Louise Bourgoise
Just a taster for the mesmerising work of French sculptor Louise Bourgoise. Her show at the Tate Modern runs out on the 20th of this month. Apologies for the crap picture quality from my phone camera.
A life-size man made of black knitwear and stuffing lies on top of a woman. Their arms form continuous bands around each other (you can see hers clearly here). He is not penetrating her. We move around to the back (this angle) and see his balls and his limp penis exposed to view.
There is a strong contrast between his powerful shoulders and the fragile vulnerability of his private parts. This is not sex, this is the deepest form of embodied love: two bodies intertwined and conjoined.
A major theme of her work is to break down our conventional understanding of sexual difference. We are not presented with male or female sexuality. Rather, we encounter the erotic surface of being. All distinction beyond that into male, female, hetero or homo is secondary, superficial and reductive.
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5 comments:
Hi Jeremy,
I had to google her because I had never heard of her.Shame on me since she is from my city.It was hard for me to find a piece that I like because I usually like sculptures made from stone or metal better and I am not too much into spiders.I guess "Clutched" or the eyes benches would be closer to what I like.I am still faithful to Canova and Rodin.However she seems to be an amazing artist, prolific, eclectic and daring. Who else would call a giant spider "Maman"!
Thanks for the post.
Sandrine
I actually thought it was a life-size vagina.
Pardon my poor sense of assessing art, but I thought it was a vagina, with fingers rubbing on them. Well, I guess I thought wrong.
A happy and prosperous new year to Naijablog.
"All distinction beyond that into male, female, hetero or homo is secondary, superficial and reductive" According to Jeremy.
Stop trying to intellectualise your obsession with sex and nudity. It's ur prerogative in any case.
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