American artist Paul McCarthy has erected a giant Christmas tree sculpture at Place Vendome in Paris as part of a contemporary art fair. So far, a right-wing, anti-gay-marriage group has opposed the sculpture, which, like, shut up. The panel of three Superior Court judges issued a preliminary injunction preventing elections under the district lines, starting with the March 3 primary. There they found extreme political manipulation of the lines similar to what voters suing over the congressional map also say occurred. A suspected gunman remained on the loose Monday after opening fire at an off-campus college party in Texas, leaving two people dead and 12 others injured.
Parisians are rushing to buy butt plugs in the wake of PlugGate
The inflatable artwork is intended to represent a Christmas tree, according to McCarthy, but has caused outrage among some due to its resemblance to an anal plug sex toy, prompting calls for city authorities to remove it. Feeling has been so strong that McCarthy, 69, has said he was slapped three times in the face by a passer-by as the artwork was unveiled. Some angry Paris residents now seem to have taken matters into their own hands, with photos posted on Twitter overnight Friday showing the installation lying on its side and looking limp and deflated after apparently being vandalised.
This week in art news, Parisians are up in arms over an foot "butt plug" imagined by the art world's ultimate enfant terrible , Paul McCarthy. Of course, the massive sculpture isn't technically a butt plug. Yet despite all the seemingly obvious signs -- it's art, McCarthy's an artist, FIAC is an art fair -- the inflatable masterpiece is attracting attention not for its aesthetic uniqueness but for its resemblance to sex toys. In fact, France's far-right is not convinced the meter high plant is an objet d'art at all. Paris is humiliated!