women give birth to men, and raise them as phallocrats. WHY?
the nudity of this painting is my fault, the cruelty is society’s.
about three months’ work. [attach=63611]user_image-1051185538qqb.jpg[/attach]
love,
C.
Attachments
Dali inspiration again 
“Trojan Mare” should be more appropriate ?
Good luck for the attack that you have launched 
Pilou
Tnx for affering this piece of art cneofotistos !! Great work !!!
:eek: :eek:
Awesome as usual cneofotistos.That key is - arh -what can I say - alittle nasty.Cool stuff.
What on earth is a phallocrat?
Excellent work man. I have to agree that the key pushes it over a bit but who am I…your art is your art. Just an opinion…still very cool though. I would love to see a poly-shot of the woman if possible(or Zif).
If I may offer this…and it isnt me actually but my wife and I. We have been looking at this and talking about it for a while and have come to this: The imagery of the soldiers coming out and then attacking her does show women giving birth to men who in turn are out to distroy (too strong a term maybe) her. Very powerful statement. It almost empowers women…but…thats right…the key. That is what throughs us. IT makes us believe that the second half of the explination is you as an artist being okay with the former fact. I told her though that even though we feel this or are gathering this idea from it…I am sure we are misreading the meaning of that…or are we. If you may shed some light on that…or leave it mystery…once again…who am I but a visual reciever of this.
The painting is 95% 2D, and the only 3D meshes I can show you are the soldiers’ helmets, really. I only used the 2D brushs and smudge tool (I will say it again, Zbrush’s smudge tool is the least memory-intensive and most effective smudge tool I’ve ever used)
over to the important things now:
a phallocrat is what Chauvin gave his name to: a Chauvinist (literally in ancient greek: plallos + kratein = penis + power = he who deems power belongs to humans with penises = he who deems power should belong to men)
Mahlikus and wife, I’m as much against the fact as can get. I’m a feminist, and would really rather be a woman, if only to be able to protest about the matter and not be ignored/jeered as is the case right now. If I ever manage to have my gender changed, I hope it will be evident that I’m not kidding.
The key is a phallus (translation, a penis) that’s symbolically opening up the woman’s belly so that the soldiers can come out. It opens up the woman in a symbolically abusive way, hence the blood, because while childbirth and motherhood are indisputably beautiful conditions, the kind of male offspring that this key demands from the mother, is a chauvinist, a suppressor and generally indecent (at least towards women) being.
I’m glad to see that my primary meaning got through:
mothers are, by unwritten order of the society of course, rearing up boys so as to have the upper hand, and conditioning girls to be low-profile, subservient creatures.
I find that detestable and, feeling the way I do, this painting came to being.
Thanks for the kind words so far, and the kind and unkind comments to follow.
love,
C.
Cool man. I knew we were reading the key wrong. Never though that is was the device that openned her. As for our stand point, we too are on the same wavelength, though I prefer to remain male…lol. I will say that I was raised under one of the greatest mothers in the world (father left before teenage years). Being on a feminist side herself, she brought me to treat woman properly…with equal respect and the utmost admiration. So, my point is that I am glad to say I am not, or will never be…nor never understand that of a phallocrat. What was confusing my wife and I was the fact that we cant see her face, let alone have it express any emotion. Therefore it seems as if she might be enjoying herself. We know now that this is not the case. As for the whole 3D thing. I knew better once I DL’ed the image and viewed it without AOL’s nasty ass JPG compression. On that note, an even more amazing job to be doing traditional PS/Painter work all in ZB…Bravo man.
Another great and perhaps controversial image - and nothing wrong in that. I have no aspirations for a gender change, but I certainly agree with your general premise - the world might be a much better place if more power were vested in women than in your typical alpha-male. Too much aggression, too much competitive self-assertion, too much testosterone! And society as a whole seems to lack either the recognition of this fact or the will to change it during formative years - or in later life, to a large extent institutionally either. Of course there are exceptions, but as a general trend, I think you are right on the nail. 
A fine painting.
The pose of the woman is interesting. As you state that “mothers are, by unwritten order of the society of course, rearing up boys so as to have the upper hand, and conditioning girls to be low-profile, subservient creatures” can I take the bowed head, turned away face and covered breast to reflect this?
The covered breast might also represent control, at the behest of the key, over the ‘milk of human kindness’, but then that might be reading too much into it.
The issue of maternity is an interesting one, from socially constructed ideas about natural maternal instincts to the role of men and society in it.
We can only wonder how it might be if the key weren’t there.
I love that it takes three months. If you have the patience to create such, waiting for a gender change won’t seem so long.
Keep em coming.
Glen
Controversial as ever, Christos- bring on the debate! 
Here’s my thoughts after looking over your picture…
Although I agree to some extent that women in the past have been disempowered by ‘phallocrats’ or male chauvinists, I feel that is not quite as a bad an issue in the Western world these days. In fact, I’d go so far as to say that broad equality betwen men and women has been acheived, although some fine tuning in western legal systems is still needed. 
Also, there is much hope for countries like Afghanistan (however you may view the state of affairs that led to the ousting of the Taliban regime) where the women are now being given a chance for greater opportunities…
Btw- great piece.
interesting thoughts, and thanks Glen
well, in all probability I’ll never like a man sexually, or even to flirt with, so you can expect a lesbian transexual.
one such, can’t be very objective, can one?
still, Grub, I may have to point out that biased as I am against males, some things really do still stand. Women don’t get paid the same in a multitude of professions (let alone prejudice or downright banishment in certain professions such as orchestra conductors) , there’s pre-allocated posts in govenrments and companies for women (as well as for black people, but this isn’t my primary concern right now) that makes hiring women seem and feel rather an obligation instead of an asset.
The fact that there are still women being beaten up in the western world, I think is a good reason for so-called civilization to be embarassed of itself.
And the fact alone that there has to be a “women’s day” (or again a “black history day”) is indicative of something being not right.
On a different note, on the psychological reasons of women being mistreated, you can deduce quite a lot from the way gay men are looked down to.
The -generally valid- theory is the following; people assume that gay men wish they were women. Mistakenly, because there’s bi,gay,str8 and asexual transexuals, and the desire for men isn’t what women are ALL about- so gay men are very often male in psychology, and sometimes even chauvinists. Continuing with the common assumption that gay men wish they were women, most males (and by immitation, females too) think low of them, because they can’t for the life of them understand how a male could ever want to belong to the inferior sex.
People rarely stop long enough to think about why they hate gays (of course lesbians are far less frowned upon, or even admired for wanting to be the only gender that’s worth being), but that’s the basic motivation. Which means that even people who have convinced themselves that they are respectful of women, may have a lot of unsolved complexes that point towards phallocracy.
but I digress. the feminist revolution only begun in the 60ies, and it didn’t even have a game plan then. Things may be going better than I believe they are, but a problem is still a problem. I really wish there was nothing to inspire this painting.
love, C.
WOW :eek: :eek:
Very interesting painting, coupled with some very thought provoking discussion. For me this painting brings on anguish to show cruelty to women. I feel, and I was raised that you put women on a pedestal. They are the creators of miracles, and to show any cruelty towards them hurts me inside. I agree that in many cases women are belittled by men, and this is a tragedy! There is still a long way to go for women. However, women have made great strides in recent years towards being more equal. I believe it also falls on the way we raise our children. When chauvinism is practiced in the home, then it is passed on to the children. The best way to break this trend is to teach our children correctly. That, I believe is where society is lacking. Recently we had a tragedy with the space shuttle. Very soon after, my daughter came to me and said she wanted to be an astronaut. I told her to go for it, that she can be anything she wants to be. It takes hard work, but I know you can do it. It isn’t going to change overnight, but empowering all of our children (not just the boys) can possibly change things for the better for future generations. Just my thoughts. Hopefully they are contributive to this thread. I do love your work. It is both beautifully painted and thought provoking which is what we need every once in a while.
Hmm, interesting discussion and very valid Cnefostitos.
Hmm as I always thought gay men were as close as we could get to gender equality, it’s odd that from their psychology as you say most are chauvinists. I suppose I am not opportunist. Sure I think their behaviour is outerly in avoidance of women but what they do is so ‘womanly’ it is often the source of gest. There is the joke.
By the same side, I am for encouraging a man to take more female “typecast” roles in society, and the reverse, as actually strength (!). Why more people don’t see this puzzles me sometimes. A man who cooks for his family, or a stay at home dad who enjoys spending time with his children. Diversity is as important in gender roles as racial diversity is in a society.
Although, not to be jumping to the more extreme measures, err cough
Emotional interference in the upbringing and development of children is an obstacle that should be made obsolete, as even studies show, will lead to emotional problems later in life; being taught to always be “tough”, never to cry as equalling weakness and so on. All of these will have an effect as to how the individual will relate to other individuals. People have to find their nature without bias, and be free to do that first and foremost. I believe we as a society teach values to our children, boys and girls respectively, and we are solely to blame as a culture for not recognizing that both intellectually and spiritually we partake in the abuse of women for centuries and the typecasting of males.
It is a vicious circle that is slowly coming undone. Hopefully the parallel will be attained by a more socially educated consciousness.
It all comes from a source, that the male = standard and standard = male, as opposed to the standard being devoid of any gender bias (and allowing everyone to find their place in society and enjoying their life without the gutter ).
However, I do believe our culture is changing, for the better at an increasingly accelerated pace. All you have to do to gauge that factor is look at the biggest reflection of popular culture, and that is popular music. Most of our music, successful music is largely healthy and serves to draw a good picture of where we are going in the next years or so… Its failures as well, representative of our generation and shedding new light on its successes. I could say more on this topic but it would take an entirely new relevance. But we’re definately playing a different ballgame, so don’t lose hope Cnefostitos, and hold up that gender change just yet.
Anyway, I was very surprised at the tones of this topic.
Move over Dali,
here comes cneofotistos!
Great work mate!
Okay I will play the devils advocate or the typical “phallocrat” #1. Your’e images are always well done with an up till 3 in the morning detailed approach, very impressive!#2 your subject matter is recycled Dali and “shock art” by nature really a key standing on the threshold of penetration, nice! How subtle, you seem to ridicule western society but you play right in to it with the in your’e face type of aggro approach. I live in the USA and am bombarded with this approach I know you are capable of much more creativity than demostrated in this image. You seem to be so arrogant in your opinions of the preceptions of the unschooled “masses”, How can you be so sure? You are assuming an awful lot!What do I care if you want to be a woman thats your choice!
You seem to feed off this gender based angst to fuel your images! I ask what is your goal to fight for womans rights or to find debate and friction to make a decision on whether you should have a vagina or a penis? Why not both then we could all be unisex and all the hurt and destruction would vannish from the world, please like we can undo 5.5 billion years of evolution in the blink of an eye! We all don’t get a pet unicorn and a life time supply of skittles! The “Humaness” of our over aggressive yet "sucessful spieces is making the world a very confusing and utterly F#$cking boring place to live! #3 stating that woman are subjugated seems to birth breath into that very sate of being! I have two daughters and I raise them to be powerful(jujitsu)beings that can defend thier stance on any issue if a “phallocrat” chooses to change their stance through force. Adapt and survive! #4 I valye the rel debate images bring to this forum and I admire your honesty I just like to dabate!!! Love
well SIOCHTROUM, lovely thinking.
naturally, you can only judge me from what I say,and paint, not from what you suppose I
believe.
the painting isn’t even feminist.
personal likes and dislikes don’t show my motivation, just my inspiration, and the painting is only an objective social observation, no angst attached. since YOU are subject to “being-bombarded-with- ideologies-you-consider-arrogant” angst, I guess it’s unethical to attack.
by the way, my alleged “superiority complex”, how do you surmise that? I’m insecure and saddened by stuff I see around me. Considering myself superior to somebody just doesn’t get into play. I don’t care about it, don’t need to think about it. Non-competitive thinking. It’s a feminine trait, and even though I like it, I can’t defend it against logical argument. It’s subjective, and I can’t see me trying to impose it on anyone.
So I repeat, the fact that today’s society doesn’t give equal rights to both genders in running the society, is a fact, whether you’re a phallocrat or a feminist.
thanks for the kind comment on my technique, I don’t know how to respond to the “recycled Dali” view of my work (but don’t really care, because it’s not as if I’m trying to make money by recycling Dali), and thanks even more for a more than half-decent argument.
Beautifully designed and painted piece. The tones are harmonious and the lighting perfect.
Very thought provoking illustration. (And I’m sure glad you love women as much as you do.) 