Saturday, May 06, 2006

I don't understand art but I know what I like

During one of my late-nights walk, I discovered this (bronze?) statue near frequented main road and bus station (click for larger versions):

Naughty sculpture

If you inspect it really closely, you find out that the womam is resting her head on the man's leg but it surely does not look that way.

However, to see the most interesting part of the scultpure, you have to lower your head. Click here if you are at least 15 years old. (Hint: It's sort of follow-up to my previous paragraph about Ross Hedvicek).

Here it is if you want to see it for yourself.

4 comments:

Anonymous said...

Czech intellectuals are amenable to lower their heads. Nevertheless, you should take a detailed snapshot of the document which the man holds in his left hand, it might be more interresting and unique...

Jan Vaněk jr. said...

It's in front of the Sazka (monopoly lottery company) building and so presumably approved, if not directly commissioned, by its infamous boss Mr. Hušák.

I recall this being mentioned/criticised in the press a few years ago but can't find anything - ah: here's a Feb 2004 article (in Czech, but with a photo gallery); via a Czech blog/website.

It says it's a smaller copy of such a statue in Toronto by Czecho-Canadian sculptress Lea Vivit(ová) but the only thing I've been able to find online is a gay plaque by somebody completely else.

Anonymous said...

JVJr.: I think you might be refering to a cover story in Týden one or two years ago, mentioning this statue and several others - but do not ask me for the direct link, you´re an expert here ;)

Jan Vaněk jr. said...

As a friend kindly pointed out, the bloody Czech journalists couldn't even get the name right: it's Lea Vivot. (A A search on Google Images offers the correction, but not Google proper - incredible.)

lia: Yes, I had a vague recollection of Týden as well and searched its archive first, but apparently didn't use the right keywords. Now, with the name, it's easy: Tomáš Pospiszyl in issue nr. 35 from 23 Aug 2004. A nice condemnation, sadly not available online: "We'd be hard-pressed to find a better example of kitch's adaptability. Vivot can do big-eyed children, puppies as well as pornography."


BTW, this is good: An international artist says she had no intentions of causing problems when her staff plopped a life-size sculpture in Sugden Plaza last week - and a small-town battle that followed. But I really should move to Wikipedia with such stuff...