britney

I was sent a link from a close friend asking what I thought of the new Daniel Edwards statue of Britney Spears giving birth. It's being shown at a New York Gallery and labels the queen of bellies as a pro-life icon. Fair enough.

The piece is fairly tacky, from the pix I've seen, and, this being the US, there is no back view of it, which, in real life, is said to feature the crowning head of her son young Sean. The artist claims he never met Ms. Spears or her son and worked entirely from photos. No word from the Spears camp. I'm not sure whether this indicates approval, rare restraint, or a measured consideration of the market value of the piece and the controversy. So I'm more interested in this case in the reaction rather than the work itself, a glossy resin all fours representation which the artist says was definitely not the result of seeing her birth video.

The Pro-choicers, of course, are howling that it's pro-life and the pro-lifers are howling that they don't want no Britney Spears representing their interests. The artist coyly claims that he might be pro-life, but that he wouldn't march with anybody. Emailers and bloggers are pretty divided.

I really can't take the piece or its supposed message too seriously. Edwards, after all, is the guy who gave us the death mask from the cryogenized head of Ted Williams for a World Series 2004 exhibit. If he had instead just sculpted an unnamed (and perhaps more attractive) woman for the exhibit, which includes pro-life materials), it could be seen as the seduction and act of birth. Choosing this celeb and calling it a statment of pop culture and art is old and tired.