We live in a world where more and more people are communicating desire through visual imagery. Just as we see problems in the street of people who don’t understand that they’re not entitled to a person’s space or attention simply because they find that person attractive, we’re seeing a similar sense of entitlement happening over text. It’s harassing. It’s wrong. But we’re slowly making some headway in combating it. That’s progress for consent. Revenge porn, meanwhile, is an attack on consent.
Making the social media rounds once again is Monica Bonvicini’s 2003 art installation, “Don’t Miss A Sec,” a public toilet created of one-way mirrors that enables the user to continue to watch people on the street while they relieve themselves. The concept behind the piece is driven by the fear of missing out, an idea which, though always relevant, is even more applicable ten years later given our fast-paced, perma-connected existences. It’s all very interesting, of course, though to be honest our main interest is a little more low-brow.
For Scott La Force, what began as an examination of restive sexual dysfunction centered on the suburban complacency of 21st century America has become a moment of truth. And now, those of us who happen to be in Portland, Oregon before the end of August can share that moment at the Cock Gallery, where La Force is exhibiting his vision as a photo essay.
“This is where I zoom out on the situation,” Jamie Peck recalls. “I can remember doing this stuff, but even at the time, it was sort of like watching someone else do it, someone who couldn’t possibly be me because I would never touch a creepy photographer’s penis. The only explanation I can come up with is that he was so darn friendly and happy about it all, and his assistants were so stoked on it as well, that I didn’t want to be the killjoy in the room.”
Why would someone attack a painting? Last week in Washington DC, a visitor to the National Gallery’s “Gauguin: Maker of Myth” exhibition took hold of the frame of the post impressionist’s artist’s Two Tahitian Women, then began to pound her fist against the plexiglas protecting the painting. A by-stander tackled the woman, enabling museum officers…continue reading.
Meet Jack Davis. In the sixties, while in grad school, Davis was coming out. Asked how he came to the idea of penises, he recalls how many of his classmates in his weaving and textile classes were making wall hangings reminiscent of vulvae. The imagery inspired him to focus on making something that would feel men feel empowered as well. Thus, he crocheted his first penis. In 1975, his graduate show included these penises, and he’s continued making and exhibiting them since.
