The image below is that of the “Porno Queen” by Italian artist Paolo Schmidlin, a controversial sculpture of Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth.
The sculpture was shown in Madrid, Spain, in 2007, in a show that was ironically opened by the reining monarch, King Juan Carlos.
Sait the Sun’s royal photographer Arthur Edwards of the sculpture: “This is quite obviously the work of a lunatic. I don’t see this as anything more than a cheap stunt.”
Maybe he has a point – but hasn’t art nearly always been considered the work of lunatics to begin with?
This sculpture below, titled “Miss Kitty” is also by Paolo Schmidlin, portraying the Pope wearing nothing but thigh-high stockings, a pair of panties and a stole. The sculpture is adorned with a blonde bob wig.
When it was first exhibited in Milan, Italy, it drew harsh protest from the Catholic Anti-Defamation League and others who found the sculpture of the Pope in drag to be unacceptable.
In an official statement, the Catholic Anti-Defamation League declared that the controversial sculpture is a “vulgar offence against Christ’s vicar and the feelings of Roman Catholics,”. However, others have stated the censorship of the sculpture is another example of “Organized religion dictating the role of art.” and that, “This type of censorship should not be happening!”
A nude sculpture of the pop star Britney Spears clutching a dead bear rug has been creating a bit of a stir recently.
The work by Daniel Edwards, titled “Monument to Pro-Life: The Birth of Sean Preston” shows Spears naked, pregnant, and sensually bent over on her knees.
The artist said this about the pose. “The image from behind of the kneeling pose is very strong so I felt the front of the sculpture needed an equally powerful image which is where the bearskin comes in.”
“The gallery said it received about 3,000 e-mails from around the world in just a week, split between anti-abortion and abortion rights opinions.”
Sculptor Daniel Edwards has a park-bench-sized statue of Angelina Jolie in the nude, breastfeeding her twins.
This artistic work of public indecency (she’s not wearing pants) is called “Landmark for Breastfeeding” and was inspired by Jolie’s cover photograph on W magazine in 2008.
Edwards decided that, in order to encourage more women to breastfeed and to raise global awareness of public nursing, he would depict one twin as African-American and the other as not.
Patricia Piccinini is one of the most well known of Australian contemporary artists.
Patricia Piccinini explores what she calls the ‘often specious distinctions between the artificial and the natural’. By displaying the similarities and differences between the organic, natural and our constructed material world, Piccinini challenges our classification of life.
This inspires her to combine human and animal physiology and technological development in many of her works.
