Artists sneaks 'anal prolapse' sculpture into London gallery 'leaving pretentious art lovers disgusted'
An artist has spoken out after being branded 'disgusting' for leaving a handmade plant pot next to an exhibit.
On her birthday (Saturday, 7 January), Sarah Sharp decided to celebrate rather unusually by leaving one of her handmade plant pots next to another artist's work in the Hayward Gallery at Southbank Centre, London during an exhibition titled 'Strange Clay: Ceramics in Contemporary Art'.
Sharp's handmade plant pots aren't quite as innocent as they first sound, and the specific plant pot in question was designed to look like a rectum prolapse - if you don't want to know what that is, turn away now.
A rectum prolapse is 'when part of the large intestine's lowest section (rectum) slips outside the muscular opening at the end of the digestive tract (anus)' according to the Mayo Clinic.
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Sharp has faced mixed responses to her work, with some art lovers being left disgusted, and she has since responded.
Taking to social media on her account called 'WTFpots,' Sharp wrote: "Today I went to the London Strange Clay Exhibition and left one of my own pots on display. The reactions were brilliant but, no idea what will happen to it or if I've committed some minor public order offence or not."
Sharp explained she attended the exhibition with her friends and placed the pot 'next to the massive pieces on the plinth' in one room when the security guard was 'oh her phone' and 'not really looking' - her pot ending up positioned in front of artist Brief Ruais' work, whose pieces are known to sell for over $45,000 (£37,000).
"It stood out like sore thumb because it was tiny and all the other pieces were towering over it," Sharp added.
Sharp reflected on 'a lot of art' as being 'pretentious' which led to her thinking it would be 'really funny' to put one of her pots beside one of the pieces featured in the 'Strange Clay' event.
"A lot of stuff in art galleries is just rubbish and a child could have done it. I thought [My pot] is probably more interesting than the stuff that might be there," she said.
Despite 'originally' being 'an anal prolapse', Sharp noted some people think it looks like a stoma and others a cervical prolapse. "It could be either of the three to be honest with you but it's meant to be a prolapse of some kind," she resolved.
Sharp stuck to the exhibition's premise - to showcase works which use clay in 'unexpected ways' - however, not everyone else was impressed by her pot.
Immediately after placing the pot down at the exhibition, Sarah explained people were 'taking pictures with it, posing next to it' and lots 'were laughing' - all reactions 'really funny to watch'.
However, the artist also noted: "I posted it online. The [comments] were mostly like, 'You're my hero' or, 'You're hilarious' but then a few people were like, 'That is disgusting what you did'."
Overall, the artist is satisfied with her birthday excursion and believes it's 'confirmed that a lot of things in art galleries aren't that interesting'.
Sharp plans to potentially make more of the pots and distribute them around other galleries in London, but 'need[s] to speak to someone in the legal profession' first to make sure she's not actually breaking any laws.
Sharp abandoned her pot at the exhibition, scared someone would think she was stealing from the gallery if she tried to retrieve it.
The artist resolved: "It was really fun and I loved it. A lot of my followers were messaging me asking what happened to it. I am genuinely curious as to where it is now too."
Southbank Centre have been contacted for comment, however the centre told Kennedy News and Media the pot is available for Sharp to come and pick up.
Poppy Bilderbeck