Ripe (With Decay) 2023
Permanent marker, acrylic slab, wooden base
34 x 18 x 23 cm
Valentines Day is widely known as a commercial holiday created for profit and capital;
when flowers, jewellery and chocolates are bought to be presented to significant others; or a day where most people consummate their desires. But what happens when you
aren’t confined to society’s normative view on love?
Inspired by Georges Bataille’s philosophy on sexuality, “Ripe (With Decay)” is dedicated to unconventional love and bizzare sexual behavior in all it’s forms, in a more
conventional term some would call it “taboo”. To quote Bataille: “The remarkable thing
about the sex taboo is that it is fully seen in transgression. The taboo is discovered
directly by a furtive and at first partial exploration of the forbidden territory. At first nothing could be more mysterious. We are admitted to the knowledge of a pleasure in which the notion of pleasure is mingled with mystery, suggestive of the taboo that
fashions the pleasure at the same time as it condemns it.”
Concentrating on the lesser acknowledged perspective, this work envisions a sex club
during Valentines Day. Widowers, celebrating divorcees, perverts, polyamorous
couples, swingers, dominants, submissives; people with peculiar views on love and sex
and pushing the boundaries of its societal norms.
Created with three acrylic slabs, the work mirrors “peepshows” or “raree shows” that
were popular in 17th and 18th century (which both exhibited mundane panoramas as
well as erotic or pornographic films), coincidentally in more contemporary times,
“peepshows” is a presentation of a live sex show or pornographic film which is viewed through a viewing slot. A flashlight is provided near the work so each viewer can project light onto the work itself, adding an aspect of voyeurism. Each slab depicts a differen layer of people in the club, and when viewed from the front, comes together in an ensemble of blurred harsh lines to create a full scene of bacchanalia.
Submitted for “Hearts Of Darkness” Exhibition at Studio22Nya and curated by Zarani Hasan.