The locals in Paris are not happy....

SkyBlueClouds

Oooh. They ain't happy in Le France.

Have you ever spotted anything that resembles an 'offensive giant sex toy' in the name of art, in any other part of the world?

The Spire dosn't count

Metro UK: #PlugGate: ‘Giant sex toy’ punctured by locals as artist is punched for shaming Paris

Ah, the Place Vendôme.

North of the Tuileries Gardens in Paris, it was built as a monument to the glory of the armies of Louis XIV, later destroyed in the French Revolution and rebuilt by Napoleon I, torn down again, and rebuilt again.

It’s truly a historic place.

Perhaps it isn’t surprising, therefore, that our cousins across the channel have not taken kindly to the – ahem – erection of a piece of inflatable ‘art’ in their historic square that bears a striking resemblance to a sex toy.

The 75ft-tall bright green butt plug – optimistically called ‘Tree’ by its creator – has offended Parisians so much that locals punctured the structure late last night and cut the wires keeping it upright, as well as venting their anger on Twitter using the hashtag #PlugGate.

‘Individuals have severed the cables that hold the sculpture in place, taking advantage of a momentary lack of a security guard,’ said a police spokesman.

One local man even punched artist Paul McCarthy three times in the face, screaming that he is not French and his work has no place in the city.

The 69-year-old American meanwhile, who was not injured severely in the attack, has insisted ‘Tree’ is ‘an abstract work’.

‘It all started with a joke: Originally, I thought that anal plug had a shape similar to the sculptures of Brancusi,’ he said.

‘The people may be offended if they want to refer to ‘the plug’ but for me, this is more of an abstraction.’

The work was created for the International Contemporary Art Fair, which takes place in Paris from 23 to 36 October.

Aint Eazy Being Cheezy

Bloody Paris-ites.

cloud493

Is that the term for paris people? Paris-ites? Doesn't seem to roll off the tongue.

kneemos

But...but...

One eyed Jack

There's a butt plug in the middle of London they call 'The Gherkin'!


EDIT: I thought the OP was having a laugh, just checked the link, and it's an actual butt plug! :pac:

I suppose it'll attract the kind of tourists that do those pictures with the pyramids...

Weird!

The Backwards Man

kneemos wrote: »

But...but...

2-0?

Frank Lee Midere

cloud493 wrote: »

Is that the term for paris people? Paris-ites? Doesn't seem to roll off the tongue.

No. Parisians.

crockholm

Gargantua and Pantagruel should be more careful where they leave their personal items

Kovu

The Torre Agbar.

Giant neon dildo......but then again, anything's a dildo if you're brave enough.

Mountainlad

23-36 of October?

scudzilla

Parisians not happy? Would you be happy if you found out you were a cheese sniffing surrender monkey?

andala

Ok so perhaps not offensive and not a sex toy but it falls into a similar category - there's a monument in a Polish city that looks like a giant...well...THIS

Sprog 4

It's not too bad. As long as they don't try to put a giant butt over it.

SkyBlueClouds

andala wrote: »

Ok so perhaps not offensive and not a sex toy but it falls into a similar category - there's a monument in a Polish city that looks like a giant...well...THIS

That took me a while to cop :eek:

toastedpickles

scudzilla wrote: »

Parisians not happy? Would you be happy if you found out you were a cheese sniffing surrender monkey?

I'm surprised they haven't gone on strike about it

MRnotlob606

Since when have Parisians been happy ? maybe after the storming of the bastile or something,

Sprog 4

andala wrote: »

Ok so perhaps not offensive and not a sex toy but it falls into a similar category - there's a monument in a Polish city that looks like a giant...well...THIS

What's wrong with that? Looks just like a random sculpture.

One eyed Jack

Sprog 4 wrote: »

What's wrong with that? Looks just like a random sculpture.

This reminds me of one of those optical illusion pictures, you see a random sculpture, I see a giant vagina :eek:

bodice ripper

SkyBlueClouds wrote: »

Oooh. They ain't happy in Le France.

Have you ever spotted anything that resembles an 'offensive giant sex toy' in the name of art, in any other part of the world?

The Spire dosn't count

this is worse

Sprog 4

One eyed Jack wrote: »

This reminds me of one of those optical illusion pictures, you see a random sculpture, I see a giant vagina :eek:

Oh. Well I've never seen a vagina so all I see is a nice sculpture.

Joe Doe

Thankfully the Paris 'sex toy' sculpture has been sabotaged at Place Vendome. For a country fast approaching 100% GDP debt maybe they should sort out their fiscal matters firstly, ze Germans were getting very concerned this week. French government debt now surpassing 2 trillion euros, or some 95 percent of GDP

I'm all for a splash of Art but some recent stuff is 'pas bon', Take a look at Grayson Perry new house, ah sure it's grand 'art' so it is?

mewe

cloud493 wrote: »

Is that the term for paris people? Paris-ites? Doesn't seem to roll off the tongue.

You're dealing with The Cunning Linguist in fairness

SkyBlueClouds

Joe Doe wrote: »

I'm all for a splash of Art but some recent stuff is 'pas bon', Take a look at Grayson Perry new house, ah sure it's grand 'art' so it is?

Perry has said that he hopes and believes that the cottage 'will add greatly to the cultural standing of the area'

It will indeed alright :cool:. It hurts my eyes :eek:

Aint Eazy Being Cheezy

mewe wrote: »

You're dealing with The Cunning Linguist in fairness

D'you think you know me?

michael999999

A sex toy?

I thought the French always used there hand!

Cupcake_Crisis

A friend posted that on my Facebook yeaterday with the caption 'your Christmas present is in Paris'. I laughed..... then checked the price of flights to Paris....

Donkey Oaty

I'm as liberal and open-minded as the next person when it comes to matters artistic and sexual, but these principles go out the window when there's bottoms involved.

Lapin

Not the first time prick art has been on display down in the Vendome.

Strangely enough, the Parisians didn't kick up a stink over this crap a couple of years ago.

Waitsian

SkyBlueClouds wrote: »

Have you ever spotted anything that resembles an 'offensive giant sex toy' in the name of art, in any other part of the world?

http://scienceblogs.com/pharyngula/2010/04/13/malta-mustnt-offend-the-pope/

http://www.rationalskepticism.org/the-arts/phallic-art-sparks-row-ahead-of-pope-s-malta-visit-t5017.html


The protestors didn't get their way - it's still there, but I think I remember a few of them holding up sheets in front of it as the Pope's cavalcade passed by. :rolleyes:

Scarinae

How about this sculpture in Trinity College?

mewe

The Cunning Linguist wrote: »

D'you think you know me?

I was making a joke of how you said paris-ites and you have linguist in your username but it's not that important...

The Hill Billy

If they don't like it, they can go shove it up their...

Kovu

The Hill Billy wrote: »

If they don't like it, they can go shove it up their...

........nose.

Kovu

Kovu wrote: »

........nose.

Nose? That don't rhyme with walls? :pac:

One local man even punched artist Paul McCarthy three times in the face, screaming that he is not French and his work has no place in the city.

Ah, typical French racism right there.

NotASheeple

SkyBlueClouds wrote: »

The locals in Paris are not happy....

A case of dicks not liking dick.

Tail Docker

It would take some cheek to put that up.

JupiterKid

Sure a giant pink condom was placed over the column at the Place de la Bastille a few years back and I don't recall the Parisians batting an eyelid over that one.

Suck it up Parisians...suck it up!

Mountainsandh

Ah yeah, but there was a message or purpose to the condom, Paul Mc Carthy's plug- tree seems pretty lazy and pointless, I can see how it can have ruffled the feathers of the super posh place Vendome commercants.
It's one thing to have an arresting piece of art that makes people think, but an inflatable over simplified christmas tree is just that.

I think it's healthy that people should complain if they so feel, rather than look deep and say "t'is Aaaart".

Guy:Incognito

I think they should rise up over this.

In fact I'm going to write a thesis on the subject entitled "The French are revolting"

Fat Christy

I was flicking through some of the articles when I was reading the above story and found this:

http://metro.co.uk/2014/10/17/couple-hospitalised-after-sex-in-the-sea-got-them-stuck-together-4909552/?ito=v-b

WTF? These stories sound like bull****...

Mountainsandh

Ah come OOONN ... that doesn't sound possible to me. Or else they have such a low pain threshold that they both couldn't face a bit of ... pulling.

SkyBlueClouds

Mountainsandh wrote: »

Ah come OOONN ... that doesn't sound possible to me. Or else they have such a low pain threshold that they both couldn't face a bit of ... pulling.

Fat Christy wrote:

I was flicking through some of the articles when I was reading the above story and found this

The young pair were relaxing on a Porto San Giorgio beach when they decided to take to the water to express their love.

But what they thought was a daring and romantic venture came to an embarrassing end when the man found he was unable to detach himself due to suction – forcing the pair to shuffle to shore still stuck together.

Young un's eh. When will they learn not to make love like a pair of crabs :cool:

Cupcake_Crisis

I have it from a very unreliable source that a group of vandals deflated it!

Mountainsandh

No no, you're right Cupcake, vandals did degrade it, they cut some of the ropes I think, so for safety reasons it was then deflated. After also being punched by some guy on site, Paul McCarthy decided to pull the plug on it
He is withdrawing it and saying that he doesn't want to be exposed to violence, neither does he want his art to be.
http://lci.tf1.fr/france/societe/l-oeuvre-gonflable-de-la-place-vendome-degradee-cette-nuit-8504357.html
http://lci.tf1.fr/france/societe/la-sculpture-de-mac-carthy-place-vendome-remballee-8504427.html