|
|
|
|
|||||
|
|
|
|
|||||
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
||
|
|
|||||||
|
|
|
||||||
|
|
|
||||||
| |
news back
to Keep A Breast Show RALEIGH--The
tables and shelves inside the Designbox gallery were strewn with discarded
blouses, tank tops, rings, necklaces and bras of all kinds. From frothy
little 34As to mighty D-cups, they were hung from bicycle handlebars and
tossed, along with inhibitions, onto nearby desks in the offices. It looked
as if a hurried tryst had taken place here, the evidence of which was
not yet tucked away. For the
20 or so women who gathered Tuesday night for a "casting party,"
the novelty of getting naked in front of total strangers never quite wore
off. With Jimmy Eat World sounding from the stereo speakers, they sashayed
around the converted garage on South Bloodworth Street in jeans and plaster
and nothing else, holding plastic goblets of wine and volleying jokes."I
hate it when somebody shows up wearing what I'm wearing," said photographer
Lisa Escue. The women
were there to be models for a show called "Keep A Breast -- Raleigh,"
intended to raise breast cancer awareness through art. They were making
plaster casts of their torsos, which would later be decorated, interpreted
or otherwise transformed by local artists. The casts will be sold by silent
auction at Designbox on Oct. 3, and for the rest of October (which is
Breast Cancer Awareness Month), they will occupy as many doctors' offices,
restaurants and public spaces as Designbox organizers can manage. Proceeds
go to local breast cancer funds. "We're
all going to be close friends after this," said Brenda Eli, a jewelry
designer and photo studio manager. "We'll see each other on the street
and be like, 'Hey! I saw your tits. How are you?' " "Regarding:
boobies," echoed Escue as she expertly wrapped Jessie Gill, an estate
liquidator, with wet strips of a plaster-soaked gauze called Rigid Wrap.
"You know, we never did this in kindergarten." At first,
some of the women seemed reluctant to be the first to go topless in front
of strangers, not to mention a documentary filmmaker capturing it all
on video. But after about 15 minutes, the wine was flowing freely and
people bopped around the gallery sporting identical white casts. They
confessed longtime insecurities to one another, strategized on how to
make the casts look perkier than real life, and laughed about stuff like
asymmetry and the much-abhorred but oft-practiced "pencil test." "Heck,
I can hold four pencils," Eli said. "I'm holding Mack trucks
under there. Ex-boyfriends." The project's
origins Modart linked
up with Boarding for Breast Cancer , a foundation formed in response to
the breast cancer death of a promising snowboarder at age 28. As a benefit
for breast cancer research and to urge early detection, Modart puts on
large-scale exhibits of the plaster busts, painted by such artists as
Shepard Fairey (of the Andre the Giant Has a Posse phenomenon) and skateboarder/artist
Ed Templeton. Six months
ago, Designbox member Aly Khalifa saw Modart's Keep A Breast show in Munich
and thought it was "tremendous." He wanted to replicate the
idea on a smaller scale in Raleigh, so he contacted Modart. Over the past
few months, he and his wife, Beth, have spread the word and put up posters
in The Third Place Coffee House, King's Barcade and other clubs and cafes
around Raleigh. They are looking for models, artists and venues to showcase
the finished pieces -- and, of course, generous patrons. So far,
13 artists have committed to the project. Among them are Paul Friedrich
of Onion Head Monster fame and Team LUMP artist Dale Flattum. The artists
can do whatever they like with their chosen bust (it being art and all).
In many cases the torso is used like any other blank canvas. Artists have
also created mosaics, put wigs on the figures, or crushed the plaster
into dust and chunks and placed it in a labeled plastic bag. Darden's
favorite was a torso that incorporated the little birds found in craft
stores. The artist bored holes in the plaster cast, and the birds were
placed so they appeared to climb in and pop out as in a birdhouse. "That
one's in my personal collection," she said. The women
in Designbox loved most of the finished pieces from other Modart shows,
although a few drew snickers and raised eyebrows. Dena Byers, a music
teacher from Durham, and Amy Flynn, a free-lance artist, theorized that
some of the weirder ones were done by men. "Did you see the one with
two heads and a diaper?" Flynn said. "What was up with that?" The real
cause In the back
room of Designbox, Betsy Bates wrapped plaster around where Julie McQueen's
breasts used to be. Eight weeks ago McQueen had a bilateral mastectomy.
Now she's in the process of breast reconstruction. She wants Bates, her
friend and coworker, to design her plaster cast. "I
look like I have breasts!" she remarked to Bates. "I should
wear this thing everywhere!"
|