It might be sacrilegious to take the Lord's name in vain but, for me, crucifying Bart and Lisa Simpson, well that deserves eternal damnation. I set upon New York Artist Joseph Cavalieri like a horse rider of the apocalypse ready to make a martyr, but sweet saint Joseph had me on my knees showing me how to forgive. As our conversation – borderline confession – went on, it seems like I wasn’t the only one ready to send him to Hell.

D’oh! Jesus The Son Of Homer

Artparasites: The Simpsons practically raised me and are the greatest symbol of my childhood – How could you go and crucify them!?

Joseph Cavalieri: It was a project I was doing – the Simpsons were last minute! I wanted to represent the downfall of the economy in 2009. I was searching for a symbol of America to put on the cross. I was thinking of Obama or Ronald McDonald, but there is so much already attached to that. So I thought: who represents America around the world?

It was of course Bart Simpson. People know him, his story, his personality more than they know Saints, Religion or even Jesus. But he was lonely, so Lisa joined him and eventually it turned into a whole series. I had this work out on my light table when my frame-maker came by and said, 'Joseph, you're going straight to Hell,' and I thought: that’s a good review.

While I was ready to jump on the Evangelical bandwagon with the frame maker, my thirst for crucifixion waned when I learned the piece was sold to Simpson’s writer John Frink.

APs: Any future plans coming up for a series; the inside scoop?

JC: I am doing a project for a church (a dream of his). The Priest saw my work and said, 'I love it – but no Simpsons.’  It will be a temporary piece in St. Paul's church in Manhattan.The works will reflect the idea of church, praying to cure ailments. My work though will deal with modern day ailments from cancer to over-eating, I have one idea of a Twinkie which I am really excited about.

APs: Before crucifying America’s childhood, what got you into this world of stained glass?

JC: I was working in magazines as an art director (GQ, People). I took one class at Urban Glass in Brooklyn and it changed my world. I loved it that much. I took five years to switch from working full time in magazines, to moving into stained glass.

APs: If you had taken another class, perhaps for knitting or flower arranging…

JC: (laughing) No, there was something particular about the amount of control over stained glass, as well It’s hard to find artwork that no one has ever seen before.

APs: You like the glass for the control but glass is also very unpredictable.

JC: With glass there is always that fragility. It’s a lot of remembering what to do and not to do. I love the look of the glass with light coming through. People are like zombies in its glow, walking towards it perhaps expecting to see another stained glass butterfly (which Cavaleri despises) and then they realize it's Bart and Lisa dead on the cross. Whoops!

APs: The fragility of glass, does that play into you as a person?

JC: Yes, come to think of it, I do relate to the glass being fragile. I am emotional. Being from a family of seven kids, control is the last thing that’s really available. I think I was 10 years old, dinner was always an Italian procession – I would never get a word in. So one night I decide to just point (mimics pointing at the maple syrup on the table) and I got attention. Then my father figured out my trick and I had to talk.

APs: Do you have more control over the glass or yourself?

JC: ​I think I have more over the glass. With yourself you're constantly changing: your likes change, your partners change but with the glass – when the piece is done and hanging on the wall – it’s un-changaeble. A nice remembrance of a time in your life.

And with that, Saint Joseph Cavalieri preached himself innocent of sin to me. A simple man doing the work of a satirical God. As a show of good faith, I invited him for drinks at a popular Berlin altar: Roses Bar. Full of cantor and with a chalice in hand, we cheered to having a clear conscience and a new friend. We all bear a cross, Cavalieri’s happens to be of colored glass and, let me tell you, the light has never been brighter. Find Joseph Cavalieri alongside the work of Cornelia Renz.(Learn more about the sweet side of Renz)

Joseph Cavalieri [Price range 2,200 – 3000 Euros]

 

Article by Tristan Boisvert