[BOSTON] A realistic-looking statue of a man sleepwalking in his underwear near the center of Wellesley College has created a stir among the women on campus, I can hear the tittering now...
especially as more than 100 students at the all-women's college signed a petition asking administrators to remove it.
Oh, shucks. Banned in Boston? Shoulda tried Texas A&M. Their guy'd be wearing a cowboy hat now.
The statue, called Sleepwalker, is part of an art exhibit featuring sculptor Tony Matelli at the college's Davis Museum. The exhibit, New Gravity, features sculptures that are often reversed, upended or atomized.
Sounds very trendy, doesn't it?
However, the statue of the sleepwalker -- which is hard to miss in a high-traffic area by both pedestrians and drivers near the campus center -- has caused outrage among some students in just one day after its Feb. 3 installation.
"Yes outrage! How dare they?"
Zoe Magid, a Wellesley College junior majoring in political science, started a petition on Change.org with other students asking college president H. Kim Bottomly to have the statue removed.
"Oh, take the beastly thing awa-a-a-a-y!"
"[T]his highly lifelike sculpture has, within just a few hours of its outdoor installation, become a source of apprehension, fear, and triggering thoughts regarding sexual assault for many members of our campus community," says the petition, which was penned by student Lauren Walsh.
Skinless people. Sandpaper world. Pain the insensitive like us couldn't possibly understand...
"While it may appear humorous, or thought-provoking to some, it has already become a source of undue stress for many Wellesley College students, the majority of whom live, study, and work in this space."
"Tut tut, my dear! Why'd we come to an expensive all-women's school if you're going to have to see realistic-looking statues of a man in his underwear? We could see the real thing at Amherst!"
Davis Museum director Lisa Fischman wrote on Wellesley College's official website that the sculpture was meant to evoke response.
Outrage is a response, I guess.
"We placed the Sleepwalker on the roadside just beyond the Davis to connect the exhibition -- within the museum -- to the campus world beyond," Fischman wrote, also posting it on Change.org as her response to the petition. "I love the idea of art escaping the museum and muddling the line between what we expect to be inside (art) and what we expect to be outside (life)."
Yes, yes. We all love the idea of pretentious bullshit. Though judging from the pic at the site it's pretty well done pretentious bullshit.
Fischman noted that reactions on campus have been "varied," and even wrote that she has heard that some find the statue "troubling."
Well, yes. Most of us are 'troubled' by statues of guys in their underwear. Kinda the same way we're 'troubled' by flat beer or stepping in something we're afraid might be poop.
However,
some people cause happiness wherever they go; others whenever they go...
she noted that the sculpture's whole intent was to start discussion.
Does anyone do anything on a college campus other than to 'start discussion?'
"As the best art does, Tony Matelli's work provokes dialogue, and discourse is at the core of education," she wrote.
Really great art starts discussions that go: "It's really good, ain't it?"... "Yep. Sure is."
However,
there is a theory which states that if ever anybody discovers exactly what the Universe is for and why it is here, it will instantly disappear and be replaced by something even more bizarre and inexplicable. There is another theory which states that this has already happened...
Magid said over the phone Tuesday that Fischman's response failed to address students' concerns.
"I didn't get my way, therefore my concerns aren't addressed. So there."
"We were really disappointed that she seemed to articulate that she was glad it was starting discussion, but didn't respond to the fact that it's making students on campus feel unsafe,
"Statues of guys in their underwear make most of us feel unsafe, don't they?... Don't they?... Or is it just me?"
which is not appropriate," Magid said. "We really feel that if a piece of art makes students feel unsafe, that steps over a line."
Whatcha might call a 'redline.'
At the college on Tuesday, many drivers could be seen slamming on their brakes as they approached or passed the statue, craning their necks for a second look.
I guess that could be considered making people feel unsafe, having been rear-ended once.
Many students were seen making a casual beeline for the new addition on campus -- some smiled and laughed as they got closer; others frowned and seemed apprehensive.
Of a friggin' oversize dolly?
All reached for their smartphones to take a photo.
If you're gonna be unsafe you might as well post it on Facebook.
"I honestly didn't even want to get too close to him," said Laura Mayron, a Wellesley College sophomore. "It honestly makes me a little uncomfortable with how real he looks. It's odd."
"I mean, what if he's anatomically correct?"
Bridget Schreiner, a Wellesley freshman, said Tuesday afternoon that she had already signed the Change.org petition that was posted late Monday night.
"Oh, yasss. I'm sure he has a pee-pee. That simply doesn't do at Wellesly, y'know."
Schreiner said she felt "freaked out" the first time she saw the statue, thinking for a moment that a real, nearly naked person was lingering near the campus center.
"What would anybody who goes to Wellesly do with a doinker?"
"This could be a trigger for students who have experienced sexual assault," she said.
"And I'm sure we all have, at one time or another, in one form or another. In fact... Yes, I think I'm being assaulted right now..."
Others said while the statue came as a surprise, they understood the artist's intention.
"Does the phrase 'funny' mean anything to you tea sippers?"
"I find it disturbing, but in a good way," said Sarah Wall-Randell, an English professor at Wellesley. "I think it's meant to be off-putting -- it's a schlumpy guy in underpants in an all-women environment."
"But then, I saw a dangling participle once. I'm not afraid of them!"
Wellesley College senior Annie Wang, an art history major,
Boy, is she employable!
said she acknowledged that the statue forced passers-by to contemplate the very nature of art.
"That's right!" she harrumphed. "The very nature of art! I been studying that stuff for almost four years now, so I know something about it!"
However,
a good lie finds more believers than a bad truth...
she said she wished to see the statue moved out of such a public space.
"Put him in the hallway. He'd make a good hatrack, if us ladies wore hats anymore."
"I think art's intention is to confront, but not assault,
"And no hickeys, dammit!'
and people can see this as assaulting," Wang said.
"That's why you see Wellesley women curled up in little fetal balls all over the campus!"
"Wellesley is a place where we're supposed to feel safe.
"Oh, hold me, Mildred!"
I think place and a context matters, and I don't think this is the place to put it."