Human furniture

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Bling-bling - table.jpg
Ostra Three naked women.jpg
A nude woman posing as a decorative table (top). A human table, formed using three nude women (bottom).

Human furniture is furniture in which a person's body is used as a tray, foot stool, chair, table, cabinet or other item. In some cases a sculpture of a human body is used instead. Examples of human furniture have appeared in modern art. Forniphilia is the paraphilia relating to human furniture, including that seen in fetish photography and bondage pornography.

Contents

Art

A model used as human furniture may be nude or semi-nude to add to the erotic or aesthetic appeal. A classic example of the depiction of human furniture as art is the set of three sculptures Hatstand, Table and Chair made in 1969 by British pop artist Allen Jones which show semi-naked white women in the roles of furniture. [1] Allen Jones' artwork was the subject of a feminist protest when it was auctioned at Sotheby's in 2012. [2]

Norwegian artist Bjarne Melgaard created a sculpture called Chair which has the same shape as the Allen Jones' chair but depicts a black woman. [3] In 2014 art collector Dasha Zhukova, the partner of Russian billionaire Roman Abramovich, caused controversy by appearing in a photograph sitting on Melgaard's chair. [4] Zhukova apologized for the photograph saying that she "utterly abhor[s] racism, and would like to apologise to anyone who has been offended by this image". [3]

The Japanese fetish artist Namio Harukawa depicted voluptuous women, who dominated and used men as human furniture. [5]

Bondage

Dominatrices sitting on submissive males by using them as chairs, Cologne Pride, 2006. CSD 2006 Cologne BDSM 17.jpg
Dominatrices sitting on submissive males by using them as chairs, Cologne Pride, 2006.

The term forniphilia was coined by bondage artist Jeff Gord [6] [7] who specialized in the subgenre and maintained the website "House of Gord" on the subject. [8] Forniphilia as a form of bondage usually involves the subject being tightly bound and expected to stay immobile for a prolonged period. [9] Gord said that the maximum period he used depended on the bondage techniques involved but it did not generally exceed two hours. Gord also warned that the dangers inherent in forniphilia meant that it should only be carried out by experts. [10] Gord used gags in some of his creations. [11] A forniphilic gag is a type of gag that has the primary purpose of sexual objectification or erotic humiliation.[ citation needed ] Proper safety requires frequent checks of the submissive's well-being.

In fiction

Human furniture from A Clockwork Orange Stanley Kubrick The Exhibition - LACMA - A Clockwork Orange - Korova Milk Bar (8998526527).jpg
Human furniture from A Clockwork Orange

The 1971 film A Clockwork Orange includes a scene of a gang sitting in the Korova Milk Bar, which is furnished with tables shaped like naked women. [12]

In Episode 7 of the 2021 Netflix Original Korean Drama, Squid Game , the anonymous VIPs invited to watch the show's blood sport are surrounded by human furniture, which are seen wearing elaborate body paint. [13]

See also

Related Research Articles

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<span class="mw-page-title-main">Bondage (BDSM)</span> Consensual sexual binding or restraining

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<span class="mw-page-title-main">Erotic furniture</span> Furniture designed for sexual purposes

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Allen Jones is a British pop artist best known for his paintings, sculptures, and lithography. He was awarded the Prix des Jeunes Artistes at the 1963 Paris Biennale. He is a Senior Academician at the Royal Academy of Arts. In 2017 he returned to his home town to receive the award Honorary Doctor of Arts from Southampton Solent University

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<i>Hatstand</i>, <i>Table</i> and <i>Chair</i>

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Namio Harukawa was a pseudonymous Japanese fetish artist best known for his works depicting female domination ("femdom"). Common subjects and motifs of his art include erotic asphyxiation, facesitting, voluptuous women, and men being used as human furniture.

Jeffrey E. Owen, better known by his alias Jeff Gord, was a bondage artist and photographer. who specialized in the forniphilia subgenre, a form of objectifying sexual bondage which involves the subject being tightly bound and expected to stay immobile for a prolonged period. He described his work as being for women's pleasure, saying "I feed on women's pleasure".

Robert K. Bishop (1945–1991) was a bondage artist and photographer best known for his images of restrained and gagged women published by the House of Milan, for which he also worked as production manager.

References

  1. Martin Gayford (8 October 2007). "Allen Jones: The day I turned down Stanley Kubrick". The Telegraph . London. Archived from the original on 5 August 2017. Retrieved 30 July 2017.
  2. "Is Allen Jones's sculpture the most sexist art ever?". The Guardian. 10 November 2014. Archived from the original on 26 December 2019. Retrieved 25 December 2020.
  3. 1 2 "Roman Abramovich's girlfriend Dasha Zhukova apologises for 'black woman' chair photo". Evening Standard. London. 21 January 2014. Archived from the original on 12 November 2020. Retrieved 25 December 2020.
  4. "Why there's nothing racist about the 'racist chair'". The Guardian. 21 January 2014. Archived from the original on 23 December 2020. Retrieved 25 December 2020.
  5. "Japanese femdom artist Namio Harukawa has passed away". Dazed. 27 April 2020. Archived from the original on 26 January 2021. Retrieved 25 December 2020.
  6. "Jeff Gord Interview". 24 October 2007. Archived from the original on 22 April 2009. Retrieved 12 May 2009.
  7. Ashley Hames, Sin Cities, Tonto Books, 2008, ISBN   0-9556326-0-9, pp. 184–188
  8. Harol, Corrinne; Simpson, Mark (2017). Literary / Liberal Entanglements: Toward a Literary History for the Twenty-First Century. University of Toronto Press. p. 70. ISBN   9781442630901. Archived from the original on 3 August 2020. Retrieved 10 May 2018.
  9. "The kinks of virtual men". The Times of India . 15 April 2007. Archived from the original on 22 October 2020. Retrieved 14 October 2010.
  10. "Forniphilia, page 2". House of Gord. Retrieved 18 June 2019.
  11. "Forniphilia, page 4". House of Gord. Retrieved 18 June 2019.
  12. Cocks, Geoffrey; Diedrick, James; Perusek, Glenn (2006). Depth of Field: Stanley Kubrick, Film, and the Uses of History. Univ of Wisconsin Press. p. 290. ISBN   978-0-299-21613-9.
  13. "Squid Game: VIPS". IMDb. 17 September 2021.