Penis Sculpture Pulled From eBay
 Mark Bonokoski - Sun Media
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| | Peterborough artist Jo Mann with the penis she sculpted for 2006 International AIDS conference. She put it up for auction on eBay, but it was pulled after 12 hours. |
Q: What is pink, weighs 72 lbs., is 5-foot-2 tall, 3-feet in diameter, got the bounce from eBay, and is likely the largest of its kind in the world?
A: The penis in Jo Mann's kitchen.
It is covered in a sheet, as it is on most days, a flesh-coloured sheath, to be exact - "just in case the grandkids come through."
"It cuts down on the explaining," says Jo Mann.
Jo Mann is an artist. The huge manhood edifice in her kitchen, which took her four months to sculpt - plaster of Paris, garden hose, vacuum hose (think of veins), and lots of duct tape - was created for the 2006 International AIDS Conference in Toronto.
It comes, in fact, with its own condom, its packaging being an artfully-painted box that once held an extra large pizza.
"My first idea was to have the penis talk, as well," she says. "But that got too complicated."
COLLECTIVE WORK
The sculpture, part of a "one vision" collective by a group of 12 Peterborough artists known as Art-e-mis, is entitled "A Woman's Perspective" - partly because of the angle of the dangle, so to speak, and partly because of Elexa, a brand of Trojan condoms with women in mind, that carries the same title.
"The sculpture used to be 6-foot tall," says Mann. "But it fell over, and it shrunk."
It had nothing to do, however, with George Costanza's famously deflating moment in Seinfeld when he blames being in the pool for his, well ... shrinkage, and his pal, Jerry, later asks Elaine if this phenomenon is widely known among her female friends.
Jerry: Do women know about shrinkage?
Elaine: What do you mean ... like laundry?
Jerry: No, like when a man goes swimming afterwards.
Elaine: It shrinks?
Jerry: Like a frightened turtle!
No, Jo Mann's penis simply fell over from the weight of the wet plaster, which also explains why it is not exactly ram-rod straight.
There is a slight problem, though, with having a 5-foot -2 penis when its life as a display feature at an AIDS conference has run its course, and the space for housing such an objet d'art at Jo Mann's small house-cum-studio is at a premium.
So it was decided to put it up for auction on eBay, with whatever proceeds raised going to the Toronto-based Stephen Lewis Foundation, the charity with its focus on "easing the pain of HIV/AIDS in Africa."
It was up on eBay's website for all of 12 hours.
And then it was pulled.
Jo Mann has lived in Peterborough for the last eight years, having spent a great deal of her rather nomadic adult life working as an artist in Mexico. She returned to Peterborough, as she put it, "to become a grandmother," and set up her studio in mid-town where she "makes a happy living" doing the type of art that is heavily influenced by the Mexican native culture of the Yucatan - from paintings, to jewelry, to sculpture.
Her giant penis took her off the beaten path.
"For me, when the AIDS conference came about, the message was a simple one. Take care of yourself, woman," she says.
The Stephen Lewis Foundation had no problems with Jo Mann posting her penis sculpture on eBay, or with linking the proceeds to the foundation, providing that the foundation's logo not be used, as was belatedly laid out in an e-mail from the foundation's Janet Solberg.
"Our lawyer (has) informed me that we cannot allow you to use the logo on your online auction site. It is tantamount to an endorsement by us (which we are not allowed as a Foundation to do on a public site like the Internet) and would violate the logo trademark since anyone could lift it off your website," Solberg wrote.
"You are allowed, however, to say, in words, that a portion of the proceeds raised by the auction is being donated to the Stephen Lewis Foundation."
"Sorry for this change. Hope things go well."
And things did go well, for all of 12 hours.
Then eBay yanked Jo Mann's penis, presumably because it was considered to be borderline porn more suitable for its adults-only site.
Robert Hood is a Minden-area photographer, and friend of Jo Mann. He took the picture of Jo Mann and her penis which, in turn, was turned over to Paul West, a Markham medical researcher and another friend of Jo Mann who had the know-how about posting items on eBay.
"It blew me away that it was pulled," says Hood. "They say art is in the eye of the beholder. But what's this say?"
Well, according to eBay's "trust and safety" department, the item was pulled for "violating one or more of our policies" - thereby dashing Jo Mann's hope that upwards of $2,000 might be easily raised for the Stephen Lewis Foundation.
RE-POSTED IT
So Paul West went back to eBay and got it re-posted - first in the adult content archive, and finally back in the general section.
"The picture of it had to be hidden in order to make it happen," he says. "The next crisis will be shipping, but we will deal with that when the time comes."
Here's the short version of how to find the aforementioned item. Go to eBay.com (Note: Not eBay.ca) and type Womans Perspective (note spelling) into the search box, and then launch it.
Click onto the camera icon of the item described as "erotic art abstract AIDS sculpture," up pops a picture and, voila, there it is - in all its manly glory - with Jo Mann standing at its side.
Viewer discretion advised.
Bid high and bid often - if only for bragging rights.
There are women, of course, who will say size doesn't matter.
And others, too, who wouldn't touch that line with a 5-foot-2 pole. |
Vallarta Weddings
Vallarta Living | Art Talk | September 2007 
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