LOVELAND, Colo. (CBS/KCNC) Everybody’s a critic, but not every critic wields a crowbar.
Police in Loveland, Colo., about 50 miles north of Denver, say that not only did Kathleen Folden, a truck driver, have a crowbar, but she drove all the way from Montana to use it on a print that depicts a Jesus-like figure engaging in sex.
Folden allegedly drove from Montana to attend a protest outside the gallery displaying the artwork, “The Misadventures of the Romantic Cannibals,” by Enrique Chagoya, but took her protest a step further.
Witnesses to the incident Wednesday said Folden bashed at the plexiglass surrounding the print until it shattered, then tore the artwork into pieces before sitting on the floor to wait for police. While attacking the print she allegedly screamed “How can you desecrate my lord?,” according to the Fort Collins Coloradoan.
She was allegedly wearing a T-shirt with the slogan “My Savior is Tougher than Nails,” according to CBS affiliate KCNC.
The artwork that drew Folden’s ire was a 12-panel lithograph that depicted a Christ-like figure involved in a sex act; it also included comic book characters, Mexican pornography, Mayan symbols and ethnic stereotypes. It was part of an 82-print exhibit by 10 artists at the Loveland Museum and Art Gallery.
Gallery director Susan Ison has been dealing with many upset people in the past week who don’t agree with displaying the image and have been protesting the piece, according to KCNC.
Chagoya, a proessor at Stanford University, told the station that he was upset to hear that his art had been attacked. He says his work is a critique of corruption in religious institutions, not people’s beliefs.
“I don’t expect people to agree with me but let’s have a civil discussion, you know. I’ve been getting a lot of hate mail that doesn’t have any logical discussion behind it,” Chagoya told KCNC.
Folden is charged with criminal mischief and could be fined up to $2,000. She was released Thursday on a $350 cash-only bond posted anonymously.