Benedict Romain

Inspired by Ovid’s Pygmalion story, ‘Herm of Galatea’ uses the form of apotropaic Greek Hermai to personify the statue-cum-lover of Pygmalion. Hermai were originally placed on the roadside as good luck statues, but viewed in a contemporary context they seem like an erotic objectification of the body. By inverting the phallus it relates to Freudian and conflicting feminist theory about the female lack of the penis and Oedipal complex, and gives the piece functionality as a sex-doll. Cast from the Artist’s own genitals, the statue becomes solely operative to him- a monogamous fidelity pertaining to Pygmalion’s original integrity.

www.wix.com/benedictromain/fine-art

UKYA PROJECTS:

National Biennale: WEYA 2012