Pure Entertainment and Fun to Boot

Open Wide and Smile

I know this is suppose to be fun and invite the little tikes to stand proudly as they relieve themselves, but there is something most disturbing about this urinal on a not so subliminal level.  I never really liked clowns that much anyway and pissing in ones mouth is not my idea of a good time.  Maybe kids would view it differently.  Still you have to admire it for its originality and mechanical difficulty.  It is a functional urinal and that takes some doing to retrofit this thing to function in a public facility of any kind.  Kudos to its designer and installer.  This guy would certainly lead to some type of conversation, wouldn't you agree?...  even where urinal etiquette insists on dutiful silence.  

Can I help you with that Big Boy?

I thought this handsome and awesome cousin  of R2D2 might displace the washroom attendant in our not to distant future.  I wonder if it actually requests you to turn your head cough.  Despite its intimidating appearance, it speaks volumes about our culture giving the lowly urinal the ability to inspect and well as receive.  I do not know where this ingenious urinal calls home, but would love to give it a visit first hand inspection some day.  I bring it here to show you the incredible ingenuity that designers put into these objects for our use and entertainment.  More to come for sure.  

New arrival from UK, circa 1900

This beauty just in from the UK.  The manufacturer of this urinal wears its logo with pride.  Boots made urinals for individual pharmaceutical drug stores (Note "Cash Chemists" to the right of the logo).  I have three of these in my collection from different apothecary shops.   This has to be one of my favorite designs because it is so streamline and elegant.  They made both this male and female models, which I will show at a later date.   The attention to detail is phenomenal  but understated and constrained with its simple strapped handle.  The size at 11" long is optimal for its function, and the opening of 1 3/4" will comfortably accommodate the largest man.   I would like to point out the asymmetrical throat morphing into the body. Notice that the arch on the top is different than the bottom.  This adds to its unique presents and identifies it immediately as a Boots Urinal.  This urinal is in very good condition with only slight scratches and glaze crazing on its surface from use and time.  The design is so confident that it needs no additional ornamental embellishment.  It is a true classic.     

 

Callaurinal: Art yes: a "readymade" it's not

Clark Sorensen's pieces are a challenge to the concepts established  in the last century by the Dadaists and yet what could be more surreal than to piss on the phallus of a calla lilly.  His ideas challenge the concepts of "form follows function".  I invite you to check out his web sight to see all his wonderful urinal creations and their inherent contradictions of good design and high art.  The point of contention is in purpose or function, necessity or aesthetic, concept or reality.  What is interesting in Clark's work is the blurring of these artistic parameters.  

Artistic Urinals in the tradition of Duchamps

Who says urinals have to be complicated in their aesthetic to make a statement, though I must say that the mechanics of this urinal are deceptive.  You may have the perception that you're just urinating in a bucket, but the mechanics and attention to every detail make this urinal a bit deceptive.  It is available from the British designer, Phillip Watts on a variety of bases.  I think it is innovative and original and has a price tag of about $1056.00.  For more of his innovative designs see his web link to the right. 

Marcel Duchamp's "Fountain", circa 1917

"Fountain " by Marcel Duchamp, 1917, photographed by Alfred Steglitz at his 291 Gallery after the 1917 Society of Independent Artists exhibit rejected his entry.  Stieglitz used a backdrop of "The Warriors" by Marsden Hartley to photograph the urinal.  Notice the exhibition tag that can be clearly seen.  There are several replicas in museums around the world including the Philadelphia Museum of Art and the Tate Modern Museum, London.  The original strangely disappeared.  This icon in contemporary art is the main inspiration in my interests in urinals of all kinds.  For more information on this important work of modern art click on the link to the right on Duchamp @ Wikipedia.org.

Bottle or Urinal, You decide

A "D" design for Pee? I think not.

What would make anyone think this was a functional urinal?  For if it is meant to be a urinal it is truly piss poor.  It is, however, an interesting bottle and the only quagmire that even remotely points it in the urinal direction is the hole drilled at the apex of the interior "D".  What else could that be needed for except to tie it off to a user's  bed.  The opening is only 3/4" in diameter making insertion difficult at best and the owner would have better luck with an old coke bottle.    It is tall at 11 3/4" but the volume it holds (550 cc's) is proportionately poor in comparison to other designs. If one was bed ridden, positioning this bottle would be difficult not to leave the user drenched in his own urine.  All that said, I bought this bottle as a urinal, primarily because I could  not imagine it was a very successful design except to maybe hold the flowers brought into a hospital room.  I have seen similar bottles produced in the Netherlands that also claimed to be urinals, but with the reputation of the Dutch men being well endowed, I can't imagine it does any of them favors in the urinal department.