Britney Spears Sculpture of Birth, Quite interesting Options

[tswart1]

NEW YORK - Britney Spears will soon be giving birth again — in Brooklyn, as a sexy sculpture that has drawn thousands of hate e-mails.

"This is a new take on pro-life. Pro-lifers normally promote bloody images of abortion. This is the image of birth," Daniel Edwards said of his work, to be unveiled at a Brooklyn gallery in April, months after Edwards' sculpture of Ted Williams severed head stirred up an artistic storm.

The life-size pop princess is naked and pregnant, crouching face-down on a bare-toothed bear rug as the baby's head appears on the opposite end.

On Tuesday at his studio in Moosup, Conn., Edwards was pouring a mold to cast the sculpture in resin. It'll be transported to the Capla Kesting Fine Art gallery in Brooklyn's artsy Williamsburg neighborhood, where Britney the artwork is to appear next to a display case filled with pro-life materials.

When some bloggers heard about the exhibit — "Monument to Pro-Life: The Birth of Sean Preston" — the gallery was inundated with about 3,000 e-mails from around the world in just a week, split between pro-choice and pro-life opinions.

"We also got calls from Tokyo, England, France. Some people are upset that Britney is being used for this subject matter," said gallery co-owner David Kesting. "Others who are pro-life thought this was degrading to their movement. And some pro-choice people were upset that this is a pro-life monument."

The gallery is hiring extra security guards for the free exhibit opening April 7 and running two weeks.

The sculptor's three children — ages 3, 6, and 8 — helped build the first clay model of the sculpted Britney, mainly the bear rug.

"At first, the kids thought it was kind of gross. Yukky. But then, they got curious," their 40-year-old dad said in a telephone interview from his home, which is near his studio.

Compared to the hubbub around his art, Edwards' life is peaceful. He takes care of his two boys and a girl during the day, while his wife, a microbiologist whom he married right after high school, goes to work. Then they switch childcare duties while he works on his art.

His sculpture of the pop diva comes six months after she gave birth to her first child, Sean Preston — and about a half year after Edwards displayed what he called his "shrine" to baseball great Williams, whose body was decapitated and frozen in hopes that medical science could one day revive him.

When asked why he creates art that generates publicity for him by piggybacking on subjects hyped in the media, Edwards said: "You're bombarded with these stories. And there's a thread that winds back to the art. That's not a bad thing. People are interested in these topics, and it works for art as well."

Spears' publicist, Leslie Sloan, did not immediately respond to a request for comment from The Associated Press on Tuesday. Edwards said he never spoke to or met the star, and that he fashioned her face and figure from photographs.

"I admire her. This is an idealized figure," he said. "Everyone is coming at me with anger and venom, but I depicted her as she has depicted herself — seductively. Suddenly, she's a mom."

His aim, said the son of a mother who gave birth to him when she was 17, was to stir up debate about a difficult topic that "is greater than the issues presented by either pro-life and pro-choice advocates."

When asked whether he's pro-life, he said, "You nailed me. I'm not saying that I am. I wouldn't march with either pro-life or pro-choice advocates. This is not meant to be political."

A Democrat, "I don't judge anybody for the decision they make."

[StompingKirsten]

the face of that sculpture, it doesn't even look like her IMO

[MetsOwnYou]

the face of that sculpture, it doesn't even look like her IMO

She has a very round, young face. The face in that scuplture does resemble her, but more so if she were 15 years older. I believe they wanted to make her look more maternal, mature and aged through the sculpture.

[Senghe]

How on earth is that irrelevant sculpture pro-life or anything else? I don't know anybody who's ever given birth doggie fashion stroking the ears of a bearskin rug with a bored expression on their face... maybe a few have conceived that way, though.

It's not even grotesque, it's just about as pointless as any piece of crap art that I've ever seen.
The only thought it provokes is I really don't give a shit who it looks like or what message it's trying to portray.

[sherocker]

I believe they wanted to make her look more maternal, mature and aged through the sculpture.

it didn't work!

[EvilOne]

it didn't work!

It also wasn't meant to be an exact likeness of her, but rather the artist intreptation of her.

[Senghe]

You know what I'm really pissed off about... there's NO picture out there of that sculpture from the angle we all wanna see!

[Pokey]

It also wasn't meant to be an exact likeness of her, but rather the artist intreptation of her.

Oh that's just what they say when they realise that got it wrong

[Somber_Eyes1]

strange...........

[Lakini's Juice]

You know what I'm really pissed off about... there's NO picture out there of that sculpture from the angle we all wanna see!

AMEN!!!

[Pokey]

The sad thing is that somewhere out there, there will be someone who gets turned on by this statue

[sherocker]

It also wasn't meant to be an exact likeness of her, but rather the artist intreptation of her.

then it's one sad artist if u ask me.

[Ripken2131]

It looks like Ashley Judd.

[Wambangalang]

It looks like Ashley Judd.

mmmm, Ashley Judd

This post has been edited by Wambangalang: Apr 2 2006, 9:04 pm

[sherocker]

no, it just looks like an over-pregnant somebody!