The Capla Kesting Fine Art Studio in Brooklyn’s Williamsburg gallery district is having a dedication. A life-sized statue statue, done by Daniel Edwards, is being touted as the first Pro Life statue.
“An obvious comment on celebrity and the pro-life movement in general,” says Sean Michaels of Wired Magazine.
The “Monument to Pro-Life” is on view April 7th thru 23rd with a reception for the dedication April 7th at the Capla Kesting Fine Art Studio.
Dan is a classically trained sculptor from New York’s Graduate School of the Figurative Arts, and his notable public sculpture work includes The Martin Luther King and Robert Kennedy Memorial in Indianapolis, of which groundbreaking ceremonies were performed by President Clinton and Senator Ted Kennedy. He also has works in the permanent collections of the National Art Museum of Sport in Indianapolis, the Las Vegas art museum, and the Indiana statehouse.
So far everything seems OK. I’m just about as Pro Life as anyone could be. I detest just about all abortions. And anything that would promote the Pro Life cause, even a statue, would get my approval.
Almost anything.
You see, this statue, this life-sized statue, is of a nude Britney Spears on a bearskin rug while giving birth to her firstborn.
Yes, you read that correctly.
The dedication of the life-sized statue celebrates the recent birth of Spears’ baby boy, Sean, and applauds her decision of placing family before career.
“A superstar at Britney’s young age having a child is rare in today’s celebrity culture. This dedication honors Britney for the rarity of her choice and bravery of her decision,” said gallery co-director, Lincoln Capla. The dedication includes materials provided by Manhattan Right To Life Committee.
“Britney provides inspiration for those struggling with the ‘right choice’,” said artist Daniel Edwards, recipient of a 2005 Bartlebooth award from London’s The Art Newspaper. “She was number one with Google last year, with good reason — people are inspired by the beauty of a pregnant woman,” said Edwards.
But it gets worse.
“Monument to Pro-Life: The Birth of Sean Preston,” believed Pro-Life’s first monument to the ‘act of giving birth,’ is purportedly an idealized depiction of Britney in delivery. Natural aspects of Spears’ pregnancy, like lactiferous breasts and protruding naval, compliment a posterior view that depicts widened hips for birthing and reveals the crowning of baby Sean’s head.
“Apparently, his life-size nude statue of Spears — on all fours, clutching a bearskin rug and complete with a posterior view that reveals the crowning of her baby’s lil’ head — was the right choice for a New York gallery,” said The Courier- Journal – Louisville Kentucky
It reminds me of statutes used by pagan cults that have symbolic statutes to honor fertility. Kind of like a “goddess” and “maternal figure” to serve as a metaphor of procreation, but also sexualized. Or maybe the artist simply likes pregnant pop tarts.
The monument acknowledges the pop-diva’s pin-up past by showing Spears seductively posed on all fours atop a bearskin rug with back arched, pelvis thrust upward, as she clutches the bear’s ears with ‘water-retentive’ hands.
“The image from behind of the kneeling pose is very strong so I felt the front of the sculpture needed an equally powerful image which is where the bearskin rug comes in. Not only is it a traditional symbol – the newborn baby on the bear-rug, but the dead skin represents the end of the circle of life,” said the sculptor.
Look, I do understand artistic expression. I appreciate and agree with the natural feminine beauty of women when they get pregnant. But the over-exaggeration of her pose, being on all fours with her butt high in the air, strongly suggests not the birthing of a baby but rather the creation of said baby – I doubt if many births have happened with the mother in this position.
And remember that sculpture is three-dimensional, unlike a painting on a canvas. The viewer of the sculpture is able to walk around and view the sculpture for any and all angles. If you want to see the crowning of the baby’s head then just walk around and take a peek. This should make for some interesting school field trips to the gallery.
The star has been invited to the opening of the work but has not yet returned her invitation.
Or is all of this simply the artist’s “15 minutes of fame” without having anything to do with Pro Life or maternal beauty? What did you expect to happen when you take a sexy icon and stick her butt up in the air? Could the art have had more genuine impact if it had been of someone other than White-Trash Barbie?
Some pictures, for the insanely curious, can be seen by clicking here.
Daniel Edwards, Pro Life, Capla Kesting, statue, Britney Spears, birth
1 response so far ↓
1 Crazy Politico // Apr 2, 2006 at 8:29 am
I heard rumor that to make the sculpture more life like they were going to add a couch with Kevin on it drinking a beer, smoking a cigarette, and counting Britney’s money.