ew. Just ew.

And what completely perverted lonely old man would buy that vagina-wine-bottle table?

Don't be mad at me... but I don't think its too bad. The vagina wine holder is creepy but some of this guy's other stuff would look really neat in a house decorated in a modern style. Especially if it was a feminist's house and the whole point was to be ironic.

I looked through his work and wasn't sure how I felt about it at first. Some of the pieces I found more interesting, others--like the legs drawer--less so. The Winespread table frustrated me--a well-done vulva representation can be gorgeous, and he clearly has the skill for it, but chooses to present it only as a vessel for penetration. With this man's talent, think what he could do if he chose to create women-positive works. Instead, he think's he's representing "the most perfect female forms."

I don't find it offensive just really really tacky.

He's putting women into pieces, in the "perfect feminine form", as objects, and selling them. Lovely.

I thought the wine spread was kind of beautiful. What bothered me is that it's meant to be a vessel for your hooch. too bad.

I remember commenting on this work back on the 24th of July.
http://svutlana.blogspot.com/2008/07/vice-for-ms-furniture.html
I didn't like it then, and I still don't like it, but it is art.
I don't particularly find it sexist, just not something I would want in my house. It reminds me too much of male sex toys that look like dismembered genitals from female porn stars, and I'm not turned on at all by dismembered body parts.
Creepy, is the word I would use to describe this art.

It's not so bad. It's not a knife rack...

Tacky, but someone who is going to spend the money on something like this is probably old anyway. When that generation dies off the world will be a different place. =)

Yes it IS offensive. And I'd be more likely to give him a pass about being all intent on studying the female form, if any of his work in the linked page actually had a face. This, to me, is textbook objectification.

i don't have any problems with every object that imitates female form, or nudity. but it's this guy's "inspiration" that bothers me:

"This perfectionism he recognizes in the way women use fashion, high heels, fitness and plastic surgery to portray themselves. The female images in for example Playboy are precisely composed and manipulated in PhotoShop."

so perfection is something that has to be obtained through life risking surgeries and expensive treatments, and then photoshop. any surprise that the idea doesn't really excite me? if his ideas or works were anything remotely close to admiring women, i might have liked them. he just admires an abusive idea of female beauty, and there's nothing original or subversive about that. how's he any different from howard stern?

How about some nice phallic furniture? Tacky, objectifying stuff like this doesn't bother me. It bothers me that the same lewd material isn't available for women. Now I'm not sure that any woman would want to buy a penis shaped floor lamp, but still.

I'm in two minds about the whole thing but one thing on the "erotic furniture" website I definitely did find creepy and offensive is this comment on a breast-shaped cupboard:
"A woman with fantastic breasts, seen in the sauna,
inspired me to make this work."
urgh.

I don't really have a problem with this piece of furniture. I think the power we have is in choosing to buy or not buy a piece of work. You or I can feel any way we like about it but art is very subjective what is offensive to you may be tame to me. I am really happy and agree with everything the very articulate women above me have stated.

I did not read his opinions on his inspiration so that would definitely shape my opinion of the piece. I think that it would be interesting to take his perspective and how he came to this body shape as the perfect female form. Is this what particularly stimulates him? Was an inspiration from a previous intimate partner, or was this a paradigm shaped by society.

I think it would be interesting if a woman had made this as well. It would be interesting to see how women look at their own bodies to compared to men. Do you think they would have a more realistic view of the female anatomy or more critical?

In my own perceptions I would be more likely to agree with his perceptions of a woman's body. My views have been shaped in my view the media to think that thin and smaller is beautiful. It has made me uncomfortable at times in how I view myself and I always find myself comparing my attractiveness to others. I think we are far too quick to blame it on men when we as women are quick to undercut our fellow women.

"This perfectionism he recognizes in the way women use fashion, high heels, fitness and plastic surgery to portray themselves. The female images in for example Playboy are precisely composed and manipulated in PhotoShop."

I find his inspiration quite interesting, really - on the one hand, he comes across as a silly man fascinated with titties and vagina's - on the other, he seems to recognize the bogusness of these hypersexualized imagery. The positionality of this guy (male!) seems to play a large role in the perception of his work here - indeed, what if it was a woman making it? A woman perhaps interested in demonstrating the artificiality of what we perceive to be a natural ideal of beauty, and violence inherent in such constructions?

i think there's loads of subversive potential in art making use of popular and collective dreams, and fears - see, for instance, Orlan's 'carnal art'. Then again, this is probably not art Proper, is it?

thanks for bringing it up, though. I'm currently writing something about (feminist) art; ideals of beauty, etc. Interestingly, such works have the capacity to unsettle; to disrupt common sense categorizations, etc. Irony, parody, yes. it might just get lost on a lot of his clientele, though :)

I'm sorry, but I'm utterly at a loss as to what type of furniture this piece is? Is it a table?

The only thing I really dislike about his work is the use of high-heels.

Otherwise it's erotic art. This guy is good at making wood sculpture and furniture and he wants to make erotic art. If he were talented as a painter and did erotic art half (or more) of the negative comments here would be irrelevant.

I also really like his three-corner table.

I don't find it offensive but I can't imagine what kind of person would put it in a home.
On the other hand, the workmanship is good so if this is what the artist enjoys doing, why not??

I think something like this comes down to the INTENT. (i.e., what's the difference between porn and art? INTENT...)

What was the artist's intent in making this piece, or any others? Was it "erotic kitsch"? Was it "the shock value"? Was it misogyny? Forgive me, but I'm not clear on his intent.

OTOH, you might -- MIGHT -- be able to argue that our ability to discuss it here, on this platform, either for or against it, would suggest that this IS a work of art.

Thoughts?