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SEX SELLS. This may be the reason the curators at 1300 Gallery are once again presenting Sexhibition, as they do not seem interested in putting forth new interpretations on the theme of sexuality. Except for a film by Robert Banks and photographs by Karen St. John Vincent, this year's Sexhibition has less to do with sex than last year's, which could have been a case study on how contemporary views on sexuality are linked to advertising and the media.
There is a requisite nod to transgender and gay sexuality in the exhibition. Photographs by William Garvey, a black-and-white image depicting the faces of two lip-locked men, and Venus, an image of the torso of a man who has been taking hormones to grow breasts, are stylish, but the content is neither novel nor transgressive. Many Americans have grown accustomed to seeing gay men kiss, or on recent episodes of HBO's Six Feet Under , copulate during prime time. Garvey's banal images would be more at home in Benetton advertisements than in an art exhibition on sexuality.
Most male artists in the show predictably equate sex with naked, voluptuous females. Greg Heine's black-and-white photographs include a close-up of an Asian woman crouched forward, her breasts exposed, eyes closed, and lips parted. The image is so stereotypical it barely merits description; the woman's pose, her expression, are straight out of a soft porn or racy fashion magazine. It is the kind of image that is so prevalent that it is difficult to believe that even the horniest of straight boys could get off on it.
The most brazenly predictable, yet disconcertingly seamy, works in the show are three images by Frank Santabarbara. A young white woman depicted in the photographs looks like a wholesome high school cheerleader. Her expression and contrived poses are so asexual the images would be humorous if it weren't for the seediness that pervades them. In one photo, the woman is shown in a see-through nightgown, standing in a corner on plush carpet in what appears to be a suburban living room. Her mature, shapely figure and Frederick's of Hollywood-inspired negligee dramatically contrast with her truly innocent expression and stiff, unnatural pose. One can imagine a variety of sordid scenarios that may be behind the image; did her best friend's sleazy father photograph the young woman? Did an older man with a penchant for photographing young girls seduce her into posing for him? While the work may incite these questions, it is doubtful that this was Santabarbara's intent. These photos are demonstrative of the basest form of female objectification.
The women artists in Sexhibition fare no better than the men when it comes to breaking free of cliché notions of sexuality. However, Karen St. John-Vincent makes one of the most thoughtful contributions with two photos depicting an older, less idealized white female nude. Both photos are disconcerting, in that the woman's head is cut out of the picture by a window frame, suggesting that she is being watched from outside by a peeping Tom, or that perhaps we — the viewers — are ultimately the peepers. St. John-Vincent implicates the viewer in this act of voyeurism, cleverly making them conscious of their consumptive gaze.
An untitled film by Robert Banks is one of his most powerful works to date. The short, shot in black and white, depicts a woman who is at times nearly naked, and at other times scantily clothed, as she performs household chores. The film is sped up, her movements choppy, as she flits from washing dishes to stacking plates to sweeping the floor. The rhythm of the film adds to both the frenzy and the monotony of the scene, and the blurriness obscures the woman's nudity. Her activities, while mundane, are so transfixing, you barely notice the penis that occasionally cavorts along the margins of the frame. While it first stands in as the signifier of male power (the man standing on the sidelines, sexualizing his mate as she feverishly cleans), the end of the film places the power in the woman's hands — literally — as she strokes the penis, equating this act with all of her other routine tasks.
Banks is the one
artist in Sexhibition who patently examines sexuality, the
complexities of gender roles, and the disparity of women and men's feelings
about sex. If the guys at 1300 are planning a Sexhibition 2005,
they would do well to just give Banks a one-person show and have him
to explore the theme.