León Ferrari’s Iconoclastic Work Proved That Only a Theist Can Be a Sinner

Generally considered a conceptual artist, León Ferrari (1920–2013) might just as aptly be described as an activist. His collages and assemblages eschew allusive subtlety for unambiguously anticlerical and anti-imperialist imagery and brazen juxtapositions. For his notorious 1965 piece La Civilización Occidental y Cristiana (Western and Christian Civilization)—presented here in a 2010 miniature version—Ferrari appended a figure of the crucified Christ to a 6½