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31/5/2003

Bodilicious

Tattfoo Temple of Art and Design, New York

curated by Paul Sharpe, Paul Sharpe Contemporary Art, New York, NY

The body has been depicted in art throughout the ages in many formats, but only recently has it become an object or a metaphor, a stimulant or a turn off. Painters, photographers, sculptors, and new media artists all are taking daring approaches to the portrayal of the body as a starting point for creative expression. In this show it is hoped that a survey of varied approaches to the body will help to reveal for the viewer some of what is new and what is renewed in depictions of the body.

In this inaugural show at Tattfoo Temple of Art and Design, the visitor encounters 10 artists from the United States and Europe working in virtually every medium. The depictions in some case are realistic while in others quite abstract. "Bodilicious" is the title due to the enduring interest of the body itself; its luxurious quality and its immediate sensualness.

The show can be roughly divided into two parts: the painters and sculptors, and the photographers and new media artists. Certain aspects, however, are common in all of the artists works, namely the sculptural element and a depiction of volume. Even the painters, such as Amaya Bozal from Madrid, Spain, create work on canvas that is inherently sculptural. Along with the moving images of Lee Whittier and the still images of Robert Irwin, the viewer finds a painterly quality in their work. Katy Martin crosses all boundaries with her approach of painting her own body, photographing herself, then projecting the image onto uneven surfaces to create truly abstract, yet representational images that are photography, painting, sculpture, and movement all at once. Volume is presented both as the physical representation of positive and negative space, as well as a metaphor for value and values in the exhibit.

Robert Appleton gives us a series of small sculptures based loosely on the Greco-Roman practice of sculpting only the head and the genitals of their subjects as identifiers, while sublimating the torso and legs and arms to near stick forms. Appleton takes this further with his sculptures made using cardboard tubes to represent the torso and extremities, with exaggerated plaster head and genitalia

Arturo Cuenca, a prominent Cuban artist, forces the viewer to understand the principles of perception and aesthetics through an approach that combines photography and painting. The idea of perception is referenced in much of the work in the show, however, Amos Badertscher gives his sitters the opportunity to truly express how they perceive themselves as worthy and beautiful members of society, instead of society's perception of them as street kids, hustlers, and drug addicts.

Alfredo Cannatta, from Milan, Italy, and Dylan Blue Stone offer stylized depictions of people we have never met, but somehow seem familiar. The idealized gesture in their works talks to the body-conscious times in which one lives today, while stating interesting commentaries about current cultural mores.

Aaron Krach brings a conceptual basis to his work, juxtaposing snapshots and lottery cards. He talks about desire and need - the things bodies do quite naturally and often are taken for granted. Using simple readily accessible mediums, Krach questions whether or not the naked body is a turn on or turn off, a cheap thrill, a risk, a gamble not-worth-two dollars, disposable, a deep metaphor about value, or simply is the body just plain fun and something to gaze upon with pleasure.

Bodilicious in an ambitious show, which pulls together a survey of artists working in different locales and presenting to the viewer both common and extraordinary explorations of the "body - delicious".

WHEN: June 1, Opening Reception 3 - 7 PM, runs through July 27

OPEN HOURS: Saturday and Sunday, 11 AM to 5 PM

Tattfoo Temple of Art and Design, 67 Monroe Avenue, Staten Island,
NY 10301 telephone 718 442 3375

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