Feminist art has yet to progress beyond weird acts with period blood and uterus drawings, and this newest display of an electronic uterus overlooking Sunset Blvd. in Hollywood does little to move the genre any further forward.
Behold:
As noted by Artnet, the glowing neon uterus with a pair of boxing gloves, titled “Champ,” serves as “an in-your-face reminder of the women’s movement and its newfound ability to topple men in positions of power.”
Created by artist Zoe Buckman and organized by Art Production Fund, the “art” installment took two years to create and is being unveiled at the most opportune of times, given the #MeToo movement, where scores of prominent male feminists like Harvey Weinstein have been outed as sexual predators.
“The pay gap is very obvious and apparent in Hollywood, and it’s no secret that there’s been systemic sexual harassment and assault in the industry, so we knew all that going in,” Buckman told Artnet News. “I just didn’t know that the rest of the country would be thinking those things as well.”
“Everything I’ve made has always been speaking to the female experience, whether that’s personal or political,” said Buckman. “It’s really encouraging and rewarding to see these ideas so widely discussed.”
“Her ‘Present Life’ series was inspired by her own placenta, which she had plastinated and turned into a sculpture, and included a series of placenta-themed works, with some in neon,” according to Artnet.
Buckman said of her neon placenta work: “In photo school, they teach you that light is your paintbrush. In that body of work, I wanted to create a neon placenta. I don’t think I realized until just now that that was a building block to Champ.”
Despite “Champ’s” obvious progressive message, Buckman says she faced stiff adversity getting fundraising from companies to endorse it.
“It’s incredibly difficult to get political, feminist-driven art supported,” said Buckman. “Lots of people want to create the illusion that they are supporting feminist messaging, but when it comes to spending money, most brands and companies were afraid of the criticism they could face by putting their names to this piece.”