Giant Statue Erected In Paris (Place Vendôme) Sparking Special Interest

[Steven_Draker]

 

More to the story: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2796134/mon-dieu-parisians-claim-city-humiliated-24ft-sculpture-resembles-massive-sex-toy-artist-insists-s-meant-tree.html#ixzz3GLEo6cCK

[Steven_Draker]

[video=youtube;ZgFd2JQM7u4]https://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=ZgFd2JQM7u4

[+ Funguy]

You gotta love the French!

[Bosguy]

Thank you Steven. I think it points out the fact that Europe for years has been a totally accepting cultural entity that prides itself on welcoming many who just want to be themselves. Merci!

 

Boston Bill

[+ Chris Eisenhower]

Thank you Steven. I think it points out the fact that Europe for years has been a totally accepting cultural entity that prides itself on welcoming many who just want to be themselves. Merci!

 

Boston Bill

 

HA! Apparently this has raised a number of eyebrows, even in Paris.

 

I think it's one of the most brilliant pieces of public art ever.

[Steven_Draker]

All my gay friends loved the giant "tree" and I thought it was a cool art object. It was erected on Friday, October 17th as part of the International Contemporary Art Fair (FIAC) that will open in Paris next week.

[Steven_Draker]

Vandalized

 

Paris’s ‘Tree’ Art Installation Provokes Uproar

U.S. Artist Paul McCarthy Attacked After Piece’s Resemblance to Sex Toy Divides Locals

 

http://ww2.hdnux.com/photos/32/61/20/7017489/5/628x471.jpg

 

An art installation entitled "Tree" by U.S. artist Paul McCarthy on display at the Place Vendôme in Paris on Thursday. The piece has proved divisive among locals for its resemblance to a sex toy.

 

PARIS—Not everyone in Paris appears to like contemporary art.

 

A massive, green, inflatable installation by U.S. artist Paul McCarthy was vandalized in central Paris in the night from Friday to Saturday, according to a police official, after the piece of art entitled “Tree” sparked outrage.

 

The artwork, set up last week on the famous Place Vendôme, ignited a wave of comments on social media for its resemblance to a sex toy. It attracted even more attention after the Los Angeles artist—known for his sometimes controversial and provocative work—was attacked by a person in the street Thursday as “Tree” was being set up on the square.

 

According to French daily Le Monde, a man approached Mr. McCarthy as he was watching “Tree” being blown up and hit him in the face three times. According to the paper, which was interviewing the artist during the incident, the man shouted at Mr. McCarthy that “he wasn’t French” and that his artwork had “nothing to do in this square.”

 

A spokeswoman for Mr. McCarthy didn’t respond to requests for comment. The police official said no complaint had been filed on such an incident.

 

 

In the night from Friday to Saturday, a group of individuals cut through the cords that were holding up the artwork, the police official said. A person in charge of overseeing “Tree” then deflated it to limit any damage, the official said.

 

Paris Mayor Anne Hidalgo condemned the attack. “Art has all its place on the streets of Paris and no one can hunt it away,” she wrote in a tweet.

 

Mr. McCarthy said in the interview with Le Monde that “Tree” was an abstract piece of art that originated in a joke about a sex toy.

 

While some people joked about its resemblance to a sex toy, other remarks were more aggressive.

 

“Paris humiliated,” said one comment from Printemps Francais [French Spring], a movement associated with conservative views. Others defended Mr. McCarthy on Twitter after news of his attack spread on the social media.

 

The attack on Mr. McCarthy and his work comes just as Paris is about to welcome the crème de la crème of the contemporary-art scene for a series of events that are said to give the city back its appeal for edgy contemporary art after decades of enduring a gilded but fusty reputation.

 

Besides the Foire Internationale d’Art Contemporain, art collectors, dealers and tourists are set to flock to Paris next week to witness the opening of the Fondation Louis Vuitton and the reopening of the Picasso museum. Mr. McCarthy is also showing his famous working chocolate factory installation at the Monnaie de Paris, or the Paris Mint, from Oct. 25.

 

source: http://online.wsj.com/articles/pariss-tree-art-installation-provokes-uproar-1413643778

[+ purplekow]

Wasnt this the plot to an episode of Everyone Loves Raymond, in which Ray's mother Marie takes an art class. Marie does not but everyone else, including two nuns who come by to pick up the piece after it is donated to the church, are sure it is a vagina. When Marie finally sees what everyone else sees, she stammers that she must be a lesbian. Later, she is rueful, in that the art piece was supposed to be an abstract and she failed to do that.

[rvwnsd]

Thank you Steven. I think it points out the fact that Europe for years has been a totally accepting cultural entity that prides itself on welcoming many who just want to be themselves. Merci!

 

Boston Bill

 

Not so fast. As Steven's subsequent post reports, Paris was not exactly welcoming of this piece.

[Steven_Draker]

Wasnt this the plot to an episode of Everyone Loves Raymond, in which Ray's mother Marie takes an art class. Marie does not but everyone else, including two nuns who come by to pick up the piece after it is donated to the church, are sure it is a vagina. When Marie finally sees what everyone else sees, she stammers that she must be a lesbian. Later, she is rueful, in that the art piece was supposed to be an abstract and she failed to do that.

 

[video=youtube;pWaI27Crr1E]