"Provocative" Christmas tree rasing eyebrows in Paris
October 17, 2014 2:55 PM   Subscribe

 
Heh. "Erected".
posted by Tknophobia at 2:56 PM on October 17, 2014 [3 favorites]


One can be thankful there is no star on top, perhaps.
posted by a lungful of dragon at 2:58 PM on October 17, 2014 [14 favorites]


Looks like they're plugging Christmas again this year.
posted by Chuffy at 3:00 PM on October 17, 2014 [50 favorites]


"Ben wa bells... Ben wa bells... It's christmas time in the city..."
posted by Orange Dinosaur Slide at 3:01 PM on October 17, 2014 [2 favorites]


What's the fuss? Just that it's a gargantuan butt-plug? Come on! It's the Holidays!
posted by Navelgazer at 3:02 PM on October 17, 2014 [5 favorites]


Paris is ready to party.
posted by urbanwhaleshark at 3:05 PM on October 17, 2014 [2 favorites]


I don't think it's fair to make the French the butt of all these jokes.
posted by sobarel at 3:05 PM on October 17, 2014 [12 favorites]


Wait till you see the Hanukkah bush!
posted by Atom Eyes at 3:07 PM on October 17, 2014 [28 favorites]


For all your holiday mixed-message gift-giving needs: Chocolate Santa with a ... Christmas tree? From sculptor Paul McCarthy, who is fond of this sort of art.
posted by filthy light thief at 3:08 PM on October 17, 2014 [2 favorites]


Weird. Looks more Greek than French to me.
posted by D+ at 3:10 PM on October 17, 2014 [7 favorites]


I'm sure that's Dom Joly about 8 seconds in...
posted by pipeski at 3:11 PM on October 17, 2014


You'd want to work up to that one over time, really.
posted by Ripper Minnieton at 3:12 PM on October 17, 2014 [18 favorites]


Yeah, that Christmas Santa is actually titled "Santa With Butt Plug". So no coincidence there.

I like provocative art as much as the next guy, but I wouldn't be supportive of a multi-story sex-toy art piece in a public square.

That being said, I'm not French.
posted by el io at 3:12 PM on October 17, 2014 [3 favorites]


Santa Claus is coming early this year.
posted by a lungful of dragon at 3:12 PM on October 17, 2014 [12 favorites]


I, too, am offended by Christmas decorations before Halloween.
posted by ckape at 3:13 PM on October 17, 2014 [63 favorites]


My sister once believed you used a butt plug to hold in farts.
posted by jeather at 3:14 PM on October 17, 2014 [36 favorites]


Did she have an opinion about nipple clamps?
posted by logicpunk at 3:16 PM on October 17, 2014 [15 favorites]


I think whoever commissioned this really should have sat on it for a while before thrusting it into such an open place.
posted by iotic at 3:16 PM on October 17, 2014 [26 favorites]


Yeah, this is clearly deliberate on the part of the artist. It's not "heh heh, this looks kinda like" -- it's pretty much copyright infringement (nsfw). If there's any unwitting accident involved in this, the blame would have to fall on whoever cleared him for the project.
posted by NMcCoy at 3:30 PM on October 17, 2014


So France is just bad at Google? That's the company that represents his work ... so ... not really a secret this dude is into making massive sculptures of butt plugs.

Good trolling, though. I'm kind of happy that this was absolutely deliberate and not "I thought I was making a Christmas tree!"
posted by darksong at 3:32 PM on October 17, 2014 [1 favorite]


I assume the French are just cool about this sort of thing, aren't they? i.e. they "get it", there's no controversy.
posted by naju at 3:35 PM on October 17, 2014 [1 favorite]


If they really want to end the confusion over this representing a butt plug or a Christmas tree, after New Years they should gradually paint it brown, starting from the top.
posted by CynicalKnight at 3:40 PM on October 17, 2014 [8 favorites]


I bet Hirst and the Saatchi Gallery are just kicking themselves.
posted by Artw at 3:43 PM on October 17, 2014 [2 favorites]


Was Gulliver French?
posted by Chuffy at 3:46 PM on October 17, 2014


What's less amusing is that the hate for this thing is already turning into a rallying point for the far-right/catholic fundies/ultra-nationalists/anti-gay movements who are still pissed off about the gay marriage law. On the other hand, the inhabitants of Barcelona have been enjoying Miró's Woman and Bird (which is also what it looks like) for the past 30 years.
posted by elgilito at 3:51 PM on October 17, 2014 [3 favorites]


At least the creators were responsible citizens and gave it a flared base.
posted by MillMan at 3:53 PM on October 17, 2014 [16 favorites]


Complex pile by Paul McCarth...
posted by Chuffy at 3:54 PM on October 17, 2014


Nope, as far as I can tell, we're not cool about it. McCarthy's been punched in the face by a passer-by while the plug was being set up, the anti-gay-marriage crowd is outraged, as are some fine arts fanciers and there's some questioning, as always, about whether taxpayer money has been spent on it.

Satirists are having a field day.

Personally, I just find it butt-ugly (cheap pun intended) independently of what it's meant (or not) to represent and agree with those who decry contemporary art. Then again, I don't like Buren's columns nor the Louvre pyramid either. Get off my cobblestones!
posted by Fruny at 3:54 PM on October 17, 2014 [2 favorites]


One can be thankful there is no star on top, perhaps.

You're quite correct... (Ypsilanti, MI's water tower does, in fact, have a lit up holiday star on top)
posted by JoeXIII007 at 3:55 PM on October 17, 2014


It's worth noting this isn't just any square, this is Place Vendôme, a very posh shopping district in the middle of the city. Within 3 minutes walk of the sculpture are 10+ high end watch shops, the kind of place with $50,000 items in the windows. Lots of other jewelry and luxury goods around too. Right in the middle is a giant hard iron column, although sadly at the moment it's hidden behind some scaffolding.
posted by Nelson at 3:58 PM on October 17, 2014 [1 favorite]


I don't think we should over analyse this object.
posted by Multicellular Exothermic at 3:58 PM on October 17, 2014 [1 favorite]


You know, just when you're hanging up your Halloween decorations, Christmas sneaks up from behind.
posted by Joey Michaels at 4:06 PM on October 17, 2014 [6 favorites]


Cece n'est pas une buttplug.
posted by Pope Guilty at 4:12 PM on October 17, 2014 [16 favorites]


It's worth noting this isn't just any square

A friend wonders if the tree is a comment on the sort of arses that populate Place Vendôme... I'm not familiar enough with Paris myself to comment!
posted by sobarel at 4:15 PM on October 17, 2014 [1 favorite]


From sculptor Paul McCarthy, who is fond of this sort of art.

Indeed.
posted by dephlogisticated at 4:17 PM on October 17, 2014 [1 favorite]


butts lol
posted by feckless fecal fear mongering at 4:18 PM on October 17, 2014 [5 favorites]


Guys, guys, guys. It's just a big Cable Ace Award.
posted by Sticherbeast at 4:18 PM on October 17, 2014


Now we know what the Green Giant is so fucking Jolly about...

Ho ho ho.
posted by howfar at 4:26 PM on October 17, 2014 [1 favorite]


Guys, guys, guys. It's just a big Cable Ace Award.

Dude. Gross.
posted by brundlefly at 4:29 PM on October 17, 2014 [10 favorites]


Santa's definitely not touching the plate of cookies when he sees that in the livingroom.
posted by zippy at 5:08 PM on October 17, 2014 [2 favorites]


This is a familiar feeling as I've never been able to see the gherkin in London any other way.
posted by George_Spiggott at 5:23 PM on October 17, 2014 [2 favorites]


This tree, it vibrates?
posted by NortonDC at 5:54 PM on October 17, 2014 [3 favorites]


Paul McCarthy really went off the deep end since that whole Beatles thing dried up.
posted by dr_dank at 5:59 PM on October 17, 2014 [1 favorite]


This puts the ass in Christmass
posted by oceanjesse at 6:01 PM on October 17, 2014 [5 favorites]


Is it facing London? That's the only thing that matters.

Also, fuck this installation.

Damnit.
posted by phaedon at 6:26 PM on October 17, 2014 [1 favorite]


Christ, what an asshole


you'd need for that thing
posted by nickmark at 6:29 PM on October 17, 2014 [17 favorites]


"The installation will be in place for three weeks."

Ouch.
posted by alms at 6:31 PM on October 17, 2014 [5 favorites]


Paris style, amirite?
posted by clvrmnky at 6:32 PM on October 17, 2014


This is the sort of McCarthyism that a person could really get behind.

Or in front of, depending on one's taste.
posted by thomas j wise at 7:01 PM on October 17, 2014


Well, slide that down your chimney. Ho ho ho indeed.
posted by mosk at 7:07 PM on October 17, 2014 [2 favorites]


This one is good.
posted by latkes at 7:11 PM on October 17, 2014


In his early works, McCarthy sought to break the limitations of painting by using the body as a paintbrush or even canvas; later, he incorporated bodily fluids or food as substitutes into his works. In a 1974 video, Painting, Wall Whip, he painted with his head and face, "smearing his body with paint and then with ketchup, mayonnaise or raw meat and, in one case, feces." This clearly resembled the work of Vienna actionist Günter Brus.[4] Similarly, his work evolved from painting to transgressive performance art, psychosexual events intended to fly in the face of social convention, testing the emotional limits of both artist and viewer. An example of this is his 1976 piece Class Fool, where McCarthy threw himself around a ketchup spattered classroom at the University of California, San Diego until dazed and self-injured. He then vomited several times and inserted a Barbie doll into his rectum.[1] The piece ended when the audience could no longer stand to watch his performance.[1] Concerned that the University's custodians would have to clean up the mess, graduate students Virginia Maksymowicz and Blaise Tobia, along with art historian Moira Roth, spent several hours cleaning up the ketchup and vomit.
posted by Nevin at 7:41 PM on October 17, 2014 [6 favorites]


Menocu Christmas Tree.
posted by symbioid at 7:51 PM on October 17, 2014


On that assault they mention - the 69 year old artist was struck three times in the face : Paul McCarthy was attacked in Paris on Thursday while installing his contribution to FIAC’s “Hors Les Murs”
posted by R. Mutt at 7:53 PM on October 17, 2014


I wonder if the assault can be considered part of the installation!
posted by Nevin at 9:00 PM on October 17, 2014




Sadly, I could not think of a good joke for this. Butt, at least I tried.
posted by gideonswann at 10:04 PM on October 17, 2014 [2 favorites]


Good work everyone. Metafilter never disappoints.
posted by Keith Talent at 10:41 PM on October 17, 2014 [2 favorites]


Sadly, I could not think of a good joke for this. Butt, at least I tried.

Keep plugging away.
posted by longbaugh at 11:47 PM on October 17, 2014 [5 favorites]


Today's round of pics always prominently featured what I take to be construction shrouding over a column, which appears to be a giant tastefully packaged dildo. one assumes (ahem) the artist knew of the giant dildo box and felt it helped set the scene.
posted by mwhybark at 12:06 AM on October 18, 2014


"Ben wa bells... Ben wa bells... It's christmas time in the city..."

It's spelled Benoît.


hey, that's my name you're mucking with there
posted by 5_13_23_42_69_666 at 1:47 AM on October 18, 2014 [1 favorite]


My sister once believed you used a butt plug to hold in farts.

Pshaw. You tuck a no-show sock into your crack to muffle them so no one knows.
posted by sonascope at 4:34 AM on October 18, 2014




More like eyebrow-razing lol
posted by zscore at 10:11 AM on October 18, 2014


I'm surprised the people of Paris are not flexible enough to accommodate themselves to art like this.
posted by adamrice at 10:47 AM on October 18, 2014 [4 favorites]


You people are having way too much fun with this.
posted by still_wears_a_hat at 11:39 AM on October 18, 2014




As one of my Facebook friends said:

Liberté, Egalité, Astroglidé.
posted by Pallas Athena at 1:36 PM on October 18, 2014 [7 favorites]


Just the thing for gay Peris'!
posted by Quasimike at 3:00 PM on October 18, 2014


I'm surprised the people of Paris are not flexible enough to accommodate themselves to art like this.

Le French clench.
posted by a lungful of dragon at 7:35 PM on October 18, 2014


Buttplug 0 - Assholes 1.
posted by elgilito at 2:42 AM on October 19, 2014


Hirst would have cast that fucker in bronze.
posted by Artw at 8:03 AM on October 19, 2014


I'm surprised the people of Paris are not flexible enough to accommodate themselves to art like this.

As a couple other commenters mentioned, it's not the people of Paris, it's the right-wing people. They've been clutching their pearls and shrieking ever since the thing was erected. Monumentally silly and sad, considering its deflation comes on the heels of yet another anti-gay demonstration that had a sizeable cohort of vocal racists in it. They're a minority, but they're a well-financed, well-organized, vocal minority with strong ties to the media, who have been idiotically giving them their field day for more than a year now, and it's fucking tiresome.

The butt plug was both funny and on-point; it's a shame it's been vandalized and it speaks very badly of the lack of courage of public officials here that it's not being put back up.
posted by fraula at 10:45 AM on October 19, 2014 [3 favorites]


It's not the first time an erection has been vandalized at Place Vendôme. None other than Gustave Courbet directed the toppling of the original column during the Paris Commune in 1871.

Courbet himself was known for provocative art, including this (still NSFW today, probably).
posted by gimonca at 3:10 PM on October 19, 2014


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