Santa Claus, popularly known as the Buttplug Gnome, is a 2001 statue by

Paul McCarthy Paul McCarthy (born August 4, 1945) is a contemporary artist who lives and works in Los Angeles, California. Life McCarthy was born in Salt Lake City, Utah, in 1945. He studied art at Weber State University in Ogden, Utah, and later continued ...

in the Eendrachtsplein square of

Rotterdam Rotterdam ( , , , lit. ''The Dam on the River Rotte'') is the second largest city and municipality in the Netherlands. It is in the province of South Holland, part of the North Sea mouth of the Rhine–Meuse–Scheldt delta, via the ''"N ...

, The Netherlands. Originally made for the International Sculpture Collection with the intended location being outside the

De Doelen De Doelen is a concert venue and convention centre in Rotterdam, Netherlands. It was originally built in 1934 but then destroyed in 1940 during the German bombardment of Rotterdam in May 1940 at the outset of World War II. It was rebuilt in 19 ...

concert hall, it has been located in various places – including the courtyard of the Boijmans Museum – but moved due to protests from local businesses. Officially the work represents Santa Claus holding a Christmas tree in his hands but the artist has implied that it could also represent a buttplug, and that "...For me, the sculpture is also about the consumer community - as a commentary on material consumption in the Western world." A red version was unveiled in May 2018 in

Oslo Oslo ( , , or ; sma, Oslove) is the capital and most populous city of Norway. It constitutes both a county and a municipality. The municipality of Oslo had a population of in 2022, while the city's greater urban area had a population of ...

, Norway. The unveiling was done by a man pulling off the cover, suspended by an overhead crane with hooks through his skin.

References

See also