Hedge fund managers have become some of the most important collectors of contemporary art in the world, buying everything from paintings adorned with dung to preserved dead sharks. But the work of Amanda Putty may shock them in all the wrong places.

Putty, who calls herself a “photorealistic” artist, has unveiled a new series of works that seek to raise awareness of “sexist behavior in the hedge fund industry.” Putty—the artist uses a pseudonym—claims “an insider’s knowledge of hedge fund attitudes and behavior” after working in the industry for eight years.

The new paintings and prints, which can be seen (and purchased) on Putty’s Web site, HedgeFundGirls.com, show the “more treacherous fantasies of hedge fund managers—fantasies of money and power directed at women,” according to a Greenwich, Conn., datelined press release from Putty.

Among the paintings, all of them captioned, are some that look like scenes from a soft-core pornography movie. They depict nearly nude women applying for jobs, being reprimanded and stripping for all-male hedge fund executives.  Putty has divided the images into three categories: Office Girls, Party Girls and Show Girls.

Putty claims that the paintings “portray women as hedge fund managers, almost exclusively male, envision them: as baby dolls, mistresses, collectibles and playthings.”

No word on whether any of those hedge fund managers have a Putty hanging next to their Picassos.

RELATED LINKS

Amanda Putty's HedgeFundGirls.com