81 replies on “Here Is the Poster”

  2. Um, what? I think they were going for “Things that look like vaginas are sexy!” Instead they got, “You can’t open a vagina without first opening your wallet.” How is that erotic?

  4. Yeah, it’s nice when vaginas are made equal with things we stuff money in. That doesn’t make me feel like me and my vag are just objects for consumption and purchase and ownership AT ALL!

    (And no, ECB didn’t tell me to say that – we just see eye to eye.)

  7. @2 and 4, i think you might be reading way too much into this image. i don’t even think it is a wallet, i think it’s a brief case. but in any event, it’s an image that’s intended to resemble a vagina without anyone, like the AFA or whatever, being able to get upset. the actual identity of the object is, to me anyway, irrelevant.

  11. As a copywriter, I gotta say that they could have followed up the photo with something a little more relevant than “indulge your senses.” I mean come on, if you’re going to put a briefcase or purse or whatever as your image, you can at least pair it with some words that match.

    I apologize for following the annoying tradition of beginning a statement with “As a such-and-such” implying that it gives one special knowledge.

  16. @7 – if that’s a briefcase, it’s got a pretty gigantic zipper (compare the scale in this picture). And you’re free to say “I totally ignore symbols — you should, too!” but that doesn’t actually render the symbols meaningless.

  18. My first response: “Witty!” (for reasons similar to what Douglas at 7 wrote: “It’s an image that’s intended to resemble a vagina without anyone, like the AFA or whatever, being able to get upset.”) The idea of an erotic arts festival highlighting the erotic qualities of everyday objects seemed smart and clever.

    This response is now tempered by the immediate, visceral response of a number of women friends, who’ve greeted the image with big fat “EEEWWWWWWWWWW!!!”s.

    Maybe I’m relinquishing my original position too easily, but in matters of vagina-approximating imagery, I feel the opinions of actual women trump the opinion of a gay man any day….

  21. It’s clever, clinical and more than a little creepy. Plus, honestly, if this was a picture of a woman’s vagina photographed in a similar fashion, I don’t think ANYONE would find it “erotic”.

  22. #21, dude what are you talking about? I’m sure I could find guys who just find the briefcase sexy, much less when posed to look like a vagina. Have you never been on the internet before?

  24. It’s imaginitive. Erotic art festival promo = picture of something inadvertently sexual. Perfect!

    Some commenters here have no sense of humor or imagination.

    Plus, it’s sad that women would think of vaginas as gross. Be happy about it, or indifferent if you must, but to think it’s gross? What a drag.

  31. Thank you, Urgutha. I was beginning to wonder. I think it’s hilarious, and yes, sexy; if you think about vulvas as much as I do, you can indeed see them everywhere.

  33. For the record, as* a vagina-owning, “WTF?!”-thinking commentor, I do think the general concept of the image is clever, amusing, subversive, and not the least bit gross. The “open vagina = empty wallet” connotation, however, is overt and annoying.

    *@11 – I’m not claiming special knowledge here, just giving my bona fides. (That’s what HE said!)

  34. Brilliant, considering:

    1) how phallocentric the culture usually is, and

    2) that we’re in a Recession, and the arts are starved as ever for money.

  36. Andy Niable excellent point!

    It’s nice to see something other than cock as the symbol for sex. All you haters and Oedipal gutter dwellers need to relax!

  37. I think other choices are missing, such as “funny” “cute” “clever” and “wow, where did someone find that purse?” 🙂

    I love this piece, by the way. I think the Festival is showing that erotic art can be light and fun.

  38. i second what lola [33] said, minus the vagina-owning part, and plus my prejudice that “erotic art” is nothing more than a sexual outlet for people who aren’t getting any and is inherently tacky and unsexy. so… in that regard, the poster hits all the right notes.

  40. I think this image is brilliant.

    Despite that fact that if you look at it for a while, you realize that there is the potential to start drawing an metaphor between the vagina and something that is stiff, dry, hard and leathery.

    I don’t care. The image is still brilliant.

  42. # 38: You seem to have missed an entire and highly relevant section of art history.
    Society obviously doesn’t have any other tacky/unsexy “outlets” for people who aren’t getting any. . .

  43. if you analyze the image long enough you can draw tons of negative and positive interpretations out of it, but my immediate reaction is simply, it looks like a vagina, i like vaginas, i like this image.

    and i have to disagree with whoever said that a real vagina pictured this way wouldn’t be erotic, i would have liked that image too. but from a cleverness-in-advertising standpoint it would have been a bit on the nose as they say.

  44. no i haven’t, dimensionsvariable. i’m not saying it’s impossible for art to be tasteful and erotic, just that based on my own prejudices, when i hear the term “erotic art fair” i think x-rated comic book convention.

  46. I hate how much the focus on money. “Own your pleasure” and the wallet. It feels like all it’s about it money. Making money, spending money. Not at all about art. Which is lame.

  50. I personaly think this is AMAZING and love the creativity shown by the artist. Truely brilliant for anyone that understands EROTICA! I would not miss this show for my life! 🙂 🙂 😉

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