I’m just getting over the heinous jetlag from a four day trip to Los Angeles, a part of the prize for winning the Stoli Originals competition. Along with the other winners, I got treated like royalty for four days. We were picked up at the airport in an enormous stretch limousine and that was just the beginning of the excess. Stoli has been running similar competitions all over the world and all of the winners came together in Los Angeles to attend the Kandy Masquerade Ball at the Playboy Mansion. Yes, that Playboy Mansion.
The Playboy Mansion was everything I was expecting …….times a million. I’ll be dining out on the stories for years. Most of them aren’t suitable for a public forum but track me down at an exhibition or an art fair and I’ll tell you all about it.
Getting into the swing of things with fellow artist and Stoli Originals winner, Philip Levine.
I have to admit that I was somewhat conflicted about going to an event at the ultimate home of female objectification but I had spent some time familiarising myself with the history of Playboy magazine and had been surprised by its not insignificant contributions to popular art and fiction, including publication of many feminist writers of fiction and a serialisation of Ray Bradbury’s dystopian novel Fahrenheit 451 in 1954, just after the novel’s initial publication. I felt that I was being judgmental and my curiousity about the house and the history of the magazine had been piqued, so I wanted to experience it for myself. I was also expecting the organisers to put on quite a spectacle. Sadly I was to be disappointed.
Although we did get to explore the pool area and the famous grotto (where what happens in the grotto stays in the grotto!) we were not allowed into the mansion itself and unfortunately there was little evidence of Playboy Magazine’s heritage on show. The party was essentially a large strip club in a marquee of the grounds of the mansion. The strip shows and the excesses didn’t disturb me. I had been expecting an environment in which a whole bunch of hot women and somewhat less hot men get together for crazy parties. What I found more discomforting were the large numbers of women, of all ages, hunting rich men, moving swiftly from guy to guy, fake nails ready for a catfight. And, despite my attempts to remain open minded about the Playboy culture, the fact remains that the promotion of this WAG lifestyle is inextricably linked with men’s magazines, wherein women are encouraged to attach themselves to rich and powerful men, as a viable alternative to their own professional and personal achievements. And, it seems that no amount of fiction by Margaret Atwood, Joyce Carol Oates and Doris Lessing can shift that perspective.
So, while I had my fun at the Mansion, I said my goodbyes early. Here’s my favourite part of the whole evening!
And, the one question I’ve been asked consistently since I got back? …. Did I meet the Hef? Again, a disappointing no, although we did see him from a distance.
I was really pleased to be able to squeeze in a quick visit to the Los Angeles County Museum of Art, or LACMA, the largest art museum in the Western US to see their fantastic exhibition on Women Surrealists. I was amazed by the scale of the exhibition and indeed of the museum itself. The exhibition was very well curated with work from artists ranging from Frida Kahlo to Francesca Woodman. And I discovered my new favourite artist, Remedios Varo. For me, it was fascinating to look at a group of female artists I didn’t previously know very well and observe how they used self portraiture and imagery around their own body in ways very similar to many of my current favourite Flickr photographers.
And since I’ve been back I’ve been working hard on preparing for all the new art fairs I have coming up in March and getting ready for three upcoming exhibitions and the premiere of the Stoli Originals film at the London Sundance Film Festival. Very exciting times!