Paul Andrew, Angelina Martinez, Martyn Sommer
Sexuality, and the nature of sex, have moved to the centre stage in contemporary discourse. With heightened public awareness and fear of A.I.D.S., and the Fitzgerald inquiry disclosing a network of hidden sexual intrigue and corruption here in Queensland, it seemed quite timely for THAT Artspace to host an exhibition exploring/exposing a line of inquiry into the SEX OBJECT.
The issue of a condom with each invitation and the declaration that "Art is Safe Sex" (a surrogate form of sexuality) carried for many an impassioned interest and novelty.
The work of all three artists was embedded in a network of art historical references. For example, Paul Andrew's installation, Borderline, featured three small heavily worked canvases structured in a narrative above the text "BORDERLINE". Below the text lay a fallen Corinthian column and five dying red roses. In what Andrew described as a "hyperreal" film-like sequence set against a background inspired by Mondrian and Pollock, a Pop-like representation of a blond woman was chased by an ominous, shadowy male figure. Through the archetypal feminist "desire" for revenge in a patriarchal society that has established the primacy of the gaze, the woman, in the final scene, wields a knife at her anonymous pursuer. The text "BORDERLINE" implicates our existence within a borderline of opposing forces.
Angelina Martinez produced a series of paired charcoal drawings, juxtaposing text with images from a different context - emulating the symbol-object semantic dualism explored by Magritte. Martinez concocted a perplexing intertwining of violence with erotica by coupling an image of a vagina titled "The Rose" and an image of a carving knife titled "The Phallus". In another drawing Martinez played a truncated, androgynous, Christ-like figure, with
Martyn Sommer, detail, The Pornography of Representation, The Representation of Pornography, 1987
