What is probably
the most macho joke
of all time is one that cannot be reproduced in full here because it would hurt many sensibilities, but which, for many to bring to mind, is the one that begins with these words: Do women need to be perfect? Well, that they have a flat head to leave the cubata on and so on. " The barbarity was counted with all ease 30 years ago, and to me, as I am sure that many, I did not find it funny. On the contrary, it made me feel
doubly humiliated
: by what the joke told and because someone, always a man, dared to tell me.
Well, the tables that artist
Liz Jones designed
to decorate the bar where the protagonist of 'A Clockwork Orange' (Alex DeLarge, played by
Malcolm McDowell)
hung out with his gang drinking molokos have in a way the same quality as that joke, no matter how much they fall on the side of art.
The female nude, always available
Because, in any case, as the prestigious expert
Mary Beard
clearly explains
in the Netflix documentary
'The Nude in Art',
the
naked
bodies of women that fill the museums of the West with bombastic titles are nothing more than "alibis for satisfy male desire. "
To illustrate the above, Beard uses the example of
Courbet's
famous work 'The Origin of the World'
(that small painting painted in 1866 that is a very close-up of a woman's open pubis). From Beard's point of view, this work leans towards "the right side of
the blurred line that separates art from pornography
" for two reasons: "It is exhibited in a major museum, that's one. And its title is another. : 'The Origin of the World.' We don't know exactly when she got that title and Courbet didn't necessarily wear it, but think how different we'd see it if it were titled, I don't know, 'Jeanette's Pussy.'
Returning to the famous
tables of 'A Clockwork Orange',
those stylized naked women on all fours offering their belly to the support of feet and drinks, although their realization was carried out by the artist Liz Moore, they were directly inspired by the works of the then controversial British artist
Allen Jones.
In fact, Kubrick tried to have him make the furniture for the Korova Milk Bar, but they did not reach an economic agreement, and he had to 'settle' with Moore.
A PLANETARY SCANDAL
Now an honorable member of the British
Royal Academy of Arts
and with work in many museums, Allen Jones debuted the 70s by becoming world famous thanks to his fetishistic fiberglass mannequins that turned women into sadomasochistic-inspired chairs and tables.
Perhaps he came to this female representation because of his expressed desire to investigate
"what is admissible in the field of art."
Of course, if that was it, he soon found out.
His works were received after their presentation in society with protests from multiple fronts.
Artist Allen Jones poses with his 'coffee table' in 1974.
Criticized as
misogynistic
, attacked from
feminism
,
conservatism
, the
art world
and numerous
media outlets
, the animosity against Jones and his sculptures persisted for years, to the extent that in 1978 they were
attacked with stink bombs
at an exhibition at the Institute of Contemporary Art in London and almost a decade later, during International Women's Day, her 'Chair', exhibited at the Tate Gallery, was
showered with paint stripper
that left it battered.
Jones has 'blamed' feminism for the virulent backlash against her works, although it is highly doubtful that any woman, of whatever ideology, could have been pleasantly impressed by looking at her sculptures.
That, as in the joke, turns us into 'things' to support the cubata.
Or the moloko, now that he celebrates his 50th birthday.
According to the criteria of The Trust Project
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