In A New Art Exhibit the Playboy Bunny is Worshipped as a God
As a commentary on censorship in China, bad boy conceptual artist R. Lloyd Ming creates a sculpture in which Buddha experiences true enlightenment by worshiping the Playboy Bunny logo as a modern-day golden calf.
R. Lloyd Ming's sculpture, made for his current solo art show, is called 'True Enlightenment Deferred'. It is a Buddha statue meditating in front of neon Playboy Bunny logo and it is meant to be a commentary on the censorship in China, particularly the censorship of pornography. "Playboy magazine founder, Hugh Hefner has always said that he photographed the girl next door," says Ming. "I always thought of them as the Gods next door because the women in the magazine were and still are as close to airbrushed God-like perfection as you can get. Countless men have idolized those women so it was easy for me to imagine the Buddha idolizing a glowing Playboy Bunny logo."
R. Lloyd Ming sees the censorship that the 1.3 billion Chinese people live under as a form of modern day slavery; regardless what is being censored. "Censorship by the Chinese government reminds me of slavery times in America," says Ming. "The slave owners would suppress their slave's access to information and knowledge. They even forbid their slaves from learning how to read because they knew that knowledge would empower the slaves and soon they would be talking about things like freedom, rights and democracy. With my art I am simply trying to encourage dialogue regarding this issue."
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1 comment:
I am intrigued by the notion of a god worshiping a nubile feminine form. It highlights the subjective nature of our creations of god images.
I think Ming would be mistaken to believe that Democracy or capitalism eliminates or even significantly limits censorship or the manipulation of public opinion.
Control of ideas and concepts is available to anyone who can gather an audience. From the money supply to the day's fashion, all are as permanent as the idea.
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