The oldest abstracted depiction of God is the Shiva lingam, it's basically a male phallic organ represented in union with the female organ or yoni in Sanskrit. This is an extremely popular image within the Hindu tradition. When they worship the Lingam they do not project a base sexual understanding towards it but see it in a higher context. We all have the ability to perceive things on different levels. This is what makes the mind such an amazing tool. It's interesting that a lot of the negativity towards Henson's work maintains that the images are sexually provocative etc. perhaps he is just playing with our perceived limitations or the way we project and react to our own insecurities. If we take out preconceived emotive triggers (which are cultural) what is the difference between the inherent beauty in a flower and the female body? It's the Artist job to play around with the edges, to try to find new ways of seeing something and ultimately expand perceptions between the known and the unknown. Society often reacts to it's own fears and insecurities, always has and always will. Art is important because of the very reason that it's not NECESSARY. Otherwise everything is just buying and selling ... playing out desires.
