Longtime online friend Libby Lynn just posted about, and uploaded to Flickr, the fruits of her latest obsessive art project “Souvenirs” and I thought it was so cool-looking I had to share it with you. In her post about the project she explains the process, saying,
(…) What I loved about the original photograph [“The Quiet Cane Toads” by Cary Wolinsky] were the clothespins that sealed shut the mouths of the dead toads, and the great implied lines they made, each shelf pointing in the opposite direction. “Clothespins” led to “hey, nipples!” – which led to boobs, which was a good idea, because a boob has no undercuts when it’s cast in a jug of geltrate. Boobs are also easy to cast in plaster, so boobs it was.
It only took four geltrate molds, over fifty pounds of commercial-grade plaster and 30 casts to get it kind of right. I used two different molds: One is pretty much based on my body; the other deformed boob was carved down to resemble the soft puffiness of a non-erect nipple. (…)
(…) My professor just called to let me know that it probably won’t be accepted into the Spring ‘08 NCCU student show, because this is the third “adult-themed” project I’ve completed for school. Still, I’m hauling this fucker to campus tonight, so the jurors can at least wonder what’s wrong with my brain. (read the entire post here.)
What an incredible project, and the outcome is fantastic! Let’s wish her luck with all those amazing boobs tonight — and let’s hope the student show jurors will get a clue about their students’ changing interests in human sexuality. If there’s more “adult-themed” art projects coming from students these days, doesn’t that signify an important cultural shift that deserves recognition? And why shouldn’t Libby be allowed to be considered no matter how many “adult themed” projects she chooses to express? What a ridiculous set of discriminatory criteria, especially in the art world. View the whole photoset here.
aw, thanks, vb!
Sounds familiar :\
Well, I go to CIA (Cleveland Institute of Art) and our school has a no-censorship policy…unless prospective students and their parents are going to be there. I was in charge of the printmaking display cases a few years back, and put up a gorgeous, gigantic lithograph I found in our archives (by a past student, not me) of a man with three baboon heads masturbating. It was up for a week, until open-house rolled ’round, and then I was told to take it down. I fought bitterly! Took it to the administration! But in the end, it had to come down for that week… :(
So schools, or at least art schools, seem okay with it… and we students definitely are, as are the art professors… I think the heads of the schools are just paranoid about what the outside world, particularly parents (who pay their bills), will think.
Is it possible that Libby’s school’s student show is very open to the public? The school might be making this grave mistake in hopes of maintaining public image (as if artists haven’t been dealing with nudity for centuries now. Pfft.)