(The opinions expressed by contributors are their own and do not necessarily represent the views of RedState.com.)
If you didn’t think the recent unveiling of a new Martin Luther King Jr. statue was bad enough, New York City and artist Shahzia Sikander bring you a golden statue that looks like Medusa wearing a Ruth Bader Ginsburg-style collar and sporting multiple stringy reptilian arms and horns on its head.
The statue stands (wholly inappropriately) near likenesses of Moses, Confucius, and Zoroaster at the Beaux-Arts-style state court in the Flatiron District of Manhattan.
In short, it’s a monstrosity that does not belong in that pantheon of great thinkers and has no place on a courthouse.
NYC just put this statue atop a courthouse.
Representing defiance of the abolition of Roe vs Wade it's the latest iteration of Moloch pic.twitter.com/6ryryNeyvH
— Nick Donnelly (@ProtecttheFaith) January 26, 2023
Not surprisingly, the New York Times breathlessly celebrated this ugly woke statue that will surely confuse and enrage thousands each day as they commute to work:
Standing atop the grandiose state courthouse is a shimmering, golden eight-foot female sculpture, emerging from a pink lotus flower and wearing Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg’s signature lace collar.
Staring regally ahead with hair braided like spiraling horns, the sculpture, installed as part of an exhibition that opened last week, is the first female to adorn one of the courthouse’s 10 plinths, dominated for more than a century by now weathered statues representing great lawgivers throughout the ages — all of them men.
When the NYT gushes over something this much, you know it’s not a good sign. The 53-year-old artist described her work in a statement:
“She is a fierce woman and a form of resistance in a space that has historically been dominated by patriarchal representation,” said Sikander, who previously served on the New York Mayoral Advisory Commission of City Art, Monuments and Markers. She said the work was called “NOW” because it was needed “now,” at a time when women’s reproductive rights were under siege after the U.S. Supreme Court in June overturned the constitutional right to abortion.
How is it legal to put a political statue atop a court which is supposed to be impartial? It’d be akin to placing a carving of a man with an AR-15 atop the courthouse, which would basically broadcast, “we will rule against gun control in all upcoming cases.” I’d love to see the meltdown over that one.
In addition, much is being made of the fact that all of the other statues perched on top of the city’s courts were depictions of men, and there were none of women. I would argue that there are still not—because that is not a woman; it’s quite clearly a creature.
And, as some point out, quite a demonic-looking creature at that. Tweeter D.L. Eubank wrote: “Looks like false god idol worship is alive and going strong in NYC. Subtle satanic homage there with the curled ram horn braids. Fitting since the statue represents the dual poisons of feminism and abortion.” Daily Signal Senior Reporter Mary Margaret Olohan wrote simply, “Bizarre resemblance to Satanic imagery.” Republican City Councilwoman Vickie Paladino had the guts to speak out:
Was there any public input whatsoever before a satanic golden medusa demon with tentacle arms was installed atop a downtown courthouse?
Who thinks this is okay? And how do we go about removing it? https://t.co/qS0KlwgHVb
— Councilwoman Vickie Paladino (@VickieforNYC) January 26, 2023
My colleague Jim Thompson wrote a great article called, “Modern Art Sucks.” While the occasional piece of modern art pleases my eye, I do find that a lot of it is flat-out garbage, and when someone has to explain to you why you should think something is great then you know it isn’t really that good. This statue isn’t the most offensive thing I’ve ever seen from a visual perspective; it’s the message behind it and its present location that are disturbing.
Because it’s a flat-out political statement, it simply has no place atop one of our nation’s important courthouses.
Related–>
Join the conversation as a VIP Member