Rudt Peters Rude Peters

[2Roses]

Flash! The news from SOFA this year confirms that genitals are the new gems for 2011. Scrotums and cocks abound as Fashionistas have ample selection of these objects to festoon their wardrobes. Imaginary buyers: “Oh, Susan, those dicks go perfectly with that blue dress”.  Not to mention, nothing says masculine style and taste like a large penis draped across the lapel.

Now, we like to think of ourselves as cosmopolitan, but we were SHOCKED…at the stiff prices these ornamental genitals command. Yes, they are well-crafted cocks, and we don’t mean to demean all the hand-work lavished on each one. But, Mr. Peters peters aren’t proprietary, and that exposes an opportunity for the DIY community to get in the game.  Do It Yourself Penis Jewelry is a natural extension of the capabilities already possessed by many in the artistic community. We feel a massive unleashing of creativity is upon us.

And yet, we fear that the feminist arts may be bringing up the rear of this movement. There is a gaping hole represented by the absence of vaginas within the milieu of wearable genitalia. Does this represent gender bias within the field of craft, or something more deeply penetrating and sinister?

[Julie M.]

I am reading this post with great interest and lots of amusement - you are most funny - but me too I really do not understand what goes through these artists minds. Can someone please explain to me ? What is the thinking behind this piece other than possible "pretend shock value?"

Honestly this is not shocking to me, instead I find this really uninteresting. Am I "supposed" to be shocked? Or does my expression of being "shocked" make me a "bourgeois" ? A penis, so what. Big deal. Does not faze me in the least.

I am sure this is very well done technically in the material, I am no expert for glass or silver/ metals. But still - what is the point?

[Catherine Witherell]

I still think that breasts are prettier but hey, maybe I am old fashioned.

I do think the statement is clever because here you are wearing this thing and someone's talking to you at a dinner party and they look down if it is a pendant and whoa! they know you are available. Maybe the frosted white piece is a stylized screw. THAT is the clever part. A real screw would probably come off as too obvious. Not sure if any classy women would wear this . . . ever. Maybe a classy guy in a fancy gay bar might.

[Miriam Rowe]

I laughed at this post-
I agree with Julie M- I really feel like the days of being shocked or overly interested in nudity are far behind us. Especially in Europe, where nudity in everyday media abounds. I wonder what the point (no pun intended) is?

[Jennifer Culp]

This is my first post on Crafthaus; I might as well dive right into a discussion about cocks. :)

I've thought quite a bit about this subject, having made a few "cock rings" for my BFA show in 2009. I find nudity merely for nudity's sake, or "pretty" nudity supremely uninteresting. The penis rings I made last year sprung from a time near the end of my undergraduate career in which I was uncomfortably aware of the male gaze and its effect on me. I found the idea of placing an ugly, pot-bellied little anthropomorphic penis with a staring silver "eye" on a female hand (the better to stare out at viewers) hilarious, and looking at them engendered a discomfort in most male viewers similar to what I feel when I realize I'm the object of an unwanted lecherous stare. Without some thought--or at least a punchline--behind it, however, a dick is just....well, a dick.

The relative lack of representations of vulvas/vaginas in craft is interesting. Off the top of my head, I imagine that since female bodies have such a history of exploitation as objects of beauty in art, perhaps makers feel there's surfeit of female parts floating around out there already? It seems like penises are more often used in humorous circumstances than pornographic or titillating ways in our culture, so maybe that's the impetus for some to try to reclaim it as an attractive object? Hmmmm...I'm going to keep thinking on it.

[2Roses]

We like that perspective of wearing a dick ring as a symbol of protest. We wonder how many people would misinterpret it as wishful thinking. Much like the Roman habit of wearing penis jewelry as good luck and fertility symbols.

[Brigitte Martin]

Interesting discussion. You may want to take a look at the work done by these crafthausers and invite them to join in your discussion, I am sure they have something to add here.

http://crafthaus.ning.com/profile/KeithALewis
http://crafthaus.ning.com/profile/AndrewKuebeck

[Jennifer Culp]

Ooh, thanks! I love Keith Lewis' work; I'll have to go check out Andrew Kuebeck's.

[Harriete E Berman]

I'm thinking that this jewelry form will appeal to gay men. What better way to establish your identity?
Or
Perhaps, heterosexual AND gay men that like to think with their "little head" instead of their "big head." There is a long history of this and it might be another way to voice their opinions.
Harriete

[Brice Garrett]

I believe his work is interpreting the Hindu Buddhist lingam. Here is a video about his lingam work and the lingam exhibition he created:

 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IQzDDeXRI9I

[Harriete E Berman]

I thought the video is very interesting, and appreciate learning about these other cultures, along with their sculpture and religious observations.

 

But this work is offensive.  In my opinion, Peters adopts a symbol from a male dominated culture, and time,  brings it into the 21st century with male ego,  and thinks he justifies it with historical context. No way!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Leave it to men  to think that fertility is visualized through a phallus! Try 9 months of pregnancy, 24- 48 hours of labor pain, and/or C-section plus nursing a baby for a year. But of course, these male dominated societies think they did all the work.  It infuriates me!

 

I want to say more.....I am too angry to say anything constructive and don't use swear words.

Harriete

 

 

 

 

 

 

[Brice Garrett]

I can see what you are saying Harriete, but in my opinion I don't think that the intent of this exhibition is to manifest the male ego, (I guess it is left for the viewer to decide), but I see it as a huge investigation of the one type, of the many, fertility symbols.

 

And not all men think that they (as men) do all the work. To me a phallus is ONLY representing male fertility and that is it! And we both agree that It would be horrible to say that fertility is only visualized through a phallus. I know that it takes two to reproduce, and a man only does a minority of the work, like you said women go through 9 months of pregnancy, labor, and/or C-sections...etc.

[Harriete E Berman]

Just to clarify, I am not commenting on the exhibition in the video. Of course, a male centric culture would see the phallus as a symbol of fertility. That doesn't bother me at all. It is from another time and place.

It bothers me to adopt a symbol from another time and place,  and think that you can say the same thing now. That is my problem with the recent work. That is where the insensitive sexist pig ego marches to a pulse.