“A national Roman Catholic group is protesting an exhibit at Copia, the Napa Valley’s new food, wine, and arts museum, that includes figurines of the pope and several nuns defecating,” the Los Angeles Times is reporting. The work in question, by Spanish artist Antoni Miralda, is titled “Active Ingredients,” and also “displays miniature figures of Santa Claus and Fidel Castro in similar poses.”

‘These figurines symbolize the cycle of eating and fertilization of the earth, which is a requisite for future existence,’ wrote Copia Executive Director Peggy Loar, according to a news release circulated Friday by the Catholic group.

To which Catholic League President William Donohue sarcastically responded in the release: ‘Now I get it: To show his appreciation of Mother Earth, Miralda had to show the pope and nuns defecating. But why couldn’t he have chosen the Lone Ranger and Tonto instead? Or better yet, just Tonto and a few of his Indian buddies.’

Discussion over the nature of “art” and aesthetics — or even over whether or not our tax dollars should be spent in support of the fashioning of “figurines” by obscure Spanish sculptors, for that matter — seems irrelevant here. The real question is: why in the world would you spend your time or money visiting a “food, wine and arts museum” — particularly one featuring exhibits of famous people taking dumps?

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