'Porn Again' curated by Gordon Froud
by Jana Zaaijman
'Porn Again' curated by Gordon Froud for Merely Mortal is a follow up to 'A Big Little Thing', South Africa's first major erotic art exhibition, which opened in 1997, shortly after South Africa's first democratic election. The follow-up show is based on the understanding that South Africans have become more accustomed to pornography and the erotic as sexual expression since the country's emergence into democracy. Over 30 artists exhibited.
Eight years after the initial project, I find it somewhat bizarre that sexual expression in art is still presented as socially risqu�é. The point being that it is no longer perceived as morally wrong to make art dealing with sex. And furthermore, not every piece of art dealing with sex has to be related to the Aids Agenda. I do believe, however, that to meaningfully contribute to the topic of sexuality in our society, art work made within this discourse must be accessible to the society which ideally consumes it, and at the very least, it should try to explore a meaning deeper than simply sex for sex's sake.
Of the artists whose work was on show, an inconsistency was manifest in approach. While some grappled successfully and provocatively with pornography and eroticism, yielding challenging works, others remained caught in a mindset that views anything dealing with nudity or the mechanics of sex as titillatingly relevant.
Steve Lowery's piece did not make much of an impact. His carefully drawn Nude Study really looked like a figure study�the sort one would do in studio practice. The image is of a naked seated male with his limp penis resting against his inner thigh. The man's nakedness can only ever be the work's agenda, particularly in this exhibiting context. There is no alternative content to separate this image from any other figure study. Any claim of further content would be to apply the artist's intention onto a symbol that in reference to a broader society does not exist.
Chris Diedericks's work also shows a lack of content. Entitled Toys for Boys 1, it is a photograph of a condom that has been drastically enlarged. The latex has been seductively twisted and curled against a white background. The condom has become very commonplace in contemporary society; there is nothing particularly shocking or even erotic about it any longer. All of this combined with the supposedly cute title evokes a sense of pretentiousness that reinforces the idea that when it comes to sex, a large number of contemporary artists appear to think the general public is comprised of Calvinists stuck in the 1950s.
Works of this nature did not stir a sense of sexual revolution in me. More often than not, they illustrated sex and its mechanics and proved unable to deal with issues around sexuality. These pieces, in the context of Pornography in a democratic South Africa appeared superficially devoid of personal exploration of issues like desire, eroticism or even shock. The works that impressed me were those that used a greater pool of reference.
Inside Out 1 + 11 by Marcell Murdock fitted the exhibition's bill more appropriately. Murdock's mannequin dressed in a skirt and top evoked a sense of subtle desire. A girl with waving red hair is appliquéd on the skirt, possibly referencing Gustav Klimt's Danaë. The work reflects street culture as well, by the way in which the denim jacket is torn, re-stitched and casually flung over the dummy's shoulder.
Markus Steinman's work also cleverly references the past. Entitled Sunday School Teacher, his piece comprises an Ottoman covered in transparent plastic. The image on top of the furniture looks like the cover of a magazine. A voluptuous nude girl is shown coyly hiding behind a tree, smiling provocatively, evoking Pop Art in general, and the work of Mel Ramos in particular. The Ottoman invites one to sit on the sexy Sunday School teacher's face. This work evokes notions of childhood fantasy and guilt.
Steinman and Murdock's work, although personal, never become completely self-focused and consequently abstracted from society's priorities and values. It seems, therefore, that the challenge in a project of this nature should be to produce conceptually accessible work in this discourse.
The project is interesting, given the new identity into which we have emerged in our democracy, with all our levels of permissiveness dramatically altered. In its manifestation, it is, however, uneven.
April 20 - June 4
Merely Mortal
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