Sexhibition
as it appeared in The Ottawa Xpress, September, 1996
article written by Andrea Smith
Please see the easy to read text version below.
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press clipping for Sexhibition as it appeared in The Ottawa Xpress, September, 1996 article written by Andrea Smith Please see the easy to read text version below. |
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galleries celebrate sex - there's nothing demonic about it (excerpt) Fun and sex are also the guiding principles behind an exhibition of works by 42 local artists who call themselves S.M.U.T. (Sex Makes Us Tick). The "Sexhibition" is at the Creative Outlet Gallery Co-op, and co-owner Darcy Schmidt calls it "a celebration of sex." In the age of AIDS, at a time when sex has become so serious, the organizers felt they needed to put sex "in your face" in a way that also takes the morbid edge off. "After all" Schmidt says, "dammit, sex is supposed to be fun, isn't it?" "Barbie Goes Big Time" is fun. The piece, by Chris Coultish, features crimpy-haired Barbie, naked and nippleless, wearing sparkly thigh-highs (hot pink, of course) astride a massive illuminated dildo (hot pink, of course) on a furry wall socket covering. It's a nite-lite for the untired. "100% Pure" consists of a small corked bottle presented elegantly on a little round tray with a mirror behind it. It could be perfume, except for the stuff at the bottom that looks like hand lotion. "Yup, that's my cum" says Coultish. "They wanted raw sex so that's what I gave them." The raw sex is preserved in alcohol. Other artists weren't as literal as Coultish, but most share his sense of play. Josée Drouin-Brisebois exposes her various fetishes in three kinds of hair-underwear with a piece called "Grope Me/Touch Me/Feel Me." Eliza Griffiths, of Enriched Bread fame, has contributed a painting called "Dynamite!" in which a couple of bar flies share salacious glances in a seedy bathroom. Schmidt says the exhibition has been well received, even by the Ottawa police. "We had a couple of cops come in to check it out," says Schmidt. "There were a lot of laughs." Vive la fun. |
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