Porn-inspired miniature ‘casting couch’ removed from Kentucky State Fair
Preston Poling, an artist known as The Bearded Miniaturist, took third place in the Kentucky State Fair Miniature Contest with his work titled The Casting Couch. At first glance, it seems like an innocuous and mundane piece. A black sofa in a room with white walls, a gray carpet, and a small dark wood desk. There is a butt print on the sofa. Pretty innocuous until you put it in context. It’s an exact replica of a well-known set often seen in casting couch porn videos. Excellent craftsmanship.
At the Kentucky State Fair, no one seemed to be aware of what it represented until images of the miniature went viral on Instagram, TikTok and Facebook. Then people online started pointing out what it really was. Someone at the State Fair with a stick up their butt removed the depiction after it was deemed inappropriate. Poling says the removal of his work is a form of censorship.
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For a moment, State Fair officials considered banning Poling from the competition altogether and also stripping him of the other awards he had received that year: He had previously won a Best in Show award for his miniature version of a set of The Walking Dead TV show. Thankfully, they left his tapes in place. Poling says his cameo on the casting couch was meant to get people talking, because “that’s the job of art.” You bet, brother. You bet.
