15 of the Most Controversial Pieces of ‘Art’
“Art” is so loosely defined that some people are really taking advantage of pushing the limits of its definition. There’s definitely a point where we can safely say “Come on… that is definitely NOT art!” But sometimes what crosses that line is totally ambiguous and hotly debated.
Virgin Mary
Anyone who’s stumbled into an art gallery or two (especially in Europe) knows how popular the image of the Madonna is as an artistic subject. Chris Ofili’s ‘Holy Virgin Mary,’ however, takes a fairly interesting and novel approach to representing the virgin mother, incorporating pornographic clippings smeared with elephant dung. The artwork was housed at the Brooklyn Museum of Art in New York, and the gallery saw its funding temporarily withdrawn following outrage from the Catholic Church, Mayor Giuliani, and elephants. The gallery sought an injunction and the court sided with them by reinstating their funding and curbing any attempts by the city to remove the piece.
Ofili’s next major artwork:
‘Mayor Giuliani’ – A portrait of the former mayor of New York that features pictures of dongs lightly crusted with hyena vomit.
Piss Christ
Here, we move from number one to number two, while simultaneously moving from number two to number one. ‘Piss Christ,’ by American artist Andres Serrano, is a photograph of a small plastic crucifix completely submerged in a glass of the artist’s urine, hence the name. Sources say Serrano passed on ‘Urine Savior,’ ‘Wee Wee Jesus,’ and ‘Pee God,’ before coming to a decision. Unsurprisingly, like Ofili’s Virgin Mary, ‘Piss Christ’ came under heavy fire from the religious community because of the apparent lack of respect it displayed for Mr. Jesus and the Christian Faith in general. The artwork was vandalized numerous times and any gallery that displayed it was bombarded with vicious letters and death threats, as was the artist himself.
Serrano’s next major work:
‘Poo Buddha.’
Loose Lips Sink Ships
Peter Lagenbach’s ‘Loose Lips Sink Ships‘ is a humorous sculpture of former president Bill Clinton and Monica Lewinsky lounging together in a bathtub. The humor of the situation represented by the artwork is compounded by the clever title, which is an old British adage from Word War II. In this context it refers both to the scandalous nature of the secrets that were kept from the American public, as well as the extreme fellatiocity of the whole affair. The Artwork was lauded by critics and won first prize at the California State Fair in Sacramento, only to eventually be declared unfit for exhibition and banned from the gallery that housed it. Fortunately, another gallery owner had a better sense of humor and offered to display the work.
Lagenbach’s next major work:
‘Tight Lips Float Boats’ – an artistic review of the Kennedy Administration.
Yo Mama’s Last Supper
‘Yo Mama’s Last Supper‘ is a still photograph by acclaimed Jamaican-American artist, Renée Cox depicting a recreation of Da Vinvi’s famous, ‘The Last Supper.’ In the photograph, all the apostles except for one are black men, and Renée herself serves as the centrepiece, posing naked in emulation of Christ. Like Ofili’s ‘Holy Virgin Mary,’ ‘Yo Mama’s Last Supper’ was housed in the Brooklyn Museum of Art, and also garnered harsh criticism from both religious groups and Rudy Giuliani. Giuliani set up a commission to review the work, hoping they would find it morally offensive, and thus give him an excuse to remove it from the gallery. When Bloomberg took over office in 2002, he abolished the committee, and the work was allowed to remain.
Cox’s next major work:
‘Yo Grandma’s Crucifixion.’
Piss
David Černý’s ‘Piss,’ a statue of two men, facing each other and doing pee pee into a mutual pool, is situated in Prague, the capital of his native Czech Republic. The most innovative feature of this statue is that the men’s upper bodies swivel at the pelvis, so that their respective penesia are in their respective hands, and it is only then that they let forth a glorious stream of fluid. The posture of the two men is respectable, almost proud, creating a humorous juxtaposition between the seeming reverence of the subject and the perceived obscenity of the act being committed. Whatever your feeling about public urination, the work is no doubt a sight to behold.
Černý’s next major work:
Another fountain sculpture, simply entitled ‘Tubgirl.’
Shark
David Černý takes out another place on the list with another, even more controversial, artwork – his 2005 sculpture ‘Shark.’ ‘Shark’ is life-size realistic model of former dictator Saddam Hussein, suspended in a large tank of formaldehyde. The piece is a parody of Damien Hirst famous 1991 sculpture, the succinctly-titled ‘The Physical Impossibility of Death in the Mind of Someone Living,’ which consists of an entire tiger shark preserved in a similar vat. In 2006, Černý’s artwork was banned in two different countries, Belgium and Poland, largely due to fears that it would stir up unrest in the countries’ Muslim populations, especially considering the fact that the famous ‘Mohammed cartoons’ had recently shook Denmark.
Černý’s next major work:
(As yet untitled) – Fidel Castro pickled in brine.
Everyone I Have Ever Slept With 1963–1995
‘Everyone I Have Ever Slept With 1963–1995‘ is a work by British artist Tracey Emin, created in (surprise, surprise) 1995. The piece consists of a simple domed camping tent, embroidered with the name’s of every single person with whom Emin had ever slept in the described period, be that in a sexual sense or simply platonically. Despite the fact that some of the names were of non-sexual partners, the honest personal sexuality of the piece caused quite a stir with the press, with one reviewer remarking, ‘she’s slept with everyone – even the curator.’ Sadly, ‘Everyone I Have Ever Slept With 1963–1995’ was destroyed in the famous Momart warehouse fire of 2004. The press’ reaction was one of mockery rather than sympathy, calling the piece, which had sold for £40,000, a considerable amount for the work of a living artist, ‘rubbish.’
Emin’s next major work:
A circus tent embroidered with the names of everyone Tara Reid has ever slept with.
Miss Kitty
‘Miss Kitty‘ is a 2007 sculpture by Paolo Schmidlin that depicts the present Pope, Benedict XVI, in complete drag, and with a coquettish stare to boot. Why exactly the piece is entitle ‘Miss Kitty’ is unknown, but the sculpture itself is hilarious – dressing the Pope in a blonde bob-style wig, thigh-high stockings, panties, a stole, and that’s pretty much it. The piece was removed from its exhibit in Milan — the focus of which was the relationship between homosexuality and art — under pressure from various Catholic organizations, including the Catholic Anti-Defamation League. Don’t let the name fool you, none of them have any cool super powers. Though the artwork itself has stirred up quite a bit of controversy, this has been outstripped by the furor that has arisen surround the Catholic Church’s attempts to censor art in the secular world.
Schmidlin’s next major work:
Lady Lama – The Dali Lama in drag.
Fountain
We’re kicking it old school with this next entry on our list, Marcel Duchamp’s famous and controversial ‘Fountain.’ It was simply a urinal repositioned on its side, which brought to the forefront the argument over what exactly constituted art. The work was completed in 1917 and it made (what was at the time) an incredibly radical statement: that art is more or less what we make it, and is sometimes no more than seeing a familiar object in a new light. Needless to say, not everyone in 1917-land agreed, and the statue became an intense topic of debate among artists and citizens alike. Sadly, ‘Fountain’ was lost after it’s initial exhibition, but Duchamp had a number of replicas commissioned in the 1960s that can be seen in various galleries around the world.
Eres Lo Que Lees (You Are What You Read)
‘Eres Lo Que Lees’ (‘You Are What You Read’) was a piece within Guillermo Vargas’ ‘Exposición N° 1’ a collection of work he showed in Nicaragua, in August 2007. The work consisted of a seemingly starving dog, chained to a wall in the gallery with the title of the work spelled out in dog biscuits, just out of the animal’s reach. Now, while the other works on the list were mainly berated by sensitive over-reactionaries for reasons of preservation of ideas of self-worth, this one pretty much makes the blood of any good person boil. Vargas received a number of death threats during the exhibition, despite his claim that the dog escaped after only one day of showing. The gallery’s director insisted that the dog was being fed, but it really didn’t look like it. The dog is still clearly far below a healthy weight and teasing it with food certainly isn’t helpful or very nice. Vargas has stated that reactions to his piece highlight the hypocrisy of a society which doesn’t care about a dog dying in the street, but finds one being chained to a wall in a gallery abhorrent. At the end of the day, he is profiting from making an innocent animal suffer. Case Closed.
Vargas’ next major work:
An etching done using only his fingernails on the tomb to which an angry mob eventually chains him.
Call Me Ishmael
Joe Davis is a serious badass, combining science with art and adding just a touch of insanity for good measure. His most recent venture, a memorial sculpture entitled ‘Call Me Ishmael‘ is without doubt the best example of his creative madness. The sculpture is to serve as a memorial to the victims of hurricanes, and consists of a ten story tall tower that collects the electrical nitrogen that forms in the air during severe storms, converts this energy, and fires it back into the storm in the form of a giant laser beam, with no real effect besides just looking awesome and making the storm weep like a child. Davis has mentioned that he calls his creation ‘Call Me Ishmael‘ because, like captain Ahab, it rages blindly against nature. Our new hero, Joe Davis.
Davis’ next major work:
The Hulk – A giant fist that punches tsunamis into oblivion.
Virgin in a Condom
More religious art? Yep, you betcha. ‘Virgin in a Condom,’ by British artist Tania Kovat, is exactly what it sounds like: a miniature stature of the Virgin Mary, wrapped oh-so-elegantly in a prophylactic. The piece caused a huge shitstorm immediately upon its first showing in 1994, and at the Museum of Contemporary Art in Sydney, Australia, it was stolen only a few days into its exhibition, presumably by one of the Christian Groups that was vehemently opposing its showing. It also attracted a slew of protesters when it was traveling on exhibition in New Zealand, despite the fact the New Zealand only has a population of 496.
Kovat’s next major work:
Jesus in a douche bag.
Down by the Lake with Liz and Phil
‘Down by the Lake With Liz and Phil‘ is a sculpture by artist Greg Taylor situated in Canberra, the capital city of Australia. The statue depicts Queen Elizabeth and Prince Philip sitting together on a bench outside Australia’s Parliament House, which isn’t very controversial, given that Australia is still a member of the British Commonwealth. Oh, but wait – they’re both completely naked. As soon at the statue was erected, royalists and people who don’t want to see the Queen naked alike sought the artwork’s destruction, and only a week after its opening, someone successfully beheaded the Queen, thus rendering the sculpture far less creepy than in its original form.
Taylor’s next major work:
‘Barack and Shelly Chillin’ at the Beach.’
Myra
‘Myra‘ is a painting by British artist Marcus Harvey of Myra Hindley, which is rendered completely out of the handprints of small children. What’s controversial about that? How about the fact that Myra Hindley, along with Ian Brady, was responsible for the vicious murder of five children aged between 10 and 17 in the years 1963 to 1965? As soon at the piece was put on display at the Royal Academy of Art in 1997 it was attacked by angry members of the public, who splattered the canvas with eggs and ink. Many see this reaction to the painting as inappropriate, however, including The Times art critic Richard Cork, who asserted that:
‘Far from cynically exploiting her notoriety, Harvey’s grave and monumental canvas succeeds in conveying the enormity of the crime she committed. Seen from afar, through several doorways, Hindley’s face looms at us like an apparition. By the time we get close enough to realize that it is spattered with children’s handprints, the sense of menace becomes overwhelming.’
Hindley’s next major work:
‘OJ’ – A portrait of OJ Simpson made entirely from gloves that are too small.
Porno Queen
Paolo Schmidlin makes an honored second appearance on our list, for his brilliant sculpture entitled ‘Porno Queen,’ a sculpture of Queen Elizabeth’ (who also makes her second appearance in this hallowed article) naked torso and head, being fondled by a phantom pair of man’s hands. By the look in her eyes, you can just tell she’s really enjoying it, maybe almost as much as she enjoys crumpets. The sculpture was shown in Madrid, Spain in 2007, in a show that was (hilariously) opened by their own reining monarch, King Juan Carlos. The Sun’s royal photographer, said that the piece is ‘quite obviously the work of a lunatic,’ but hey, if wanting to seen Queen jubblies makes you a lunatic, then wrap us in a straight jacket and lock us away, baby. Call it a morbid curiosity.
Schmidlin’s next major work:
‘Deep-throat Duke.’
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