If the Florida School Board considered Michelangelo’s “David” to be pornographic, God knows what they would say about the new public artwork unveiled last week in a small fishing town in Italy’s Puglia region. A rather voluptuous mermaid sculpture called “Il Mare” (2023) has been installed in Rita Levi-Montalcini Square next to a playground in the city of Monopoli, sparking quite a controversy online among those who considered her type body as “provocateur”.
“Il Mare” is one of many in a series commissioned by the mayor of Monopoli for local art school Luigi Rosso as part of a city redevelopment project. According to Guardian, director Adolfo Marciano said the students came up with the idea on their own after being tasked with creating a sea-themed project for the public plaza in honor of the famous Italian scientist and prize-winner. Nobel Rita Levi-Montalcini. From the front, the mermaid’s crossed arms hoist her unusually large breasts while her rear, arguably the most eye-catching part of her, is clearly defined by what looks like surgically-enhanced buttocks of the Kardashian variety.
The most pressing question on everyone’s mind right now is why does the mermaid have to be double cheeked Thursday afternoon, crack and all? Do mermaids even need butts if they have fishtails instead of legs? Some Monopoli residents were also incited by what they saw as an openly sexualized statue set up next to a new playground in the square, questioning the city’s decision to display the artwork near a place frequented by children.
Others failed to see the connection between the well-endowed mythical creature and the Nobel laureate honored by the square, with one virtual reviewer mentioning that Levi-Montalcini once said: “The women who changed the world never needed to show anything but their intelligence.”
For director Marciano, the sculpture is a “tribute to the vast majority of women who have curves, especially in our country”. In defense of the mermaid, Marciano said he considered the sculpture a “representation of reality” and that it would have been “very bad if we had depicted an extremely thin woman”.
“It’s a shame because art students deserve to be praised instead of criticized,” Marciano continued. Neither Marciano nor any other representative of the Luigi Rosso art school were immediately available for comment.
