> ## Content Index
> Fetch the complete content index at: https://hyperallergic.com/llms.txt
> Use this file to discover other available public pages before exploring further.

# A Paul McCarthy Parody to Plug the Hole in Your Holiday Decorations
- URL: https://hyperallergic.com/a-paul-mccarthy-parody-to-plug-the-hole-in-your-holiday-decorations/
- Published: 2014-12-02T15:38:16.000Z
- Updated: 2025-11-24T16:16:18.000Z
- Description: The art world's favorite dirty joke of 2014 — Paul McCarthy's suggestive "Tree" inflatable that caused Paris's prudes to perk up back in October — is coming home for the holidays.
- Author: Benjamin Sutton
- Tags: Interview, Gift Guide, Paul McCarthy, pluggate, #wp, #wp-post, #image-position-hidden, #Import 2025-11-24 07:08 (2014, 2015, part 2)

![ryan-humphrey-butt-plug-ornament-2](https://storage.ghost.io/c/51/f8/51f871d8-b6be-4a73-b958-0ca4fff0110a/content/images/hyperallergic-newspack-s3-amazonaws-com/uploads/2014/12/ryan-humphrey-butt-plug-ornament-2.jpg)

Ryan Humphrey’s Christmas tree toppers (all images courtesy the artist)

The art world’s favorite dirty joke of 2014 — Paul McCarthy’s [suggestive “Tree” inflatable](https://hyperallergic.com/paul-mccarthys-xxxmas-tree-plugs-up-paris/) that caused Paris’s prudes to perk up back [in October](https://hyperallergic.com/paul-mccarthys-epic-plug-de-noel-goes-flaccid-after-mounting-problems/) — is coming home for the holidays. The artist [Ryan Humphrey](http://www.humphreyindustries.com/?ref=hyperallergic.com) has turned the rotund and risqué sculpture into a charming topper for your Christmas tree.

Available in McCarthy’s original green as well as blue, red, black, and gold, the small-scale trees are a steal at just [$35 apiece](https://www.etsy.com/listing/213048460/handmade-screen-printed-butt-plug-tree?ref=hyperallergic.com) — though the price of “Tree” remains unknown, another giant McCarthy inflatable, “Balloon Dog,” [sold for $950,000](http://www.telegraph.co.uk/culture/art/art-news/10057415/Frieze-New-York-80ft-inflatable-balloon-dog-sells-for-almost-1m.html?ref=hyperallergic.com) following its star turn at Frieze New York in 2013\. Each 10.5-inch-tall topper is screen printed on birch plywood and, per Humphrey’s [Etsy listing](https://www.etsy.com/listing/213048460/handmade-screen-printed-butt-plug-tree?ref=hyperallergic.com), comes with “two strips of Velcro attached to the back for easy mounting (no pun intended).”

\* \* \*

**Benjamin Sutton:** *What gave you the idea to turn McCarthy’s sculpture into a Christmas tree topper?*

![Ryan Humphrey's Christmas tree topper in a shade of green matching Paul McCarthy's original "Tree" (click to enlarge)](https://storage.ghost.io/c/51/f8/51f871d8-b6be-4a73-b958-0ca4fff0110a/content/images/hyperallergic-newspack-s3-amazonaws-com/uploads/2014/12/ryan-humphrey-butt-plug-ornament-1.jpg)

Ryan Humphrey’s Christmas tree topper in a shade of green matching Paul McCarthy’s original “Tree” (click to enlarge)

**Ryan Humphrey:** I actually was commissioned to make the first two as wedding presents for an art collector a little over a year ago just as objects. I made several out of 1/2″ material and turned some into ornaments, and have had some sitting around, and thought they were the perfect tree topper, so I made some out of 1/4″ material and expanded the colors to green after Mr. McCarthy’s tree and silver and gold for Xmas.

**BS:** *Did you base your work on images of McCarthy’s sculptures, or on an actual butt plug? Or is it a hybrid of multiple plug and plug-like objects?*

**RH:** I went to the sex toy store on Bleecker Street and even enlisted one of the employees to give me her opinion on which one was the most iconic. I literally took a snapshot of it with my phone and ran it through Photoshop and had a screen made.

**BS:** *What did you think of the controversy over McCarthy’s “Tree” sculpture? Were you in favor of keeping it in place, or were you happy when they took it down?*

**RH:** I think a butt plug is just about as funny and dumb as an object as you can get. I love his toy-like sculptures and I think it was a great public work, and the scale and color made it even more interesting. It is unfortunate that it was taken down. However, anytime you can get a French guy to take a swing at you, you know you have done your job well.