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Arousing art
Love, lust and sexuality inspire the images in the ''Valentine Peep Show'' at Hyde Park Fine Arts Galleries.
By BRANDY STARK
© St. Petersburg Times
published February 14, 2002
Silver gelatin print by William Kumberger.
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TAMPA -- With images ranging from tasteful nudity to eyelash-singeing eroticism, the "Valentine Peepshow" series is always one of Hyde Park Fine Arts Gallery's most popular shows. Gallery curator Kathie Olivas, who also is a participating artist, says there are a lot of people in the bay area who collect erotic art.
But the exhibit is more than just a voyeuristic thrill. Through their works, the artists strive to show how cultural influences affect sexuality.
Eye Candy, by Maria Saraceno, is an hourglass form comprising dozens of tiny multicolor plaster corsets. Garments like these were designed to sculpt the "perfect" female figure but were so constrictive, they caused physical damage to devoted wearers.
"What I want to show is how we, as women, subject ourselves to fashion and the media. We put ourselves through a lot to adhere to their ideal," Saraceno says.
A similar theme is echoed in Christine Galas' Painfully Bound to Beauty, featuring high-heeled pink satin shoes studded with nails. Laura Elizabeth Csere expands the concept with four untitled prints from the series Female Stories: Issues of the Body. In each, a nude model struggles against the bonds of pink measuring tapes wrapped around her body.
Hugo Porcaro presents the male view in his multipieced Adult Bookstore Series. The mixed media works depict well-muscled male models and other symbols of manliness. The eye drops to the bottom of each work, where the viewer is confronted with a broken section of a measuring stick, perhaps indicating the metaphorical question: "Do you measure up?"
Photographer Amanda Driggers focuses on the creative powers of sexuality. In In My Turn a pregnant model stands clad in plastic wrap, a doll, representing her baby, pressed to her expanded belly. A similar message is seen in Pro Create, where the woman's hands hover protectively over her abdomen, the title scrawled across the backs of her hands.
Steven Verriest's acrylic painting Naked deals with the awkward way in which many people regard nudity. A man, whose face is locked in self-conscious laughter, covers his exposed genitals with his hands. The subject is painted slightly to the right of center, almost as if edging away from the viewer's line of vision.
Another of the artist's works, The Kiss, reverses stereotypical reactions to tokens of love. A young couple stands in the kitchen. The man presents a heart-shaped cake to his girlfriend, who gives him a peck on the cheek. In thought bubbles, we see that he pictures them about to be married. But she sees herself scantily dressed, with a whip in one hand, while the other holds the leash leading to her submissive lover, who crawls behind her on all fours.
Barbara Beeler uses toys in her art. The large Polacolor transfer Lust poses an erotically dressed action figure suggestively. The eclectic P$ynner presents her Mini Kewpies, a familiar toy to many, clad in black leather, sporting black makeup, with a tiny whip in one hand.
Another childhood plaything takes on new meaning in Courtney Kessel's Lite Brite Porn I & II, in which colorful light pegs create the forms of garter-wearing women.
REVIEW
Fourth annual "Valentine Peep Show," Hyde Park Fine Arts Gallery, 937 S Howard Ave., Tampa. Through March 2. Hours: 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. Tue.-Sat. Free. Call (813) 258-8883. NOTE: The show includes explicit sexual themes; parental discretion is advised.
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