Mission Skinpossible: Artist Spent Month On Well-Endowed Tom Cruise Naked Painting

To commemorate his 25th year as one of the most outspoken members of the controversial “church”, contemporary artist Daniel Edwards created a work entitled “Shroud of Scientology” featuring the front and back of A-list megastar Tom Cruise naked and sporting a delightfully thick, unuct dick, a hefty set of low-hanging balls, and a deliciously plump bubble butt. The work will be included in “Pop-up Church of Scientology”, an exhibit opening on Aug. 8th at the Corey Allen Contemporary Art gallery in St. Petersburg, Florida.

A Scientology spokesperson was quick to issue a statement saying, “The Church has nothing to do with this publicity stunt, and any claim to the contrary is false.”

In 2006, Edwards grabbed headlines with his anatomically sculpture of Britney Spears on all fours giving birth.

Via The Hollywood Reporter:

Daniel Edwards, the artist behind the “Shroud of Scientology” piece that features a nude Tom Cruise holding a cross, isn’t going for the easy joke with his latest work — despite popular assumption.

“It’s not a send-up,” Edwards says in a conversation with The Hollywood Reporter. “I feel it’s more complicated than that.”

image courtesy Corey Allen Contemporary Arts

By stripping Cruise of his clothes and having him hold a cross, Edwards says, he’s not trying to mock the actor; he’s trying to depict the obscure nature of religion. “I don’t feel that the Shroud is something so black and white. I see it as something mysterious, definitely not as something so clear-cut,” says Edwards. “Religion is always mysterious.”

The Cruise piece has so far aroused suspicion across the Internet that it’s really a criticism of Cruise (and Scientology at large), but Edwards insists the work is a genuine tribute to Cruise and his iconic status. “I think there will be a certain population that buys into [the work as tribute],” he says. “Tom Cruise is just fascinating to people.”

Edwards is, after all, a fan. “I do like his movies,” he says. “I mean, he is Tom Cruise.”

As a classically trained sculptor, Edwards’ works take a deadpan approach toward depicting the most overexposed celebrities of our time. His catalog includes a nude bust of Hillary Clinton (2006), a Paris Hilton autopsy sculpture (2007), and perhaps most famously, a sculpture of a naked Britney Spears on all fours, giving birth on a bearskin rug (2006). “I have an affection for ghoulish work,” Edwards told The New York Times in 2005.

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Tags: Art, Scientology, Shroud of Scientology, The Hollywood Reporter, Tom Cruise, Tom Cruise Naked, Tom Cruise Nude