Not Everyone's Amused by These Religious Images of Kim Kardashian

9 hours ago

Lots of people admire Kim Kardashian, and some even idolize her.

Few take it to the level of worship - but that could soon change with the advent of 23-year-old artist Hannah Kunkle's new project, 'The Passion of Kim Kardashian.' It's an exhibit that blends religion with klassic elements of Kardashian kulture, and it's out of this world.

Kunkle, who admits she's 'strangely fascinated' with Kardashian (oh, really?), used Photoshop to mash up images of Kim with spiritual icons like crucifixes, prayer candles, and the all-seeing third eye.

She opened her exhibit to the public for a night, and fans flocked to Bushwick to see Kim decked out as a Hindu goddess wearing a necklace of Kanye heads, Joan of Arc, and the Virgin Mary, among others.

Speaking to the New York Daily News, Kunkle described Kardashian as a 'patron saint' of pop culture, adding that her inspiration also stemmed from her own love of religious images. She said, 'Religious idols are so beautiful to me, so I wanted to make my own that apply to me. Those images are so powerful - it gives power to the idea of worshiping her.'

Not everyone was into the trippy pictures, though. Local religious leaders spoke out about the images, calling them sacrilegious and irreverent.

'Leave Kim and Jesus separate,' Reggie Stutzman, a pastor at the Real Life Church of the Bronx told the New York Daily News. 'To cross so many lines and actually imagine her with a cross, which is the most important thing Jesus did, is inappropriate. There are other ways to depict that imagery without combining those images.'

'It's deplorable,' he added. 'It's sacrilegious, irrelevant, and disrespectful... It's idol worship.'

And representatives of a few different religions have come together in their dislike of the paintings. Dr. Uma Mysorekar of the Hindu Temple Society of North America in Flushing agreed, saying: 'I am certainly not happy about this. Any religious symbol should not be used or abused.'

Do you think it's wrong for an artist to let religion inspire her work? Let us know your opinion in the comments section below.

Check out more of the wild images from 'The Passion of Kim Kardashian' at Hannah Kunkle's online gallery.