Window shoppingBy Colleen McCaffrey
The last time I attended an opening at the ATA gallery I saw an enlightening documentary by Kami Chisholm, FtF: Female to Femme, which I almost missed entirely because the gallery entrance was so obscure, furthered by a dark velvet curtain hanging between the door and the packed auditorium.
But the current exhibit, Katie Bush’s provocative pixel exhibition of genital intercourse animation “Unremarkable People Having Sex,” was much easier to spot, as it was being displayed in the right window gallery amidst red velvet drapes and boas. The display was reminiscent of a Christmas-themed striptease gone awry, but who could notice as animated images of penis, vagina and intercourse flashed across the screen?
One series of images displays two middle-aged women with ears pressed to phone headpieces sharing in dialogue - typed out on screen - discussing the “horribly inappropriate” material one found in her husband’s chesterbox. The series plays like a virtual subconscious fist-fucking of societal stigmas surrounding sex, while the subtle soundtrack to a documentary on bees plays over the loudspeaker onto the sidewalk.
Following the conversation sequence is a series of images with flashes of curling iron innuendos, naked, full-bodied wrestling holds, and mutually stimulating clitoral scissor kicks, all of which are accordingly evocative, homoerotic, and titillating. All the while, the British accented voiceover continues on the topic of queens and hives; and not the ones of the Trannyshack. [Ed: The audio actually came from "Excavation Exercise," an installation in the neighboring window by Ilana Crispi.]
Katie Bush showcases her exhibits around the world and you can witness the “25 days of sexing” (we should all be so lucky) or go to www.katiebushart.com and get some “nipple shields”- T-shirts with images of her work - for $30: Recommended for anyone who has a penis or vagina and isn’t afraid to use it, or for those who ever imagined what it would be like to cross animation with intercourse and the making of sweet, sweet, honey.
“Unremarkable People Having Sex”
February 3-28, 2008
ATA Right Window Gallery
992 Valencia, SF
(415) 824-3890
www.atasite.org
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