The Chrissy Skin Rug

Above image via Flickr by Bromirski

Okay I know this is a very controversial piece of art, but it is also extremely well-done and unique.  This is a very personal work by artist Chrissy Conant, which represents her relationship with her parents.  She expresses that she's still has suppressed feelings from childhood and parental influences which play a role in this work.

Here's a little more thought behind the rug from Conant:

To exorcise a part of my psyche that feels powerless and objectified, I laid fully shaven, covered with Vaseline, and immobilized for hours, in a spread eagle position, while being covered with bucketfuls of gelatinous mold-making material. With the impressions, I made a life-sized, flesh-colored silicone rubber cast of myself as a human skin rug. The upturned head has long, perfectly coiffed, wavy hair, that echoes the ripples in the flayed skin’s edge. The glossy-lipped mouth is open in a sexually suggestive way, and the glass eyes, complete with fantasy-length lashes, stare up submissively from the rustic wood floor section, upon which the rug is magnetically attached.

I think this is a very powerful piece, as it communicates many different ideas about sexism and gender, and also makes a statement about this fascination with dead animals as trophies. Definitely what I call a conversation piece!

[via saatchi-gallery]