Sand Castle Celebrating Obama's Nobel Peace Prize Win Created In India (VIDEO)

An artist in India celebrated President Obama's award of the Nobel Peace Prize by building a massive sand sculpture of Obama's face next to a Nobel Prize medal, and then a mound in front of it with the words "let peace prevail."

Hundreds of tourists stared in amazement after spotting the artwork on the beach.

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Comments

[Tom Kulenski]

"We finally really did it. You maniacs! You blew it up! Damn you. God damn you all to hell."

[ram1952]

Sudarshan Patnaik always does what he believes in, or what he feels for. He does not seek accolades. When he felt that the award to Barack Obama deserved a sand art work, he did it. He does his sand art knowing fully well that the the art is not permanent. Children visiting the beach see the sand art, marvel at it, and try to copy him. Now, that is better builidng meaningless sand castles which represent war. Patnaik does not celebrate wars. He celebrates peace. In fact, after 9/11, he did a sand art on America's pain. To the best of my knowledge, he has not applied for any U.S. aid. He is not a TARP recipient if my information serves me right!

But the hateful comments here make one wonder if Patnaik is being laughed at only because Obama is a black. How come Americans, instead of being proud of their President being iconized in sand 10,000 k.m. away from their land, spew venom! What is wrong with Americans? Why do you hate what represents your country best?

[DawnHops]

And in other related news, it has been reported that sands surrounding the Tigris and Euphrates rivers have shifted significantly in recent days as approximately a million Iraqis rolled over in their graves...

[hpobserver]

I wish that the person reporting this on the msnbc video had mentioned his name, Sudarshan Patnaik, instead of simply saying 'world renowned artist'. That would have been more respectful.

This artist, Sudarshan Patnaik is extraordinarily talented and has won numerous awards. He is prolific, and usually very current with his themes and comes up with sculptures reflecting the most important news of the moment, such as a tribute to tsunami victims, a 'Get Well' message when the Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh was seriously ill, etc.

He even runs a school teaching sand art.

Unfortunately, he is not as well known outside India and this leads sometimes to bigoted reactions, such as the ones on this forum saying he is doing this for a handout, and relating his work to idol worship (A lot of his art, of course, has been inspired by beautiful images in Hindu mythology).

Sadly, the stupidest reaction to his work came when, after 9/11, he sculpted a tribute to the victims of the event, and a picture of this sculpture appeared on the web. The picture shows some Sikhs among the spectators. This led to an ignorant assumption that it was Arabs celebrating the event and the picture appeared on rotten.com with rotten.comm' superscribed on it. And there were nasty comments about the artist as well. Well, there is no cure for bigotry. You only see what you want to see.

[VAcitizen]

Well Said. Thank you. Amazing talent for this gentleman, Sudarshan Patnaik.

God Bless him. Wow!

[cliffhammond]

I'm so grateful I read your comment before any other. The Buddhists have a tradition of sand art as well -- sand painting. There is a group of monks who travel the world making sand paintings and, when done, destroy them. The whole process of creation and destruction symbolizes impermanence. Patnaik's work is more meaningful when you consider that he creates even knowing that time and nature will use his art to demonstrate its great reality.

[hpobserver]

I know of that Tibetan-monk art form you speak of. I think I saw a video news report of a group of them doing this at an airport, I don't remember which one.
It is almost heartbreaking to watch them painstakingly create an elaborate, exquisite pattern, only to destroy it in the end. But the poignant message of that practice, about the transient nature of things, and their vow not to be attached to transient things, is powerful.

[hpobserver]

And speaking of sand painting traditions, there is an old tradition among women of Southern India where they use rice flour and/or some other materials to create similar, elaborate geometric patterns on the floor. In some regions, colored "sand" is used to fill in these patterns whereas in some it is left white. This is followed even today during weddings, festivals, in temples, and even in traditional homes.
It is called 'kolam' or 'rangoli'.

[ltyr2002]

That could actually be more appropriate than the artist knows.

[Mabo]

He forgot to include the 13,000 NEW troops being sent to Afghanista­n...peace? Haha...

[Gretel1or2]

Because his painting in not based on snarky, vindictive and ignorant attitudes - Obama ran a campaign on escalating the war in Afghanistan - the Nobel Prize committee were well aware of that fact.

[Mabo]

Sure...but would he have been awarded the "prize" had he sent those troops a few weeks ago? I think not...

[makeshiftriot]

That's really cool.

[Drdemocrat]

What a FANASTIC sand sculpture.

[mcantwell]

That's amazing and creative.

[lisa36]

Our President rocks! The sooner people realize this, the better off this world will be...in the famous words of John Lennon...I­MAGINE :)

[muadibe]

And some wonder why Obama got the peace prize. The man inspires so many people, not just here, but around the Globe.

The re_thards are simply jeaolous that their president (boosh) was hated by so many.

They still can't admit they were wrong about boosh - sorry but he deserves no capitalization.

[mervr1]

OMG don't let the looney protest parents at the school in NJ see this, they'll claim you're indoctrinating Obama into their summer vacations when their kids start building sand monuments to Obama.

They're going to insist on white sand at all beaches and all the sand with color be removed.

[yvonne61]

and what color are they?

[bella 07]

White. They do not like any sand or people except white.

[lentinelia]

There is something truly poetic about this tribute to Obama having been made in sand.

[StormWarrior]

he can't build castles there? Don't worry, he's building it on the Rock of Freedom called the USA.

[floridafun]

yes we can!!

[twisted-european]

I can hear music:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YF4-r2MpRMs

[deluk]

Well idol worship is very Indian, even minor movie stars are treated like gods.

At least Obama wasn't portrayed as an elephant with six trunks.