Babbo Natale in croce contro il consumismo

Singolare protesta di un americano: Santa Claus affisso ad un crocifisso di cinque metri nel giardino

WASHINGTON – Con un gigantesco Babbo Natale inchiodato su una croce alta quasi cinque metri nel suo giardino, Art Conrad, di Bremerton nello stato di Washington, ha denunciato il consumismo che a suo giudizio snatura la festività.

MESSAGGIO SOCIALE - Il Santa Claus crocefisso, che è dotato di una testa che canta nenie natalizie, ha spiegato Conrad, lancia un messaggio preciso: Natale viene strumentalizzato a fine di profitto, «il suo ruolo è stato invertito, carità e amore sono in secondo piano». Conrad, che ha spento la tv e ha rifiutato di fare shopping, ha stampato una cartolina di auguri con il Babbo Natale sulla croce e la scritta: «E’ morto per voi, carte di credito» e la ha inviata a familiari e amici.

COME CRISTO - Il contestatore dice di avere tratto l’idea da un articolo sul Giappone, che raccontava di un commerciante che aveva confuso tra Cristo e Babbo Natale. In realtà, un Santa Claus crocefisso figurò anni fa a una mostra di pittura a New York.

VICINI PERPLESSI - Il giornale di Bremerton, il Kitsap sun, ha interpellato la cittadinanza sulla strana protesta di Conrad, e la ha trovata divisa o restia a pronunciarsi. Ha detto Conrad: «La gente ha paura di esporsi, è vittima del conformismo politico. Ma so che molti la pensano come me, bisogna smettere di commercializzare il Natale».

Ennio Caretto
23 dicembre 2007

fonte: http://www.corriere.it/cronache/07_dicembre_23/babbo_croce_c9bb6436-b17d-11dc-9f4d-0003ba99c53b.shtml

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Newcomer on block calls Santa display art, but Bremerton neighbors repulsed

By Susan Gilmore

Seattle Times staff reporter

It's not so much the Santa impaled on the cross in front of Art Conrad's Bremerton home, it's the headless Santa that sings carols on his front porch that has neighbors crying humbug.

"It's horrible and gruesome," said Vickie Marquina, who lives near Conrad on Olympic Avenue. "It's offensive, and Santa with no head is just horrid."

Conrad, 52, who just moved into the house, said his Santa-on-a-cross is his personal protest against the commercialization of Christmas.

The headless Santa on his porch is the unfortunate result: He needed a Santa head for his cross display, so he pilfered it from his singing Santa.

Basically, said Conrad, who works in real estate, his display is art, and the fact that it hasn't been greeted with universal warmth is a sign of good art.

"It's perhaps a little controversial," Conrad acknowledged. "My intent is no religious connotation."

Conrad isn't anti-Christmas, but to him the holiday is a celebration of family. "That's how I've always celebrated it," he said. "We always treasured Christmas. It's a time we all got together."

But the commercialization of Christmas, with displays appearing before Halloween, drove Conrad to erect his unusual display.

"Santa has been co-opted by our corporations as a symbol of consumerism. Every year Christmas comes earlier and earlier," he said.

To build his 15-foot-tall Santa-on-a-cross, Conrad used an old Santa costume his cousin used to wear, but it obviously didn't have a head. So he had to take it off his animated Santa.

He said he'd been planning to do the display for several years, but didn't pull it off until this year. He's taken pictures of his display and is using it in his Christmas cards, with such messages as "Santa died for your MasterCard" and "Have a slightly demented Christmas."

"My whole intent is some of the cards from Hallmark don't speak to Christmas for me," he said.

Neighbors such as Marquina aren't taken with Conrad's unusual display. "It's the most repulsive thing I've ever seen," said another neighbor, Louise Nelson. "I'm not proud of it at all."

Conrad, who has no children, knows his display isn't setting well with some neighbors, but said he quizzed kids getting off a school bus who told him they thought his Santa was "cool."

His display has nothing to do with religion, he said, and he's not a religious person.

Conrad also said he was trying to use his display to criticize political correctness that he said is being shoved down people's throats.

"People are afraid of taking any steps outside the bounds for fear of being politically incorrect," Conrad said. "I fear we're in a state of fear."

Will this become an annual tradition for Conrad? Not likely, he said.

"Like [environmental sculptor] Christo, once you do an installation you don't do it again. This is my year for this. I don't see the need to do it again."

Susan Gilmore: 206-464-2054 or sgilmore@seattletimes.com

fonte: http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/localnews/2004088502_santa23m.html

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