Feast your eyes on this penis kaleidoscope from Yinka Shonibare

Date
24 October 2014

Writing is rarely a chore. However, sometimes you find yourself working on a piece that reaffirms why internships spent schlepping round Covent Garden in the pissing rain on breakfast compote runs, and hours practising writing “multi-storey carpark” in shorthand are more than worth the irritation.

That little glimmer of joy arrives today courtesy of a glorious, golden-ended penis kaleidoscope. Artist Yinka Shonibare has departed from his more politicised pieces and dived headfirst into erotic territory with these fabulous editions, which see his Dutch wax batik patterns coat the outside of a brass-ended phallus.

Gazing down the shaft of the object, entitled Kaleidoscope, viewers will see an unusual take on Boticelli’s Birth of Venus, in which the female subject is replaced with “a well-endowed naked male" in the words of The Multiple Store, which is selling the works. It adds: “Kaleidoscope performs an act of reverse objectification, as the erect phallus and the male nude take the place historically occupied by the female body and therefore take it beyond the familiar realm of the male gaze.”

Kaleidoscope was developed with Kit Grover, and is created in an edition of 45.

Above

Yinka Shonibare: Kaleidoscope

Above

Yinka Shonibare: Kaleidoscope, inner image

Above

Yinka Shonibare: Kaleidoscope

Above

Yinka Shonibare: Kaleidoscope, inner image

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About the Author

Emily Gosling

Emily joined It’s Nice That as Online Editor in the summer of 2014 after four years at Design Week. She is particularly interested in graphic design, branding and music. After working It's Nice That as both Online Editor and Deputy Editor, Emily left the company in 2016.

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