PHOTOS: Kim Kardashian In The 'Nude'
Contemporary sculptor Daniel Edwards is a pro at courting controversy.
His celebrity-inspired artwork include a 2006 life-sized nude of Britney Spears giving birth to son Sean Preston, a statue of Angelina Jolie breast-feeding, and "hands-on" work called "Paris Hilton Autopsy."
On Wednesday, Edwards unveiled his latest piece: a nude sculpture of a pregnant Kim Kardashian. The life-sized figure, entitled "L.A. Fertility," portrays the 32-year-old reality star in a walking pose without arms.
Visitors to the statue, on view at the LAB ART Gallery in L.A., are encouraged to rub Kardashian's enormous belly for luck.
Edwards explained that his work was in response to media criticism over Kardashian's weight gain during
her pregnancy with her first child.
"People tend to look at the parts, like the creases in her armpits, or how she wore a dress that makes her look like a killer whale," Edwards told Los Angeles Magazine. "I'm stripping it of the details people get stuck on, so they can see the beauty."
Other works in Edwards' exhibit include a bronze of Kardashian and Kanye West's baby in utero, and another pre-natal portrait of Kate Middleton and Prince William's child.
"We live in a media-absorbed culture where anyone can access and share a celebrity's most intimate moments," publicist Cory Allen said in a statement. "Daniel visually captures 'that' intimacy.
