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Great, Ahem, Art!

News of the Weird by Chuck Shepherd

By News of the Weird by Chuck Shepherd

Published March 5, 2015

Great, Ahem, Art!

In October, vandals in Paris destroyed the large, inflatable "Tree" by U.S. artist Paul McCarthy in the city's Place Vendome square, but not before it became widely characterized as a gigantic green "plug" of the type used for anal sexual stimulation. Paris' news website The Local reported in December that the controversy has been a boon to the city's sex shops. "We used to sell around 50 (plugs) a month," said one wholesaler. "Since the controversy, we've moved more than a thousand" (at the equivalent of $23 to $45, in materials ranging from glass to stainless steel to silicone). [The Local (Paris), 12-2-2014]

Overthinking It: It was billed as the first-ever art exhibition expressly for nonhuman appreciation -- specifically, for examination by octopuses. England's Brighton Sea Life Center featured the five-tank shared display in November (including a bunch of grapes, a piece of Swiss cheese and a plate of spaghetti -- exhibits made of ceramic, plastic, wood and rope) that the center's curator promised would, according to an ITV report, "stimulate an octopus's natural curiosity about color, shape and texture." [Independent Television (London), 11-5-2014]

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