Tuesday, June 3, 2014

Something Trooper might do?

"[A] millionaire neighbor will plop a 33-foot, painted bronze sculpture of a beyond-naked pregnant woman with an exposed fetus on his front lawn. So when Aby Rosen, the real estate titan and art collector, installed this 13-ton statue by Damien Hirst on his newly renovated property last month, his neighbors were roused into action."

“It is out of character with the neighborhood,” (read more)

A different edition of the statue,
photographed in Monaco in 2010

28 comments:

Fr Martin Fox said...

The owner needs to point out that the statue is gay.

XRay said...

Please enlighten how it is gay, but will say it is ugly. As to the article linked, big whoops. Rich guy does what he wants, bureaucrats respond. One has a gun, metaphorically, the other doesn't.

chickelit said...

I don't think it's something Trooper would do at all. It looks more like what the Manson girls did to Sharon Tate.

Lem the artificially intelligent said...

I think Fr Fox means that if you say something is gay... it's automatically rendered impervious to any criticism... or something.

Fr Martin Fox said...

I was trying to make a joke.

If the statue is gay, then it's discrimination if it's not allowed to stay.

Lem the artificially intelligent said...

On the one hand the neighbors say it's a big statute.

On the other hand the millionaire might say it's a big planet.

chickelit said...

It looks more like what the Manson girls did to Sharon Tate.

Minus all the blood.

XRay said...

Didn't get the joke, but then I'm dull. Good job, Friar.

10:42, twice, good take.

Calypso Facto said...

Big statutes are definitely a problem, Lem.

William said...

Visitors have no problem finding the right address. It's the third house on the left after the partially decomposed pregnant zombie. It gives the neighborhood a landmark,

Lem the artificially intelligent said...

I always get those two mixed up.

Lem the artificially intelligent said...

One sure fire way to get rid of it is to claim it contributes to global warming. know-what-I-mean? know-what-I-mean? say-no-more, say-no-more.

Trooper York said...

I actually have the Virgin Mary on the Half Shell in my front garden.

I hope I will be able to keep it there. But I have my doubts. I think soon religious statues will be barred on private property.

Trooper York said...

This statue of Saint Lucy with her eyeballs on a plate is on the corner of my block.

There is a religious statue about every three houses on my street. At least where the old school Italians still live. As each house is sold the statues disappear.

Fr Martin Fox said...

Lem:

What if it contributes to global warming, but...it's gay?

Then what?

chickelit said...

Somewhere I have a photo I took in Genoa, Italy of one of those street corner veneration statues. Beneath it, neatly arrayed on a small table were various pink dildos and sex toys.

edutcher said...

Reminiscent of the old Visible (Wo)Man models.

Although, in this case, it may be the Risible Woman (I know...).

Lem the artificially intelligent said...

What if it contributes to global warming, but...it's gay?

Then what?


That's a tough one... they both have 'muscle'.

Chip Ahoy said...

The 30 foot disruptive art reminded me Ed was so proud of the totem pole he had carved for the cabin in the Adirondacks, (different from the Poconose dontchaknow) I hated telling him those poles are a Pacific northwest thing, not any ol' east coast amerind thing, cheese Louise. But it goes!

O.T. <-- that stands for off topic, not old testament.

I tried four different ways for starting seeds and the most successful is the most stupid.

I bought 50 of those little peat cups flora root plugs to substitute for the Aerogarden's seed plugs and put them in a plastic storage container. Everything I planted in them came up, and rather quickly at that, whereas all the other methods languished, a little plastic green house, the Aerogarden's 7 spaces, and outside. And that goes to show you ... something.

But it's all for naught. I gave up. Too late. There is no way they can catch up this late. Bought flowers instead, and grown plants and my little terrace garden looks lully.

There is no place for me to mount a bracket to hold a flag, so no way for me to reasonably celebrate patriotic national holidays and make my neighbors jealous of my singular gloriously flappy flag. The metal railing is too beautiful to drill. The railing is metal that bulges outward with straight main uprights. The center upright is the logical place to mount a bracket. Everything I see is made for something larger with screw holes too wide apart. I finally found a place that makes brackets for banners but their market is civic concerns and much larger poles, and all round poles. They do have a bracket that affixes by pipe clamps rather than screws. The bracket holds another interchangeable insert bracket for a flag or a banner, usually extended straight outward. They agreed to make one specifically for me to my specifications. They're welding the insert onto another plate that will fit my upright and accept pipe clamps, so now I can clamp it with two of of those pipe clamps, the kind that you screw and the band tightens. They're even painting it green to match. Neato, eh? They are very far away in a distant land called Oregon, a name that is bolloxed from original Portuguese name "aure il agua", meaning "hear the water" because they have noisy water there, trufax. The place is just south of Salem, a city named after mentholated cigarettes, falsefax.

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Synova said...

Aren't giant ugly statues a roadside fly-over-country thing?

But no Giant Holstein or 30 foot Prairie Chicken or Paul Bunyan with his Blue Ox could ever quite compete with the supreme presence of the decomposed pregnant zombie.

Synova said...

It seems really appropriate, actually, representing the pretentious nature of our better classes, except in a way so clear they couldn't possibly like being exposed like that.

But then I tend to savor a lot of the spontaneous "decoration" associated with the presence of humanity in the world. Not because it's pretty, but because of the interesting ways that it can be ugly.

Synova said...

Ugly decoration is a symptom of liberty and it makes me smile.

As opposed to HOA's and neighbors who have the power to dictate that everything be *tasteful* and bland.

Regulated.

The Dude said...

I disagree with your art but I will defend to the, well, not death, you know, but pretty far, your right to display your ignorance and bad taste.

Get Calder for fuck's sake. Even a Henry Goddamned Moore would be better. Lord knows uncle Henry's estate could use another couple million.

Dust Bunny Queen said...

It is a pretty ghastly statue and overly large. However, it says in the article that the owner will turn the ugly part away from the road, build sight obstructing hedges and in general try to make it less obnoxious. So...let him keep it. It isn't harming anyone.

I once had the opportunity to buy a 20 foot tall reproduction of the classic Michelangelo's David statue. It was from an Italian restaurant that went belly up. I thought it would be so funny to have it in our front acreage and then dress him up in seasonal clothing. Santa hat and bag of presents for Christmas. Easter. St Patricks Day. 4th of July. Man that would be fun. But...it was $800 for the statue and then I realized that making all those costumes and decorations would be "WORK" (in my best Maynard Krebs voice). So. Nope.

I'm not rich enough to be eccentric.

deborah said...

Chip, do what my mom does. On holidays she sticks the pole of her 3x5 flag in a deep flower pot on the front porch. In your case, for the flag to be raised a proper amount above the railing, I guess you'd need a longer pole than usual.

deborah said...

My mom has a St. Francis of Assisi in the corner of her yard. She's very fond of it.

Synova said...

"I'm not rich enough to be eccentric."

I feel your pain. :)