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Grammys 2011: Massive Lady Gaga mural surprises runners at Runyon Canyon

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It’s not often that we get reader submitted photos over here on Pop & Hiss, but we couldn’t pass this up. A reader taking a run on Runyon Canyon came across this gigantic Lady Gaga painting on top of the hill overlooking the city and the Hollywood sign.

The painting -- which appears to be a large digital replica on some form of cloth -- depicts Lady Gaga with a crown of thorns on her head and blood on her shoulders. Lady Gaga, who often flirts with religious imagery, recently spoke to Vogue magazine, and said she considers herself to ‘have one of the greatest voices in the industry’ and one of the greatest songwriters.

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The odd discovery (potential publicity stunt?) comes on the morning on which her highly anticipated single, ‘Born This Way’ -- the title track from her upcoming March disc, the follow-up to the massively successful ‘The Fame Monster’ -- debuted. Read Times pop critic Ann Powers’ snap judgment of the single here.

The song was serviced worldwide to radio at 6 a.m. EST Friday, before being available for purchase online at 9 a.m. EST the same day -- which came after the singer Tweeted her impatience for waiting on the release of the track.

Tell us what you think of the portrait and special thanks to our sister blog L.A. Now for sending this over to us.

See another close-up of the artwork after the jump:

[Updated at 4:10 p.m. Artist Castro is taking credit for the 30’x30’ oil painting, named “Gaga Christ,” that was placed at the top of the canyon at 6:00 a.m. Friday. In a press release the artist said: “art is an experience that should be easily accessible to everyone, that it is sacred and belongs to all of us, it is blasphemous to think that it should only belong to the elite.

“Hollywood, where stars are worshipped today, just to be crucified tomorrow, ” Castro added. “The idea behind the painting goes beyond Gaga and way beyond religion.”]

-- Gerrick D. Kennedy

Twitter.com/gerrickkennedy

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