''Piss Flowers'' is an artwork created by British artist,

Helen Chadwick Helen Chadwick (18 May 1953 – 15 March 1996) was a British sculptor, photographer and installation artist. In 1987, she became one of the first women artists to be nominated for the Turner Prize. Chadwick was known for "challenging stereotypic ...

between 1991-1992. It is a group of twelve sculptures that Chadwick created during a residency at the

Banff Centre for the arts Banff Centre for Arts and Creativity, formerly known as The Banff Centre (and previously The Banff Centre for Continuing Education), located in Banff, Alberta, was established in 1933 as the Banff School of Drama. It was granted full autonomy as ...

Alberta Alberta ( ) is one of the thirteen provinces and territories of Canada. It is part of Western Canada and is one of the three prairie provinces. Alberta is bordered by British Columbia to the west, Saskatchewan to the east, the Northwest Ter ...

Canada Canada is a country in North America. Its ten provinces and three territories extend from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean and northward into the Arctic Ocean, covering over , making it the world's second-largest country by tot ...

, in February 1991. It was part of Chadwick's solo exhibition 'Effluvia', displayed on top of green

astroturf AstroTurf is an American subsidiary of SportGroup that produces artificial turf for playing surfaces in sports. The original AstroTurf product was a short-pile synthetic turf invented in 1965 by Monsanto. Since the early 2000s, AstroTurf has m ...

, at the

Serpentine Gallery The Serpentine Galleries are two contemporary art galleries in Kensington Gardens, Hyde Park, Central London. Recently rebranded to just Serpentine, the organisation is split across Serpentine South, previously known as the Serpentine Gallery, ...

London London is the capital and largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary down to the North Sea, and has been a majo ...

in the summer of 1994.

Background and concept

While staying in Canada, Chadwick and her partner, David Notarius, set off to different locations and made a mound of snow and placed a large flower shaped cutter over it. Chadwick and Notarius then took turns urinating in the snow. The cavities created by the urine were then filled with plaster and were shipped back to the UK where they were grafted on to

hyacinth Hyacinth or Hyacinthus may refer to: Nature Plants * Hyacinth (plant), genus ''Hyacinthus'' ** ''Hyacinthus orientalis'', common hyacinth * Grape hyacinth, ''Muscari'', a genus of perennial bulbous plants native to Eurasia * Hyacinth bean, ''Labl ...

bulb-shaped pedestals and cast in bronze, enamelled white, and inverted. Initially, Chadwick had planned to take photographs of pitted snow, making light drawings of the alpine microcosm, but later realised that this would only be visible if it was cast and made into a sculpture. Chadwick described the work as a "metaphysical conceit for the union of two people expressing themselves bodily". Upon initial inspection the central phallic form of ''Piss Flowers'' may appear to be created by a man; but it is actually caused by Chadwick, who was closer to the ground, squatting. Notarius, who was standing caused the more scattered impressions, forming a circle around Chadwick's in the snow. ''Piss Flowers'' explores this relation of the 'between' of sexual difference, the impressions left in the snow are not feminine or masculine but a combination of both. ''Piss Flowers'' can be seen as echoing

Marcel Duchamp Henri-Robert-Marcel Duchamp (, , ; 28 July 1887 – 2 October 1968) was a French painter, sculptor, chess player, and writer whose work is associated with Cubism, Dada, and conceptual art. Duchamp is commonly regarded, along with Pablo Picasso ...

's ''

Fountain A fountain, from the Latin "fons" (genitive "fontis"), meaning source or Spring (hydrology), spring, is a decorative reservoir used for discharging water. It is also a structure that jets water into the air for a decorative or dramatic effect. ...

,'' part of his readymade series where he exhibited a urinal. The white colour of Chadwick's sculptures and its formations suggest the waste matter that would usually be flushed away. ''Piss Flowers'' can be seen as an example of

indexical In semiotics, linguistics, anthropology, and philosophy of language, indexicality is the phenomenon of a ''sign'' pointing to (or ''indexing'') some object in the context in which it occurs. A sign that signifies indexically is called an index or, ...

media - that appear not to be authored but instead preserve an imprint of reality. This kind of media was a particular interest of Chadwick's and can be seen with the use of the photocopier in her earlier work ''

The Oval Court ''The Oval Court'' is an artwork created between 1984 and 1986 by British artist Helen Chadwick. The work was part of Chadwick's first major solo exhibition entitled Of Mutability, held at the Institute of Contemporary Arts in London. Chadwick rec ...

.'' The work can also be seen to reference the shape of

Andy Warhol Andy Warhol (; born Andrew Warhola Jr.; August 6, 1928 – February 22, 1987) was an American visual artist, film director, and producer who was a leading figure in the visual art movement known as pop art. His works explore the relationsh ...

's ''Daisy.''

Critical reception

Outside the art world, a local

Nottingham Nottingham ( , East Midlands English, locally ) is a city status in the United Kingdom, city and Unitary authorities of England, unitary authority area in Nottinghamshire, East Midlands, England. It is located north-west of London, south-east ...

councillor was quoted by the Notthingham Evening Post as saying "I doubt the minds of the people who can create things like this. It is astonishing that someone can go out and do something like this--it is an invitation to kids everywhere to go out and copy this".

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Piss Flowers 1991 sculptures Works by Helen Chadwick Feminist art English sculpture Flowers in culture