Public art, mysogyny, and imbecility

As promised, a few other examples of public art and its adventures in Russia. Gallery-confined art is more about the artists’ personal phobias than the public needs, fears or joys. Wherever I travel, I like finding public art because it speaks a lot about the public.

You may wonder what kind of erotic fantasy the sculptor played off in this bronze creation. No, it is not a call girl. No, it is not a secretary, and no, it is not a teacher. It is a business lady.

People in Russia are not of a high opinion of business women. Their success is universally attributed to a rich and influential lover or husband, or both. Unfortunately, this is often true. The statue spells it out with surgically enhanced breasts and the mini. Local teenagers love touching the tits, so from time to time her breasts need to be refreshed by bronze paint to prevent inappropriate shine.

Portraying successful women as whores dressed for a kill is OK. Touching tits is not. Sanctimony at its best.

My favourite was this one. Dad and his ice-cream brandishing son were walking past a woman. Not because it was a great piece of art (it was one of the dumbest sculptures you could find), but because of its story.

There was a certain angle from which the composition was reduced to two figures, with the man boasting of his testosterone levels in a very blunt way.

People loved watching the group from that angle, and loved taking pictures of themselves from that angle. It is very difficult to explain why this “trick of light” would generate so much love, but – across the globe – any inadvertent phallic symbol usually becomes a tourist attraction. Have you noticed me using the past tense? Oh, no, the monument was not scrapped.

A hypocritical society can’t remove it and can’t have it. For some, it could represent a dilemma. For the artistically unchallenged local authorities that was a basic variation of the Gordian Knot. The hand of the boy was cut off and welded back in a downward position. The boy became a cripple in the process with his shoulder dislocated, but who cares, it just added points to the dad who was now caring of a disfigured boy.

If you missed the horse with a man’s willie, jump back a few posts, and please stand by for an enema syringe sculpture. 

Update: I found the role-model for the Biz Lady statue, thanks to this post. I didn’t know a She-Hulk existed. Someone inside Marvel has a dark, really dark fantasy. Here it is!