|
| |
|
|
 |
 |
| |
Naked truth
Why is sex better in virtual reality? |
|
| BY Kesmin Fernandes |
Tits, Clits and Elephant Dick, an uninhibited, grotesque, but captivating show on view at the Jehangir Art Gallery, tries to answer the question
Whoever the woman in my dreams, I know she is not my mother, could well be a thought that crosses every porn addict's mind. and when it is underlined by ''No spam. No virus. Visit www. eksataeylimit.com,'' below a watercolour of a series of silhouettes, you want to cower i shame. Sanjeev Khandekar and Vaishali Narkar's exhibition Tits, Clits and Elephant Dick, currently showing at the Jehangir Art Gallery, depicts the commercialistion of sex and spirituality today, their common promise of happiness and departure from reality.
"We spent the 20th century trying to define reality, and seem hell bent on spending the 21st, avoiding it,'' says Sanjeev, as he flips through a book titled, OneTwo Three... to Happy Galaxy, inspired by physicist George Gamow's One Two Three... to Happy Galaxy, inspired by physicist George Gamow's One Two Three... Infinity: Facts and Speculations of Science. The exhibit is filled with paintings of male ''spiritual leaders'' who seem like anyone from Baba Ramdev, Osama Bin Laden or Pope Benedict XVI. In Android With a penis, you walk into a darkened cabin to see your face above a hermaphrodite mirroed on both sides. ''It gives you the illusion that you are masturbating alone, but when you look to your left and right, it seems like the whole world is doing it at the same time,'' explains Sanjeev. The early afternoon visitors at the gallery looked disconcerted. One of them whispered into his friend's ear, "I don't think we should bring our kids to this show on Sunday." No aesthetic art this, the show is not for those who see the world through rose-tinted glasses. A life-sized naked humanoid stands with his back to you, while miniature models copulate in various poses in cubby holes next to him.
The title came partly from the feminist "comix" (as underground comics are known) Tits n Clits and partly from spam mail. Tits n Clits was published by two single mothers and artists in 1975 America, to counter graphic, sexist comics of the 1960s. "The cartoonists of that time did not understand the women's liberation movement, and reacted to the threat with comics filled with graphic violence directed mostly at women," says Vaishali. A sign of today's Mumbai, where the sexuali-sation of women is at its peak.
The libidinal world places its importance on size. Only size matters. Big is beautiful- big breasts, big muscles, big lips and a bigger penis, like the "elephant dick" worshipped, desired and marketed with unchanging enthusiasm. kasmin.fernandes@mid-day.com
HOW TO GET THERE
On till August 6 at Jehangir Art Gallery, A C
Hall, M. G. Road, Kala Ghoda from 11 am to 7 pm
UH, COME AGAIN, Artists Sanjeev Khandekar and Vaishali Narkar pose against the backdrop of mixed media work She Came to Stay; (top left) exhibit Android With a Penis; (centre) water colour painting (Pleading for Happiness)
PICS/KASMIN FERNENDES
|
| Mid-Day, August 4th 2006 |
|
|
| |
|
 |
|
 |
 |
|
