With just a day to go for Oscar 2018, British-born street artist Plastic Jesus’ statue of a satin bathrobe-clad leering Harvey Weinstein sitting on a sofa has created quite a buzz on the social media. Making its pre-Oscar debut on Thursday (March 1) the golden “Casting Couch” statue, near Hollywood theatre where the Academy Awards will be held on Sunday night, is a huge hit among tourists flocking to see cinemas’ greats.
The Los Angeles based artist, however, hopes that besides the “initial shock” his depiction of the disgraced producer will be “thought-provoking.”
“A year ago, people would have looked at that in awe, and thought it was a symbol of greatness,” the guerrilla artist told The Telegraph, “Now people are sitting on the couch and taking selfies, recoiling in horror at how grotesque it is.”
A host of celebrities have already endorsed the #MeToo and #TimesUp protest at the Golden Globes and BAFTA events.
Finally got to spin with @plasticjesus himself L.A. based gorilla street artist about his latest piece #castingcouch talking about #STOPmakingstupidpeoplefamous This #popup was only on view for half of d day. See u next location! #filmcrew #onlocation #theoscars2018 #oscars pic.twitter.com/6cLtOFPUo3
— foodbytina (@foodbytina) March 1, 2018
The life-sized Casting Couch statue, which took two months to make, has come in the wake of artist Sabo’s billboards blaming the entertainment industry “of staying silent about sexual misconduct.”
According to reports, Plastic Jesus and Ginger were also responsible for producing naked statues of Trump, before he was elected president.