We're living in a time of big stinks when everybody seems to be angry about something. Have Trump's rants poisoned the air. Or is it just that all that his indecencies did was awaken our dark side, our urge to question long-held values, like civility and decency. And not only in the United States, consider the news out of Leeuwarden, a city in the Netherlands said to be one of Europe's capitals of culture.
Mad as hell
Artists there got so mad, about nearly a dozen public art commissions for sculpture fountains awarded to outsiders, that they lodged their complaint with a geyser of their own – a crowdfunded 25-foot fount made of 220 replicas of erect penises.
As if that wasn't enough, inside the sculpture is a public toilet and every time it flushes, the phalluses gush. The artist behind the protest, Henk de Boer, told the press why he did it, saying, “What we are protesting against is that these fountains have been imposed on us. It's like you are talking with a group of friends and suddenly an enormous stranger steps in and takes over the conversation.”
Letting it all hang out
De Boer is so put out that he intends to take his protest to other Dutch cities and villages. His fonts are portable, you see, not unlike the Porta-Potti used on construction sites, except this one is housed by a sculpture. He acknowledges that his effort may be offensive. “There are people, who are not amused by a penis fountain.” Amused?
Anyone who goes to the lengths he did to construct a 25-foot sculpture that features 220 squirting penises isn't making a joke, he's hopping mad and making war. Which is likely what artist Anish Kapoor was doing when he installed his giant tunnel-shaped sculpture he called “Queen's Vagina” in the Garden of Versailles last year.
How else to explain such an indecency?
How far is too far?
And the hits keep coming. I'm thinking of the life-size statue of Donald Trump in the nude with little boy genitals and bloated belly. An artist who goes by the name “Ginger” made the figure in multiples so it could appear in several American cities: New York, San Francisco, Los Angeles, Seattle, and Cleveland.
Like the rage that drove De Boer to form his peeing fountain, Ginger had to have been awfully angry to go to the trouble of forming not one but five sculptures of the president to mock his manhood.
A case of losing oneself
Decency also died across the pond when a London gallery showed a photo-real full-length portrait painting of Trump in the nude with noticeably minuscule genitals. The artist, Illma Gore, appeared in denial when she praised the gallery for its “appreciation of art.” You don't render a meticulous likeness that makes fun of Trump's physique without being boiling mad. Yes, Trump belittles and body shames and embarrasses people. Clearly, he has no shame. But when our anger makes us behave indecently, we're no better than he is.
