Christina West at Hallwalls
Feb 26, 2008
He has big balls, she has big balls, but Christina West seems to have the biggest balls of them all.
How would you feel if you spent hour after hour sculpting a clay-man’s nutsack until it was the perfect form, only to open your exhibit and have the audience contort their face in disgust, or poke and prod like children at a petting zoo. You’d be proud because it would mean you hit the render-the-human-form jackpot.
West’s nude statuettes are not only shockingly realistic, but revealing as well. The newest installation titled “Shadows and Fog”, places the figures in compromising and promiscuous positions with complete disregard to their preference. Gallery crawlers are then invited to voyeuristically observe the nudes who appear frozen in action – as if you paused an intimate, homemade video and were forced to imagine a storyline that could explain the cause of the action. The whole idea is quite intoxicating.
What makes this exhibit unique and engaging is West’s intentional use of normalcy; the mass of “flesh” has wrinkles, love handles and saggy boobs. She falls into the category of blatant grotesqueness with Jenny Saville but has an awe-inspiring talent like Ron Mueck, and she’s in Buffalo – this week in fact.
The exhibit opens Saturday, March 1st. The staff at Hallwalls would appreciate it if guests checked their lotion and tissues at the door.
Other Posts
«Previous Mike Parker | A Hotel Nourishing Next»
Go Ahead, Speak Up!
-
Search
-
Ads
-
Recently Written
-
Past
