Art Metropole

#08578

Celebrity Lezbian Fist, 'Cathy Opie'

Artist

P.G. THING CO. (Paige Gratland)

Date

2008

Publisher

P.G. THING CO.

Format

Multiples

Size

10 × 16 × 10 cm

Description

“Celebrity Lezbian Fist” is a limited edition series of silicone fists cast from the actual hands of famed and favourite queer cultural icons. Inspired by the infamous cock-castings by rock groupie Cynthia Plaster Caster, the fists come in a range of punchy colours personally selected by each participant.

In the late sixties, Cynthia Plaster Caster began approaching rock stars she admired at concerts, gaining access through the groupie line. Casting the musicians’ cocks in plaster, Cynthia started a notorious collection — including phallic replicas of such notable stars as Jimi Hendrix and Noel Redding (both of The Jimi Hendrix Experience), Jello Biafra (Dead Kennedys), and Wayne Kramer (MC5.) Similarly, the porn industry has cast and venerated the members of porn stars such as Ron Jeremy and Jeff Stryker, packaging them as dildoes for the sex toy market. The Celebrity Lezbian Fist subverts the notion of power and virility associated with the phallus and places it on the fist, a symbol of queer sex, activism and artistry. The final packaged object teeters between an emblem of political resistance and a sex toy — an Iron Fist in a Velvet Glove.

Edition of 25, numbered.

Proceeds from the sale of “Celebrity Lezbian Fists” will be donated to The Triangle Program; Canada’s only classroom for LGBTTI2QQAP Youth. Visit www.schools.tdsb.on.ca/triangle for more information.

P.G. THING CO. produces small objects. It is collaborative in process and production and conceptually informed by a feminist gay aesthetic.

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