Are These 'Plus-Size' Sexy Sculptures The Most Inspiring Sculptures Of All-Time? You Be The Judge

CNN Style - With her life-sized paper papier-mâché sculptures, Philadelphia-based artist Shona McAndrew is presenting plus-size women in a way the mainstream rarely does: as sexual beings at ease in their bodies.

There’s seated “Norah” (2016), her hand gripping the band of her underwear; “Elizabeth” (2018), soaking in a bathtub with her eyes closed; and “Stu and Me (Netflix and Chill)” (2018), an a couple watching TV in bed while engaging in another more intimate activity. Each conveys a comfort in one’s body, flouting common portrayals of large bodies as self-conscious and inhibited.

“So yes, my women are plus-size, and yes, my women have hairy legs or hairy vaginas, but it’s about her experience as a body, and about her in the moment that she’s in.”

McAndrew, who identifies as plus-size, chose to focus on larger women because she’s most familiar with larger body types. But she also believes it is important to celebrate unrepresented bodies and challenge the taboos that surround them.

“A lot of plus-size women really respond to my sculptures. They talk about how they feel beautiful seeing a body like this represented in such a way that they don’t experience or ever see,” McAndrew said.

I present these sculptures to you objectively. I’m not really sure how we’re supposed to feel looking at these, but I did my best to present the art the way I think Shona McAndrew would want.

Sofia, 36, sits atop a dirty towel and waxes her legs before a job interview later that evening at her local “Applebees”. She’s interviewing to be the new manager though, a job that will pay her more than enough to live comfortably in Nebraska, because of how comfortable with her body she is.  She waxes her legs on the floor. I’m so inspired I might finally confront all my deepest fears. She’s also a bigger woman. I hardly noticed.

Josephine, 23, seems to have lost something. I can’t see what because her knee is in the way, but I hope she finds it. She’s also naked and standing on a chair, but she’s wearing socks. Everyone knows that if you stand on a chair naked and inspect your genitals, that means you have a lot of sex because you’re comfortable with your body. Josephine has a real “it factor” when it comes to how comfortable with her body she is. She’s like the Baker Mayfield of being comfortable in your own skin. Touching.

“When I see breasts as floppy or large as hers, it really makes mine feel beautiful,” McAndrew said about the bathing “Elizabeth.”

“And I really think that’s what happens (when women see my sculptures): You see a representation of yourself and it allows you to let out the breath you have been holding.”

Elizabeth, 28, needs to get a bigger bathtub probably. I just feel like she would be more comfortable in a bigger bathtub, much like how comfortable she is with her own plus-sized figure. Look at those floppy breasts. I’m gonna go play the fucking lottery because I’m feeling so flawless. Thank you, Elizabeth and artist Shona McAndrew, thank you.