Hung Like a Horse

Once a month I try to go on a guided tour of the West Chelsea galleries. Chelsea alone has 300 galleries, which makes it the world's hub for contemporary art. The tours are led by a guy who has a Ph.D. in educational psychology with an emphasis in art or something, and he spends his life seeing the new exhibits. Everything in galleries is for sale, so a show usually only lasts 4-6 weeks, and that means its a full-time job for him. Then once a month he takes a group on a tour of his 8 favorite exhibits. Its a fun way to spend a Saturday afternoon.


Before today's tour he sent an email out to his whole list letting everyone know that today would have an especially controversial exhibit. It was great marketing, because he got his biggest group ever.

To get right to the point, the second gallery that we walked into had a tv on the floor of an otherwise empty white room. By the time I entered the room there was already a crowd around the television. I pushed my way to the front and sat on the floor. At first the lighting threw me off and I couldn't tell what I was looking at. Here is what I saw:

Look closely, and you'll see a man licking a horse's penis. Well, that caught me off guard a little bit.

Apparently the artist did not film this himself. He found this video in Germany, or Austria, or some other country that is overly repressed and therefore acts out sexually. Then he digitally altered the film with a red tint and a kind of psychadelic red light show playing over the horsey porn. Wa-la. Art.

The tour guide explained that the artist never explains his work. There is no literal message. We are just meant to experience it and be shocked.

The paintings in the next room were somewhat shocking, but really by that point I was completely desensitized. Stick figures recreating a snuff video, a man made of cigarettes, whatever. Here is a picture of my friend James next to Cock Monster:

I really have nothing to say anymore. Everything seems insignificant. Woahhhh, horsey.