Santa Cross art fury
It’s ho-ho-horrifying! An artist displayed a painting of a crucified Santa Claus in front of St. Patrick’s Cathedral on Christmas Eve — a stunt that was ripped as sacrilegious.
The artwork by Robert Cenedella, which depicts St. Nick hanging from a cross over a pile of Christmas presents, was removed from a Manhattan gallery after it received complaints.
So the artist took it right to the cathedral in the heart of Midtown on Sunday night — to the dismay of holiday revelers.
“You have to be a real piece of crap to try to ruin Christmas for children and families coming out of Mass,” said Councilman Joe Borelli (R-SI). “For shame!”
People walking up and down Fifth Avenue hours before Midnight Mass also expressed outrage at the painting.
“It’s a disturbing image — that’s the bottom line,” said Theresa Manly, 54, of Chapel Hill, NC.
“I can’t imagine how whoever painted this abomination ... All he’s doing is being a grinch.”
A Bronx mom was just thankful her kids did not have to witness Kris Kringle on the cross.
“If they saw this they’d be asking me, ‘Mommy, what’s Santa doing on the cross? Is Santa dead?’ ” said Cynthia Rodriguez, 29.
Cenedella told The Post that “the painting has been considered controversial from the outset, but for the wrong reasons.
“The thing about St. Patrick’s is, I always thought if the painting was there on Christmas Eve and people saw this during the service, they would realize what has happened — how commercialism has really taken over what’s one of the more religious events in history,” he said.
“That was the whole idea.”