The 10 Craziest Search Terms That Led Readers to artnet News

Yes, someone looked up "model vagina," "Pablo Picacssi," and "satanic coloring book!"

Jennifer Lawrence at the Oscars.

During the time that artnet News has been online (nearly a year now), we’ve found that some of the search terms leading people to our site are not what you might expect.

Celebrity searches and scandal led the pack in driving traffic, of course, with Jennifer Lawrence, Rihanna, and Shia LeBoeuf among the top search terms that led surfers our way (see Jennifer Lawrence Nudes Exhibition Scrapped Amid Internet Backlash, Artist Sues Rihanna Over ROCKSTAR 101 Video, Shia LaBeouf Embroiled in Pedophilia Controversy, Shia LeBeouf Sexually Assaulted During Performance at Cohen Gallery in Los Angeles and Oh, For the Love of God, Shia, Please Stop!)

But when we dug a little deeper, we started to find some offbeat terms bringing web searchers to us. Of all of those wacky phrases, here are our favorites:

1. Sexology
What does the study of sex have to do with us? We reported on a show called “The Institute of Sexology” at London’s (ahem) Wellcome Collection. (See New Institute of Sexology Celebrates History of Erotic Art, Film, Photography.)

2. Orgy
When a sculptor in Michigan aimed to remind his neighbors that we all have to rely on each other, his work, Blue Human Condition, ended up suggesting that that interreliance was a little more intercourse-y than he intended. (See Locals Misinterpret Sculpture Celebrating Unity as an Orgy.)

3. Model Vagina
Not just any vagina will do. “Model vagina” was all about Japanese artist Megumi Igarashi, who sent a man a link providing data that would allow a 3D printing of her genitals. (See Japanese Artist Arrested Over 3D-Scanned Vagina Boat Project.)

4. Satanic Coloring Book
No, apparently Satanists will not be distributing coloring books at Florida schools, but leapin’ Lucifer, it was good while it lasted. (See Florida Isn’t Passing Out Satanic Coloring Books—Yet.)

5. Osama bin Laden
Al Qaeda’s terrorist in chief did not turn out to be a painter, like George W. Bush, George Zimmerman, and other fundamentalists and crazies. Turns out, though, the CIA did make anti-Qaeda propaganda in the form of a bin Laden action figure. (See Rare CIA-Produced Osama bin Laden Propaganda Doll to be Auctioned.)

6. Poo Sculpture
It was August, news was slow, and a University of Arts London student supposedly failed her undergraduate degree in ceramics because she made a fecal-themed sculpture. (See Art School Defends Failing Student’s Poo Sculpture.)

7. Hipsters Surrender
That’ll be the day. In any event, this was the New York Post’s snappy headline when some artists replaced the U.S. flags atop the Brooklyn Bridge with the white flag of surrender. Heck, all we did was mention the Post’s headline. (See NYPD Hunting Artists Behind Brooklyn Bridge Flag Swap Stunt.)

8. Ethiopian News
This one’s in the “lost and found” category. Perusing an auction catalogue, an eagle-eyed academic spotted a 17th-century Ethiopian painting that had been stolen from Paris’s Musée de l’Homme sometime before 1989. (See Stolen Ethiopian Saint John Turns Up at Paris Auction.)

9. Le Monde Pablo Picacssi
Wait, what? Last winter, Le Monde started publishing the fourth installment of Pablo, a series of comic strips about the Spaniard (see Le Monde Publishes Latest Installment of Comic Book Series About Pablo Picasso). Apparently someone searching for the news—repeatedly—simply could not spell the artist’s name right. Autocorrect—love it or hate it, this guy could have used it.

10. Penis
It all comes back to sex in the end, doesn’t it? See Danish Artist Paints Kim Kardashian Portrait Using His Penis. Enough said.


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