A little more than 10 months ago, anger and vitriol swirled around California artist Enrique Chagoya and his lithograph on view at the Loveland Museum/Gallery that some deemed blasphemous and pornographic.

Indeed, emotions ran so hot, including a vandal’s destruction of the work, that it would have been hard to imagine anything by Chagoya ever being shown in the town again.

Yet, that is exactly what has happened.

It was an image of Jesus Christ that got the artist into so much trouble, and it is an image of Jesus Christ that is bringing his redemption.

In October, just days after Chagoya’s work was ripped from its frame and destroyed, an evangelical Loveland church, Resurrection Fellowship, invited the artist to paint a “loving image” of Christ.

He agreed, refusing to accept any payment. The finished 80-by-60-inch canvas, “Resurrection,” was delivered in May and placed on view earlier this month in the west foyer of the church’s vast, warehouse-like building.

It is a happy ending to an ugly story, one which could happen only when two people — Chagoya and senior pastor Jonathan Wiggins — set aside stereotypes and mistrust and agreed to reach out and listen to each other.

“Dialogue is for me the best way to go into resolving conflicts,” Chagoya said. “And in this particular experience, it ended up in a really beautiful way, with a painting that I am very happy with and the congregation is very happy with — a really healing experience for everybody.”

To understand how far Chagoya and Wiggins had to travel to bridge this conflict, it is necessary to go back in time and know a little about the artist’s background.

Chagoya, who grew up in Mexico and became an American citizen in 2000, is a professor of art at Stanford University in Palo Alto, Calif. His works can be found in institutions across the country, including the National Museum of American Art, Metropolitan Museum of Art and the Colorado Springs Fine Arts Center.

He was part of a 2009 exhibition at the Museum of Contemporary Art Denver that showcased a range of well- known artists who work with master printer Bud Shark of Lyons.

That show traveled to Loveland the following fall and sparked a controversy that quickly became a flash point in the ongoing culture wars. A series of protests led to stories on Fox News and such conservative websites as Sad Hill News.

“Romantic Cannibals”

The center of attention was an image depicting the head of Jesus Christ on a woman’s body. A face of a man is shown near the body’s crotch, and he could be interpreted as engaging in a sexual act.

The satirical lithograph is one of 12 panels in a 2002 fold-out work titled “The Misadventures of the Romantic Cannibals.” Like the artist’s other creations, it draws on a range of sources, from comic books to pre-Columbian art and addresses such issues as war and sexual abuse in the Catholic Church.

“The work was a reaction to the pedophilia scandals,” Chagoya said, “and just the way the Catholic Church has been contradicting itself on one hand with anti-homosexual policies and bigotry and, on the other hand, hiding pedophiles in the ranks for decades.”

But few people denouncing the image paid any attention to the artist’s intentions. “This is not art — it’s smut, pure and simple,” one of the protesters, Ronald Minto, told The Denver Post in early October.

The conflict reached its climax on Oct. 6, when Loveland police arrested Kathleen Folden, a truck driver from Kalispell, Mont., at the Loveland Museum after she broke open the work’s case and tore up the lithograph.

The next day, Folden was granted release on $350 bond, and in November she pleaded guilty to misdemeanor criminal mischief. As part of a plea deal, she was to receive 18 months of supervised probation, undergo mental-health treatment and perform 24 hours of public service.

Instead of joining the anger directed at Chagoya and his artwork, Wiggins, who had become senior pastor of Resurrection Fellowship just three months earlier, decided to do something unexpected — and potentially risky.

He reached out to Chagoya, who had all but given up looking at his e-mail because of hateful messages and veiled death threats.

Wiggins sent an e-mail on Oct. 5 — a day before the attack on the artwork — saying that he was not interested in beginning a debate but simply wanted to hear Chagoya’s thoughts on the piece.

“I was trying to communicate some good, because I felt like the church had really messed up,” Wiggins said. “I say the church, and I know it is not accurate to generalize, but so many Christian people had reacted with such hatred that I was trying to express something good in the middle of that.”

Chagoya responded, explaining his take on the work. Wiggins thanked him for his e-mail, said he would like to meet the artist if he were ever in Loveland and assumed that would be the end of their exchange.

But it continued. And the very next day, Wiggins asked Chagoya if he would consider creating an image of a loving and understanding Christ — a a contrasting work that might provide “clearer context” for those trying to grasp Chagoya’s views on Christianity and spiritual corruption.

“See, this was not my way of saying, ‘You’ve done this horrible thing. Now I want you to do something nice,’ ” Wiggins said. “But instead, if this is what you’re saying, then I would like to see the context of it.”

Chagoya agreed, not believing that the church’s congregation would actually accept a work by him. But a little less than two weeks later, the pastor presented the idea in a long sermon, and it backed him, with only a handful of people walking out.

“This is very cliche, so forgive me, but I really think this is what Jesus would have done,” Wiggins said. “I can’t find a single time in Scripture when he attacked or belittled or accused anyone of anything — outside of people who considered themselves religious but didn’t really live according to that religion.”

The two then discussed how Jesus should be depicted, with Wiggins offering his perceptions of the multiple facets of this central figure in Christianity. The resulting painting shows the walking, robed figure of Christ floating above darkened mountains and carrying a standard with the word, “Love.”

“I hope that I included most of the things that Pastor Wiggins was telling me, as well as my own attempts to make something very positive and very uplifting as an image,” Chagoya said.

In retrospect, both men say they were pleasantly surprised at how each reacted to the other, and they now consider themselves good friends.

“I am an evangelical Christian,” Wiggins said. “I pray for him to be converted, which is not a super-popular idea in a lot of the world. I get that. But my respect and love for him is not dependent on that.”

Although no date has been set, Chagoya is planning to come to Loveland to see the painting on the wall at Resurrection Fellowship.

“What an amazing story,” Wiggins said. “After all the ugliness of it has gone away, I have a friend, and our church has an amazing piece of art. So, I think we did pretty well through all this.”

Kyle MacMillan: 303-954-1675 or kmacmillan@denverpost.com

The seeds of an unlikely friendship

Excerpts of the first e-mails between California artist Enrique Chagoya and Jonathan Wiggins, senior pastor of Resurrection Fellowship in Loveland.

Oct. 5, 7:44 a.m.“In short, I’d like to hear your thoughts on what the piece titled, ‘Misadventures of the Romantic Cannibals,’ is intended to communicate. I did read excerpts of your Friday interview but would be most grateful to hear more from you. I viewed the piece, and, although I was a little sensitive to the imagery, I am open to what you have to say.” — WigginsOct. 5, 12:26 p.m. “As I said to the press, my work is not about attacking anyone’s faith or offending people’s beliefs. . . . I have nothing against the benevolent image of Christ, which is about love and understanding among people, and I respect people’s beliefs.” — Chagoya

Oct 5, 3:46 p.m. “I appreciate your thoughtful and timely response. People should, and I do, respect your right to express your beliefs.” — Wiggins

Oct. 5, 5:56 p.m. “Thank you so much for your e-mail and for your understanding. It makes a huge difference to me to receive such civil messages in the middle of so much hate mail. I feel there is hope in this world after reading your note.” — ChagoyaOct. 6, 9:01 a.m. “Your last e-mail brought tears to my eyes. I realize that you and I will likely never agree on everything, but I believe you understand something about Jesus Christ and the Christian church that many professing Christians don’t want to consider: The church has many times corrupted what you called ‘something precious.’ . . . Would you consider depicting an uncorrupted Jesus Christ and not the one many Christians have made Him out to be?” — Wiggins

Oct. 6, 2:29 p.m. “Your letter also touched me deeply, and I felt a bridge was built between different views and ethics that may have similar goals at the end. . . . I am not a religious person, but I recognize people with enlightened views, and you are one. . . . I am seriously considering your invitation to paint a loving image of Christ. . . . I will do it at no cost to your church, but I wonder if your church community will accept it coming from me.” — ChagoyaOct. 6, 9:02 p.m. “I am sorry to hear about the events that transpired today at the Loveland Museum. I think Jesus might say, ‘Whoever is without sin cast the first crowbar.’ . . . You asked whether my church community would accept this painting from you. With your permission, I’d like to ask them. . . . I am confident they would be completely supportive of Enrique Chagoya painting an image of a loving Christ.” — Wiggins