Los Angeles-based artist, Jen Stein, 28, creates art using a focus and medium you probably won’t see in a museum anytime soon — dildos. She shares her completed works of art on Instagram as @adultartsandcrafts2, a new Instagram account created after the last one was removed.
Stein sometimes creates entire scenes around a dildo, like a gnome house made not from a tree but a dong. She also uses her art to send clear messages like reminders to wear a mask. Puns and humor feature heavily in her finished works, even when the message is serious.
In a recent interview in Vice, Stein said, “I started out just wanting to keep things funny, but I think I always wanted people to be more open about their sexuality.” Sex and sexuality isn’t the only thing she’d like to change. In that same interview, Stein mentioned the objectification and sexualization of women’s bodies throughout history. Her dildo art is meant to help tilt the objectification in another direction — toward the peen.
Stein makes a point to explain that her dildos are for artistic purposes only and are not meant to be used. Scroll through her Instagram account, and you may be surprised at how realistic some dildos look and how well some of them fade into the scene she’s created. Just because we don’t typically see dildos in art museums doesn’t mean we shouldn’t (or couldn’t at some point)!