No, it’s not just you. Those are penises. Penises and tits and arse and teeth and the deconstructed, reconstructed everything that makes up the creative representation of a transvestite – looked upon as the “ultimate goddesses” by art collective avaf. Their subjects’ kaleidoscopic skin and rearranged body parts explode the notion of the feminine ideal as presented by the likes of Playboy and hip-hop booty mags, in which the pneumatic, flawless and gravity-defying is celebrated. Their paintings hang over the top of a gently flowing, more sober wall mural also the work of avaf, aka Eli Sudbrack and Christophe Hamaide-Pierson.
In addition to referencing the acronym of the collective name (assume vivid astro focus), the title of the duo’s exhibition Adderall, Valium, Ativan, Focalin (Cantilevering Me) listing a cocktail of behaviour-modifying medications seems to suggest the artists on a see-saw of emotions, or perhaps it’s a commentary on the enforced highs and lows visited on us by modern society. Or maybe it’s just what they had for breakfast, I don’t know. The exhibition is taking place at The Suzanne Geiss Company, New York, until 21 June.
assume vivid astro focus
Four Balls, 2014
Paint on canvas
80 x 58 inches
203 x 147 cm
assume vivid astro focus
Cyclops Bride, 2014
Paint on canvas
80 x 64 inches
203 x 162.56 cm
assume vivid astro focus
TBT (Baw stripe), 2014
Krink marker paint on decorative paper Framed
33.25 x 22.88 inches
84.5 x 58.1 cm
assume vivid astro focus Studio,
Brooklyn, New York, 2014
