Saturday, March 8, 2014

Biggest Stripper In Town

Mural fever swept through Christchurch in the last few months.
The drawing board...
Major international artists enlivened blank city walls with gigantic faces, scenes and self-expression. This was combined with the Museum's "Rise" exhibition, a celebration of street art featuring the legendary likes of Banksy (UK) and Roa (Belgium).
The impact on the CBD was stunning, and helped rejuvenate the heart of Earthquake City.
Not to be left out, central city strip club Calendar Girls is getting a
3-storey-high mural on its wall...of a naked woman. But not just a standardised female form. Oh no. In keeping with the activities within, the naked woman is on her back, legs curled in foetal position, exposing her butt!
Hurr-UMPH! Er...cough-cough!
Of COURSE it's ART! Cough!
Judging from the recent newspaper pix of the initial sketch-up, I suspect the purists may have their Bible bookmarks knocked a little out of kilter!
Already, Facebook comments cover the entire (colourful) spectrum:
+ "It's not distasteful at all. No tits and fanny staring you in the face so its not as bad as some people make out."
+ "Grossss! I don't mind nude art but am pretty sure you can't consider anything on the side of a strip club 'art'. This is so disgusting, distasteful and creepy."
+ "It's art, not a live show. The Masters have been painting the human form since the dawn of time. For someone to see it as 'vulgar' is really down to their boundaries and their mind."
+ "The pose is provocative and indicative of the trade they ply. I'm pretty sure it's going to be offensive. They need to remember the whole world is not their customers."
+ "What it's linked to will be the issue, not the mural itself. We don't allow tobacco advertising, so why allow advertising of strip-tease companies where there's always an option for 'extras' of a prostitutional nature. That being said, it'll be a good bit of colour, but what it is is an advertisement for the red light district. Is this the new image of Chch that we want?" The burning question...
Meanwhile, Calendar Girls is likely to be purchased by the Crown for the Chch Central Development Unit and eventually demolished.
The finished product

UPDATE: July 2016 - the demolition is nearly complete.

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