Haiku on Kabouter Buttplug - Rotterdam

You what? A Haiku on a statue-with-a-rude-name? Yep, sorry, we Rotterdam people have the habit of coming up with imaginative names for objects in the public eye. Especially the more, shall we say, explicit-looking objects.

This statue is by Paul McCarthy, and boy oh boy did it cause a stir and a stink when it was unveiled. 

Now, let this image slowly sink in. What do you see?

A...gnome?

No, dear, it's supposed to be Father Christmas. At least, that is what the Rotterdam Council spokesperson tried to tell the good people of Rotterdam, who were bewildered by what their Council had spent their (tax)money on.

Look, see, he carries a Christmas bell in his left hand.

And what does he hold proudly up in his right hand?

A...

Obviously! A Christmas tree!

Now, of course that was the very first thing that sprang to your mind, right?

The funny thing is that the same sculptor has managed to sell one of his huge statues to the council of Paris, where it caused the same kind of stink, as it carries the same lewd thoughts into people's minds as Kabouter Buttplug does in Rotterdam.

Art is supposed to evoke emotion, and cause commotion I suppose.

Do I like this statue? Hmmm. No, not my taste. But there is no accounting for taste, so if you happen to like it, fine.

Any way, it did inspire me, some time ago, to write the following Haiku.

Buttplug in the rain

gleaming rivulets drip down

like tears of a clown

Do you like statues? Rotterdam Statues - Part 2 - a very personal selection

Good evening all!
I've told you before that I like statues. And I am fortunate in working in a city which has many. I've shown you a few of my favourites already (in my blog about Zadkine), and now I'm going to show you some more.

"Monsieur Jacques" by Ludwig Oswald Wenckebach (1959)

My Granny used to tell me this was Grandpa. And being 2 at the time, and never having met him as he died long before I was born, I believed her. Or...perhaps she didn't so much tell me this, as allowed me to fantasize about this statue being of her late husband. It's either one or the other, the exact memory is vague. But what I absolutely do remember, is always climbing up the 3 steps to touch the hat, and saying hello to him. It's on the Coolsingel, next to a McDonald's,if you want to say 'hi' to my not-really-Grandfather.

This cheeky clown by ? is on the Coolsingel as well.

I'm sorry. I should've made a note about the sculptor, and forgot... This clown (he has a little clown's hat on his head) is rather nude. And well-endowed. When I took this photograph this afternoon, two Japanese tourists took a photo of me taking a photo of him. 

I do not believe this one was on the Coolsingel during my outings with Gran, but she would've seen the humor in it when I had pronounced this one Grandpa.

These two definitely were around when my Gran took me walking around the Coolsingel in the years between 1958 and 1963.

The naked lady is by Pieter Starreveld, dating from 1953, and it's on the wall of what used to be a bank. It has a grand name: "De Welvaart" (meaning: prosperity), but the Rotterdam people dubbed it "Nakie van Blakie" (nude of the Blaak). As a child I liked it because of the little horse.

The bottom one is next to the Bijenkorf, a nice department store, and I used to loathe it. It has a name as well, "De Gestileerde Bloem" (the stylistic flower) and is by Naum Gabo, dating from 1957. It must have been as modern as you get, in 1957, very fitting for the modern heart of the bombed out city.

I cannot see a flower in it for the life of me, and it gives me a tiny frisson of satisfaction to hear that my daughter loathes it as well. Un-appreciation of modern art runs in my bloodline. We like our art to look realistic. Sorry, Naum! (My mother makes up for this trait with a vengeance, though, and sculpts away most unrealistically)

Haha, those of you in the know, now wait for the Buttplug Gnome, admit it. I'll save him for another time. You'll have to visit this blog again, haven't you?