The Kenyan chain reminded me of the Shona-like head of a stainless steel/bronze sculpture ‘FROM MOLECULE TO MAN’ created by Jim Cunningham, Michigan, for a physiology department. The shape of the head can be attributed to the fact that, 20 yrs ago, the artist had apprenticed to a sculptor in Zimbabwe.
Jim’s sculpture is an embodiment of the departmental logo invented by Bill, its chairperson – a decoration of Leonardo da Vinci’s ‘Proportions of the Human Figure’ with DNA.
As seen below, Sanford, maker of sharpies (left insert) and Bill (right insert) as well as Jim, above, hide human genitalia.
To the mixture of associations of the sculpture shown here – Renaissance and African Art and Molecular Biology – I add one more, North American Modesty.
Remember, another example of contemporary gender-free art, was Eric’s homunculus (2003).
I like William Blake’s version of the Vetruvian Man because he made the genitals the center of the body instead of the navel.
As an aside, not long after Michelangelo painted the Sistine Chapel, all the genitalia was painted over with leaves.
The DNA seems like an artful concealment that seems to weave the pattern of the object advertised into the act of concealment and it just seems to resonate well. The gender free art of the sharpies (if that is the marker company) with the ‘Proportions of the Human Figure’ in boxer shorts seems to smack of prudery.
There is something deliciously ironic about hiding the genitalia with DNA. Invisible science cleanses messy physicality?
And the boxer version made me laugh out loud. It seems a very funny satire.
Birgit:
It’s like da Vinci got wrapped up in a Busby Berkely musical. And those shorts are a hoot. That guy could win medals at the Olympics. Adding those shorts propels the image into a whole different context.
It just seems to me that, if you are going to mess around with the design, then you better come up with something transformational. That round head – is it making some kind of a point? Is the artist “personalizing” the figure in some kind of appropriative gesture? Does the drawing have a shortcoming that the mask-like appendage resolves? The U.S. Patent Office takes a dim view of people who submit old ideas as new by the expedient of a cosmetic change. Perhaps they have a point.
Jay,
the DNA in the physiology logo makes me think of steps leading up to a spaceship in Star Wars rather than of a Busby Berkely musical. The double-helix looks metallically stiff, not like the elegant, wavy glycan structure of the model shown on Wikipedia.
In the sculpture, the double-helix is even less recognizable. I assume that the head has Shona-like dimension for the ease of manufacture. Its weird mismatch with Renaissance culture is a relief to the pretentiousness of the whole idea.
The lack of genitalia in the sales pitch of my physiology department reveals a sentiment opposite to that of the Chocolate Jesus. Not my fault.
I suppose the artistic efforts shown here are not in league with a Yasumasa Morimura
Tree and June,
Messy genitalia or our procreation?
ha! I sincerely believe both should be covered with fig leaves at all times ;-)
I don’t really see the boxers as prudery – just plain silliness which I appreciate. I like the DNA version quite a bit too. I’d buy the t-shirt :)
Or a parody of prudery.
Birgit:
I didn’t catch on right away, but this is the work that you had mentioned earlier and that I had asked you to photograph. Thanks for sharing.
In making the genitals the center of the image, Blake asserts man’s conceit. The genitals are the center of man’s ability to create. Da Vinci’s naval-centered image asserts God’s creative ability.
Vince:
And I guess you might say that the navel is in relation to the genitals as it issues therefrom.
Vince,
William Blake? This immigrant from German culture got a book from the library to find out about his poetry and prose.