SILVERMAN is pleased to present Erogenous Zones a group show that explores the erotics of the art object. Bringing together photographs and sculptures by seven artists, the exhibition explores the importance of the body, the mystery of sexuality, and their combined power to offer insight into our lives. The exhibition features work by Lisa Anne Auerbach, Talia Chetrit, Martin Soto Climent, Martha Friendman, Robert Heinecken & Lizzie Fitch/Ryan Trecartin on view from May 18 – June 16, 2012.
The show contains three works by Robert Heinecken (1932-2006), who is best known for his “photograms” that delve into the relationship between the commodity fetish and the eroticized body. Lessons In Posing series (1977-9) appropriates Polaroid shots of nude women, mixing up the languages of amateur photography, pornography, advertising, and art.
Talia Chetrit (b. 1982) also works with photography, creating images that resonate with surrealism, playing with tantalizing notions of while imagining a liberated version of female sexuality. Abstract/Nude, for example, is tantalizing in the way it is at once both completely discreet and totally explicit.
Martha Friedman (b. 1975) is a sculptor who is fascinated by appetites of all kinds and often integrates food a thematic in her work. Her contribution to Erogenous Zones is a sensuous floor sculpture, titled Licked, which consists of two giant tongues made of concrete and pink and green rubber.
Lizzie Fitch/Ryan Trecartin (both born in 1981) collaborate regularly, making sculptures from consumer objects that extend the multifaceted preoccupations of their video work. Delta Heineken is comprised of a wig, mouth guard, helmet, baseball bat, padlock, green plastic bag, and pair of boots, topped off with an unopened bottle of Heineken. The sculptural figure explores questions of sexuality identity and social roles.
Martin Soto Climent (b.1977) is best known for his wall sculptures that invoke concepts of femininity and occasionally masculinity by carefully combining clothes such as stockings, gloves and shoes with other domestic ready-mades. Through admirably minimal means, Tight on canvas (Bridget) is taut with both libidinal tension and references to the structures of painting.
Finally, Lisa Anne Auerbach (b.1967) is known for her autobiographical work in a wide range of media. In the photographic self-portrait included in Erogenous Zones, she presents an aerial view of herself, caught in the act of looking at a vintage S&M magazine. In her underwear with her dirty feet in the air, Auerbach is both subject and object of lascivious gazes, a perfect nexus of shame and desire.