Kelly Ogle opposes Nude Angelina Jolie

See this beautiful work of art? Kelly Ogle opposes this. He says it is perverted.

Maybe he is perverted. Maybe this beautiful work of art opposes Kelly Ogle.

For those who are confused, a bronze life-size park statue of the beautiful Angelina Jolie breastfeeding a baby is coming to Norman. It will be unveiled at the MAINSITE Contemporary Art Gallery in Downtown Norman on Sept. 11, as a tribute to World Breastfeeding Week. Why Norman? The artist behind the statue, Daniel Edwards, suggests it is because Brad Pitt was born and raised minutes from here. If you ask Kelly Ogle however, he asserts that it is here just to rile up folks in the Bible Belt. But pardon me for stating the obvious, was anyone riled up about it before Kelly Ogle featured it on the nightly segment where News 9 lets Kelly go wild with his own free mic time? No.

Last night Kelly Ogle said, "And the idea of putting the sculpture in a metro park..well, no problem, as long as you..make it realistic. Take the piece back to your studio, put some CLOTHES ON HER, and cuddle the nursing babies under a cute little blanket." In other words, cover them damn babies up!

The comments got worse tonight when they turned it around and aired comments from viewers. Oh my God. There must be a low-mark for intelligence that they're shooting for when they solicit comments from viewers.

"How do you explain the statue to your 5 year old?" - Cindy, OKC

I don't know. Gee that is a really good question. I think, because of this statue, you might have to sit your 5 year old down and give them a really serious talk about breastfeeding. This is like asking how you explain eating to someone who just got done eating 5 minutes ago. Whatever Cindy from OKC is on, I want some of it..

"Even my 15 yr. old daughter thought that it was TOO much!" Kathy, Edmond

How is it too much? I'm dying to know. In Europe art often celebrates the human body, and as a result, it's not "too much" for them to have nude sculptures. In America we don't like to see nude sculptures, either because we don't have as much class, it makes us feel like crap about our own bodies, or we aren't nearly as artistically advanced as our European brethren.

"If we allow it, watch out for what else is installed later on." James, Del City

Yeah no kidding. I'm sure one minute you allow a tribute to a woman breastfeeding, the next minute they'll be clamoring to put up hard-core sex scenes around it and then even adults couldn't go near the park after that. That makes sense. I think James needs to stop watching video he taped of women breastfeeding and go out and get a life.

"This is another assault on Oklahoma's Christian values." - Steve, OKC

I think it could be an assault on Oklahoma values, but not the Christian ones. A lot of really important Christian art features nude women figures. Angels are almost always depicted as partially-clothed figures. Christ is even often depicted as nude. Back then there wasn't as much negative dogma around the idea of a naked body. Art truly celebrated the beauty of the human body. I'll go easy here because Steve could be a reader of my blog.

"This would send the wrong message to children especially young boys." Kerry, Hammon

What is the right message to send, then? Don't breastfeed! Don't bring your infant babies out in public! Keep that breastfeedin' and them infant babies confined to your own home! ??

"To force a work of art such as this into a dress code and behind walls where it will be seen by fewer people who really need more enlightenment is disappointing." -Joe, OKC

Finally a voice of reason. This whole business of --Ooh! Hide them naked babies, and that naked mama!-- is just outright ignorant. The only reason that a nude sculpture is even remotely inappropriate is because the Nazi right insist that nude art is demonic and anti-God. The demonic nature is just a figment of their imagination, but as long as people agree that it's deplorable, perception is everything, and we will remain culturally inferior to Europe. Let's compare America next to Europe:










On a positive note, it has been hardly discouraging for the artist. The Norman community has at least been receptive to the idea, where people reacted positively to the touching tribute to the mother-child relationship, and liked the idea of celebrating Brad Pitt's Oklahoma roots. Artist Daniel Edwards is also planning a project with an Edmond artist to build a house they call "The Brangelina," according to Channel 5's website.