Anne Swartz, Bawdy Pricks: Sarah Maple\'s Cock Series

- BAWDY PRICKS -

SARAH MAPLE'S

BY ANNE SWARTZ, JANUARY 20, 2015

In Cock Series, Sarah Maple sar-

positions an object 1n one hand in

Maple presents a complicated

castically explores and debunks

the location where an erect penis

feminist consideration of the pe-

the phallic power of the penis.

would be projecting diagonally

n is in relation to the female body.

Th1s on-going serial body of work

from her body-play-acting and

currently

en-acting that she has a "penis."

In these images, the artist is

rectan-

She minimizes the symbolism of

clothed and seen holding various

gular photographs made from

masculine dominance, favoring

obJects.

2012-present. In them, the artist

mstead an embrace of its comi-

match the setting or scenano in

poses in a three-quarter view and

cal, more pleasurable aspects.

which she is located. The penis

includes

seventeen

color, vertically-onented

Champs Cock

Her

outfits

typically

surrogate she holds or the particular

her images and arouse the viewer's

or positioning herself in proximity to

surroundings where she stands pro-

passions about look1 ng at her and her

penis play has a trad1tion in contempo-

vide the title for each of the works. In

work.

Garden Cock, as example, is set in a

rary art. It is seen in portraits and self-portraits by Meret Oppenheim,

backyard garden where the artist holds

This series grew out of a silly game

Louise Bourgeois, Eva Hesse, Lynda

a diagonally positioned electnc hedge

the art1st played. Bored while working

Benglis, Sarah Lucas, Aurel Schmidt.

trimmer, wearing a gardening frock.

at a shop, she started taking objects

The serial component of this on-going

Her long black trademark shag hair-

and pretending they were cocks to

group of works takes the macho ges-

cut, the curves of her physique, and

amuse herself. She sa1d about these

ture of the erect penis and makes it

her costumes, Jewelry, make-up mark

gestures, "I wanted to almost mock it,

comic. What distinguishes Maple's

her outwardly as female. The facial ex-

or mock it's [sic] importance. But at

Cock Series works from the earlier ex-

pressions change in the images, rang-

the same time it's my way of proudly

amples is the humor. We come away laughing at her joke.

ing from confrontational swagger, as

adorning myself with one!" She uses

in Maple Banana Cock, or bland gaze,

the penis as the index of ideal mascu-

as in Cup Cock. Her performance with

linity and showcases the thrill and silli-

the objects in the place of male geni-

ness of a girl's desire for it. She frrst

tals emphasizes that the artist coun

explored such play in her art begin-

terfelts the penis, making it farcical;

ning in 2010 when she produced /ch

that she is cis gender marks her use

Liebe Dick, a triptych of her face for-

ironic. Repeatedly, Maple sarcastically

ward in the p1cture plane with a red

subverts the conventions of fashion

·background, variously holding, biting,

photography where the model stands

or mouthing a miniature plastic penis

temporarily still but ready to engage 1n

at different angles. Akin to what the

some romanticized activity. Her per-

Riot Grrls procla1 med in their 1991

formative photos are shot 1n routine

manifesto, " ... we must take over the

environs, role playing in conventional

means of production in order to create

female social roles. Her provocations

our own moanings," Maple coopts the

transform the mundane into some-

penis to use it for her own bemuse-

thing erotically inventive and hilarious-

ment.

ly incendiary. She uses the fantasy about pleasure in looking at the beau-

For her, the penis is a play thing. The

tiful girl and her life as a way to inflame

woman artist holding a phallic object

112. The Cock Series: Bunch Cock, Banana Cock, Cup Cock, DaVinci Cock

Anne Swartz is a professor of Art History at the Savannah College of Art and Design. She focuses on contemporary art, especially feminist artists, critical theory, and new media/new genre, in her writing, curating, and public lectures. Her main focus has been to support and advance innovative and transgressive work of both emerging and established artists whose art has not been fully examined. She's currently writing The History of New Media/New Genre: From John Cage to Now, a survey of devrlopments in recent art.

1) Sarah Maple as told to Brian Sherwin, "Art Space Talk, Sarah Maple," myartspace>blog, httpd/myartspace-blog. blogspot.com/2009/04/art-space-talk-sarah-maple.html, (accessed January 20, 20151. 2) Ibid. 31 Abigail Solomon-Godeau, Male Trouble, ACriSIS 10 Representation (New York, Thames & Hudson,19971, 178. 4) This image was a limited edition print made for an exhibition of the same name in 1010 at the mbfkunstprojekte, initiated and curated by FriedriCh Grafling. 51 "Riot Grrl Manifesto," Bikini Kill Zone 1, 1991, httpd/ onewarart.org/riot_grrrl_manifesto.htm, accessed January 10, 2015.