An exhibition dedicated to 'Drawing Dicks on the Herald Sun' is happening
For the uninitiated, there will be a lot of animated penises in this post.
"Drawing Dicks on the Herald Sun" (DDOTHS) is the wildly-popular Australian Facebook page created by Jeremy Bassett and Dylan Merritt that's inspired the inner artist, if that artist were a teenage boy obsessed with drawing penises on pencil cases and high school desks.
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These elaborately-drawn schlongs drawn on local tabloid newspaper the Herald Sun have since garnered more than 400,000 likes on the Facebook page, inspiring a raft of imitators and a documentary that captures some of the finest in the game.
Image: Dan James/Drawing Dicks On The Herald Sun
These phallic works will make their way from the corners of the Internet, torpedoing themselves on to the walls of Melbourne's ArtBoy Gallery in Prahran from Feb. 26 for a new exhibition.
The exhibition will feature "the finest dick art ever drawn on newspaper," according to the brochure, with the artists behind these wangs to be in attendance. The actual drawing of these dicks began as a lunchtime joke between tradesmen Merritt, Bassett and their workmates, who would bring newspapers to read.
"Whenever they weren't around we'd draw an unsuspecting dick in it," Merritt told Mashable Australia. "They'd come back to it and say 'what the fuck is this,' then we'd have a good laugh about it."
Merritt helped start the Facebook page in September 2012, posting his and Bassett's drawings to the page before new submissions from their followers "started putting them to shame."
Image: Jonathan Edward guthmann/Drawing Dicks on the herald sun
The idea of the exhibition came from filmmaker Larry Boxshall, who has spent time capturing these dicks being drawn around the country.
Boxshall has collected over 50 original artworks from around 20 different artists for the exhibition, with around half of these artists female, according to Merritt. Twelve of these works are by DDOTHS legend and regular weekly winner, Jonathan Edward Guthmann, known for his elaborate takes on the organ.
Image: JONATHAN EDWARD GUTHMANN/DRAWING DICKS ON THE HERALD SUN
As for the Herald Sun themselves, they "don't want to seem to know about us," said Merritt, who sought legal advice prior to the exhibition, and is hoping to immortalise the project into a coffee table book.
All the works will be framed, and up for sale. "We've even had someone ask if they can go in early to bid or name their price to try and buy artworks before anyone got a look in," Merritt said.
Image: Ollie Lucas / Drawing dicks on the herald sun
The exhibition is also another way to get these works out there, as Merritt and Bassett have received some heat from Facebook, thanks to humourless users who have reported the images. Due to this, they've had to cut down the amount of posts they do, even though they're still receiving multiple submissions daily.
"It's at the point now that we're going lose the page if we keep posting stuff that offends people," said Merritt. "But if we find a way around it, that's not just defacing and that's actually artwork we might actually be able to keep the page alive, and get it back to its original state."
Yes, putting a frame around a dick and turning it into a work of art might be all it takes to turn a joke into a legitimate affair.
