Penis Art Exhibition Censored
The SMH reports the Venice Biennale have rejected a proposal for an art exhibition featuring symbolic drawings of famous genitals.
Jacques Charlier, a Belgian artist, had wanted to show the visual puns, each with a written clue, inviting viewers to guess who owned what. For example, Christo’s resembled a parcel, with the clue “wraps in very special things”.
The authorities rejected the proposal for fear of offending Venetians and the artists represented.
The artist has used the banning as an opportunity to promote his work, and good on him. Here’s his site which gives details of the 100 Sexes d’Artistes exhibition and the correspondence with the directors of the Biennale. Best of all, you can flick through the entire 100 drawings online! A lot of them are very obscure and unfortunately you don’t get the written hints unless you do the quiz but it’s very amusing nonetheless.
I love the internet. Some asshole in Vienna says people aren’t allowed to see something and naturally we all immediately seek it out. And get access to it without any fucking gatekeepers telling us what’s good for us. And now I get the chance to experience a bit of art I would never have otherwise discovered.
Some of them are good, some are too obscure, and some aren’t that great. I’m glad I got to make up my own mind.
June 17th, 2009 at 4:06 am
Belgian artist Jan Theuninck, the author of Phalluzoïde or “L’Origine du Sexe” renamed his work “Le sexe d’artiste N°101″ as a tribute to Jacques Charlier : http://www.flickr.com/photos/26915283@N07/3551448186/