Art or pants?

[susie_flo]

There is a debate going on on one of my art forums about this piece of (un-work-friendly) wall art:  http://www.brightonbodycasting.com/design-a-vagina.php   
 
(Can ya guess what it is yet? Tum tee tum tee dum, pom pom... )
 
Personally, I find the result about as aesthetically pleasing as a wall-full of scrotums... but that's beside the point.   The crux of the debate is the age-old one of whether or not this piece can be called "art".
 
The two main thought camps are:

1. If these are body casts (as opposed to hand-sculpted) then there is insufficient artistic technical skill involved for them to be called art.  They are simply a stunt "that anyone could do".
2. What makes them art is the concept, not the technique (i.e. any short cuts that the artist took to reach their end goal are irrelevant.)

So how does it make you guys feel?  ("Ohhhh and it makes us wonderrrr")
 

Comments

[ms-siobhan.livejournal.com]

Leaving aside the debate about whether or not it is art, my thoughts on looking at it 'it would be a bugger to dust' and 'I wonder how uncomfortable it was to be a model'

It also reminded me of something I saw in a department store in Berlin - templates for trimming/waxing your pubic hair around, there were heart shapes,triangles, oblongs, stars - allsorts. I didn't make a purchase though as it made me feel ever so slightly queasy.

[the-meanest-cat.livejournal.com]

The dusting problem seems to be a source of worry on the art forum too :-)
I suppose a daily going over with a feather duster might do it... (ideally in a jaunty, 'Carry On', Russell-Brandesque style.)

"there were heart shapes,triangles, oblongs, stars - allsorts."
Like liquorish allsorts?

[kissmeforlonger.livejournal.com]

I quite like it, although it's a bit strange that a cast of lots of disembodied body parts can be made into some kind of sculpture. Kind of like a porn mag but without the lurid over-inking. Imagine 40 hands sticking out of the wall like that - slightly freaky!

In terms of art, I don't think so. It's more like public health education, like those galleries of breasts you can find online to help women appreciate that their particular breasts are in fact perfectly normal. WHY you have to do that by showing someone lots of other breasts is beyond me. I'm not sure that in itself helps much, because 'normality' isn't the standard we're compared to anyway.

Thankfully, even in the modern era of easily accessible porn and anal bleaching, there is still no commonly-accepted standard of beauty for vaginas. And women obsess about it anyway.

[the-meanest-cat.livejournal.com]

Yes it's a lot like a 'public record, more than art... (or maybe a pubic record).

Not that I'm obsessed with vagina-based art or anything, but it's not a patch on Courbet's early Razzle commission, L'Origine du Monde... http://www.geoffroth.com/photos/d/7474-2/IMG_0213.JPG (Don't look too closely, you might spot the, um, stains.)

Anal bleaching... two words that should not go together (shudder!)

[moral-vacuum.livejournal.com]

Imagine 40 hands sticking out of the wall like that - slightly freaky!

Ah, you should see Polanski's "Repulsion".

(the film of that title, I mean, although of course Roman Polanski's repulsion is universal).

[moral-vacuum.livejournal.com]

They are simply a stunt

And a cunning one at that.

sorry

[the-meanest-cat.livejournal.com]

Cunning because...?

...it's a curious thing to look at, even if you're not impressed?

...it suggests "something PC" but you're not sure what?

...if you say you don't like it, people might think you're dissing poonani? (In which case no worries cos there one wiith lots of willies on it too.)

It's not my cup of tea either, but it did grab my attention for five mins. I think the artist specialises in commissions for vanity projects... (cast it before it droops, kind of thing)

[moral-vacuum.livejournal.com]

"Cunning stunt" is a relatively famous spoonerism. Hence my apology, as spoonerisms are a lower form of wit.

[the-meanest-cat.livejournal.com]

Doh! I could kick myself for not getting that...
Your dryness is too classy for me :-)