Focus on Penis Satan and explore the Art community reception.
Reception from the art community was decidedly mixed, drawing strong opinions about the statue and its sexually explicit content as public art. Art market website Artnet compared the statue to "Korea's boner Spider-Man, Poland's peeing Lenin, and Oklahoma's Satanic courthouse monument."Ammar Mahimwalla, Project Manager for the Vancouver International Sculpture Biennale, stated, "It was really well made as a piece, and whoever put it there did a good job of putting it in. ... With the city, sometimes, there is censorship – at some level – of what art means and what art is."
Bryan Newson, Public Art Program Manager for the City of Vancouver, commented, "It was one of those wonderful, spontaneous interventions by – I think – a prankster. ... I couldn't help laughing, obviously it could not remain in the public realm."When asked if the Vancouver Art Gallery would have housed the statue, its spokesperson Hanah Van Borek replied, "I sincerely doubt we would ever have this on view."
Vancouver Vancouver Art Gallery Oklahoma's Satanic courthouse monument Artnet Vancouver International Sculpture Biennale