EROTIC BLENDER at Come as You Are (701 Queen West), to February 28. 416-504-7934. Rating: NNNN Rating: NNNN
Erotic art often seems to swing into one of two camps – one that reduces desire and sexuality to images that lack imagination, and another that’s chock full of style, guts and vision.
The co-curators of Erotic Blender, Chris Ablett and Leanne Gillard, have fashioned an intelligent and sex-positive photography show that explores challenging content with panache.
The mix of photographers in various stages of development – a hefty total of 30 emerging and mid-career artists – creates a dialogue between novice and professional that Ablett and Gillard believe brings the community together, and they’re right.
Dimitre Andonov‘s Erection Series goes for a conceptual stance rather than blatant images of hard-ons, evoking youth and the awkwardness of arousal’s bad timing. Andonov transcends obvious associations, much the way Lu & J‘s pictures of toothbrushes suggest intimacy without sappiness.
Dug Claxton, David Findlay and Carrie Gray all display a fondness for their subjects while putting the X back in sexy. Claxton’s Untitled photograph of a woman’s ass is supple and inviting, yet because the subject’s hands cover, open and pry at her own body, the picture takes on a life of its own. Both Findlay and Gray use light to dramatize their subjects’ seductive prowess.
Tania Anderson and Leehe Lev have an eye for the quirky with a visual punch, while Samantha Blanchette and Maria T. shoot photographs you want to make out with.
The combination of conceptual art and brazen sexuality makes Erotic Blender a turn-on for the mind and body.
art@nowtoronto.com
