — the same day a show including English's work opened, about a block away, at The Station Museum of Contemporary Art.

English denied any direct connection to the Houston billboards and said he no longer posts illegal signs in Texas, where legal penalties are far stiffer than in the Northeast.

"Sometimes, when I do shows, kids will put up billboards in that city," he said. "I'm glad to see young people are doing it."

Click here for the rest.

Okay, you just gotta love the message here subverting not only pious attitudes about the Lord, but also going after the "demon rum" oriented Southern Baptists deep in the heart of a stronghold state like Texas, deep in the heart of Bush country. But that's only a small part of the subversion. This work of Real Art hits America's true religion, consumerism, right in the 'nads, while at the same time attacking the widespread Christian hypocrisy which has allowed many of the faithful to somehow ignore Jesus' example of life-without-posessions in order to be Consumerists and Christians at the same time. Man, the more I think about this, the more brilliant I think it is.

Heh. "King of Beers."


Photo courtesy of KTRK-TV

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