M.W. Burns, Untitled, 1991.
M.W. Burns, Untitled, 1991.
M.W. Burns, Untitled, 1991.
M.W. Burns, Articulations, 1990.
Orshi Drozdik, My Mother’s Medicine Cabinet, 1988.
Orshi Drozdik, Erythrocyte, 1988.
Orshi Drozdik, Ether Anaesthesia, 1988.
Orshi Drozdik, Lues Venerea, 1988.
Kiki Smith, Digestive System, 1988.
Kiki Smith, Dowry Cloth, 1991.
Liz Larner, Body Cultures, 1991.
Liz Larner, Body Cultures, 1991.
Liz Larner, Body Cultures, 1991.
Felix Gonzalez-Torres, Untitled (t-cell count), 1990.
Doug Hammett, Untitled, 1989.
Doug Hammett, Detail of Untitled, 1990.
Doug Hammett, Untitled, 1989.
Doug Hammett, Untitled, 1989.
Patty Martori, Untitled, 1990.
Laurie Palmer, Cold Frame, 1989.
Laurie Palmer, Cold Frame, 1989.
Laurie Palmer, Detail of Cold Frame, 1989.
Laurie Palmer, Cold Frame, 1989.
Laurie Palmer, Scent, 1990.
Laurie Palmer, Scent, 1990.
Sarah Seager, Handles, 1989.
Sarah Seager, A Record of 100,000 Sighs, 1989.
Sean Smith, Penetration, 1988.
Sean Smith, Penetration, 1990.
David Sedaris, Mechanical Heart, 1991.
M.W. Burns, Articulations, 1990.
Doug Hammett, Detail of Untitled, 1990.
Liz Larner, Body Cultures, 1991.
Patty Martori, Untitled, 1990.
Laurie Palmer, Scent, 1990.
Laurie Palmer, Scent, 1990.
Sarah Seager, A Record of 100,000 Sighs, 1989.
Sarah Seager, Song for the Participation of Letters, 1991.
Sean Smith, Penetration, 1990.
Sean Smith, Penetration, 1988.
Throughout the 1980s a semi-private manner of artmaking has toiled beneath the vociferous excesses, theoretical extrapolations, and politics of neo-Expressionism, Media Consciousness, and Art Activism, and is quietly obsessed with investigating human physicality and chemistry through precisely literal and symbolic materials, objects, and situations. These sensuous transformations, proliferations, and amputations subtly and profoundly influence one’s understanding of the human body, its physical and chemical strength and fragility. These artworks are neither explicitly sexual nor aesthetically formal, opting instead for insinuated sexuality and appropriated formality. Sexuality is experienced through glass, wax, lead, saliva, rubber, and wood, and their receptiveness to further humanization through manual processes, use, erosion, and age. Formailty is experienced through theatrical and/or narrative juxtapositions of mannequins, bottle racks, medical equipment and display cases within interior architectural spaces.
A feeling of displacement and disenchantment results, hinting that contemporary society fails to sympathize with certain physical, emotional and psychological needs. The ever-increasing congestion, isolation, pollution, and decay of urban life makes these artists acutely aware of the delicate balance of their physical and mental metabolisms.
