Giant buttplug gnome statue unveiled by man suspended by hooks in own flesh

I knew it had to be by the same artist who made this beauty in Rotterdam:

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It’s Santa with a christmas tree, or a gnome with a buttplug, you pick!

Wikipedia didn’t mention his version in Oslo:

But you should still go there and read the bit about the “Complex Shit” and the “Tree” artworks, I included pictures behind a spoiler warning because the story may be more fun if you don’t know the artwork yet.

Complex shit:

Tree:


The artist later admitted the likeness of the three to a buttplug was intentional.

Some searches told me that this unveiling was in 2018 but they are suspiciously silent on the meathooked guy, I mean, you would mention that right? Apparently you don’t. Most things I found are silent on that, they do mention other stuff.

A Norwegian newspaper said this about it (translated by google, text in italics by me):

On the last Thursday in May, the “anal plug gnome” was unveiled. American artist Paul McCarthy (72) was in attendance. But it was Ringne’s (the owner of the statue park) friend, Johan H. Andresen jr (really wealthy industrialist), that got the most attention.

Welcome motherfuckers, was his opening speech.
This is the end of the world. This is the end of civilization as we know it, the billionaire messaged and sounded more like a doomsday prophet, or a punk - and associate freely and amusingly about Christmas, art and anal plugs.

Did he really get more attention then a half naked man hanging from his own skin? Apparently I have to fully watch the video now…

The English language wiki page for the above mentioned Buttplug gnome in Rotterdam does mention the unveiling by the meathooked guy. Was he just hired to do that job? Seems like it… It was not the artist that did it, that is the bearded guy wearing the cap, also not the industrialist, he is wearing the Hawaii shirt.

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Truly a fitting sign for these times. I wonder if it is hard getting the balance right on the hooks?

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The headline is enough.

The Aristocrats!

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Some Europeans are very, very odd.

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Maybe not

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Just came here to say the same thing

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It’s odd… there’s a lot of words there that seem shocking or exciting, but in the context of the art world add up to something rather old hat and downright mundane. It’s yet another version of an existing Paul McCarthy statue, being unveiled with a Stelarc-style suspension. The statue’s been around for at least 19 years and Stelarc was doing his suspensions in the '70s.

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Listen to that announcer try to sell it… (I skipped ahead to the reveal so I’m not sure who he is): https://youtu.be/ViDlt2ADKp4?t=1289

“This sculpture is about everything, except the butt plug.”

“So, you have an original Christmas wish… No you don’t. This is what you ended up with.”

Fun times.

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My standard response: “I don’t know from art, but I know what I like.”

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Please add the name of the artist to the post: Paul McCarthy

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It’s from 2018!

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It’s a relief that archaeologists will be able to dig up the ruins of our society and quickly understand what we were all about.

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Rob Beschizza, Show some respect to the artist by including his name. While Boing Boing’s judgement with regards to art is typically lacking, here you’ve posted Paul McCarthy, who is arguably one of the most influential American contemporary artists.

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( A little video editing would have been good. )

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Agreed, I watched the first couple of minutes of roundabout traffic and fluttering cloth before deciding, “I better just check how long this is …”

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If you think that was impressive you should see the follow-up video in which they slowly lower the artist down onto the statue.

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Jesus wept…

(Really, 25 replies in?)

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Oh, it won’t be quick.

It will bloom into a slow-burn nightmare of Lovecraftian dimensions.

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