Porn Star's (Unmentionable) Inspires Iowa City Art Show

The legend of John Holmes lives on through an artist who used the 1970s and 1980s porn star's biggest asset as the basis for an art exhibit currently on display at the University of Iowa.

The Eve Drewelowe gallery in the UI Studio Arts building is hosting the 30 sculptures based on Holmes's anatomy.

Some are adorned with Legos. Others feature vibrant paint or fur or jewelry. One has even been decorated as an Empire States building, being scaled by an angry King Kong. In the background is a large charcoal mural of Holmes, looking down upon the display with a glazed and wistful smile, the word "Legendary" painted in sparkling pink next to his face.

Is it funny to see? Sure, said creator and UI graduate art student Emily Moran Barwick, 27, but she hopes people will get the message beyond the laughter, too.

"What I was interested in with doing this and generating this is talking about ownership of the body and the commodification of the body," Barwick said. "In our society, our body very often becomes a commodity item, and this [exhibit] is a very literal example of that, a very extreme example of that.

"A lot of times, when an idea is delivered along with a little bit of humor, that's when the message gets through."

Barwick said this commodization of parts of our bodies can include examples as commonplace as a bared woman's shoulder in a lotion advertisement, to the extreme, and now much more mainstream practice, of porn stars selling sex toys based on their bodies, in this case, the John Holmes penis.

"It's the fact that parts of our bodies are used to sell products, without even the inclusion of a whole individual," Barwick said.

The exhibit was inspired by two drastically disparate sources. One was the Herky Sculpture Parade, a collaborative art venture that featured different versions of the university's mascot, Herky the Hawkeye. The second was a sex toy that Barwick first saw in her hometown of Jacksonville, FL, which was created from a cast of the troubled porn star's not-so privates.

Although Barwick saw the sex toy years earlier, she said her fascination with the sheer strangeness of it inspired her to create the exhibit.

Roughly two years ago, she created a rubber and plaster mold using the sex toy, then created plaster sculptures, giving them out to fellow artists to allow them to decorate them as they wished. In total of 26 artists were sent the sculptures and asked to decorate them as they pleased. One, a sculpture decorated to resemble a half-shucked ear of corn, was left anonymously at Barwick's door.

Barwick also said she does not want to promote Holmes' life or lifestyle. Holmes, a legendary porn star in his day, tarnished that legacy toward the end of his life, continuing to perform in porn movies after having been diagnosed with HIV, as well as being accused in a grisly multiple homicide.

Barwick said local news sources have done the best job of covering the work, with media as far away as Georgia reacting with alarm at its existence. She said she's been glad to hear of all the reactions to the exhibit, both positive and negative, as word of it has spread faster than she had ever anticipated.

"It's been a bit surreal," Barwick said.

Still, due to the sexual nature of the exhibit, University of Iowa spokesman Tom Moore has said that the door of the gallery is closed so visitors to the building will not happen upon something they don't want to see.

Barwick said that although she isn't shocked by nudity -- art history, after all, is full of depiction of the nude -- she understands the university's stance on the issue. She also said that the university, and the art department in particular, have been very supportive of the exhibit.

"I do a lot of edgy art, but I don't want to thrust it on anyone," she said.

The exhibit will be on display until Sunday. Barwick said the reception will be on Friday from 5 to 8 p.m.