goodmarvin: Flirt Show Opening at the Sweatshop

For the last two years I've been creating all of my larger artworks in a community studio with 6 other artists out in the Port Richmond section of Philadelphia. Last summer, we got our stuff together and made a gallery out of this extra storage space we had and started showing work. For the month of June a fellow artist friend and former grad colleague and I put together a show of recent work we entitled Flirt.

Shawn Beeks

My friend, Shawn Beeks, created beautiful, delicately rendered watercolor and pencil paintings of a series of possible imagined cosmetic surgeries. The first, pictured here, is his version of what permanently upwards tilting breasts would look like.

Natural, by Shawn Beeks

Self-Medicated Relief, by Shawn Beeks

Long-Term Upper Fullness, by Shawn Beeks

Cleavage Gap, by Shawn Beeks

Hyper Medial Cleavage, by Shawn Beeks

My latest work was inspired by research I did about Victorian sexual mores. I found out that Freud had come up with seven deviant sexual species during the Victorian era - the prostitute, the primitive, the homosexual, the child masturbator, the hysteric, the nymphomaniac, and the pervert. I chose to reinterpret 4 of the 7 sexual species through the use of chairs.

The Primitive, by Melissa Nannen

faux fur, fabric, tree branches and found chair

Child Masturbator - Cookie Monster Model, by Melissa Nannen

A note about this piece. I found out that during the Victorian era, parents were very concerned about their children fondling themselves innocently because they thought it would lead to vice, so they would have repeat offenders wear these rather uncomfortable chastity belts, pictured below.

The Cure for Syphilis, the Virgin Prostitute by Melissa Nannen

It also was apparently encouraged for wealthier men to seek satisfaction for their sexual desires outside of the home and leave sex with their wives for the purpose of procreation only. So, it wasn't uncommon for Victorian men to seek prostitutes which of course, led to a widespread syphilis epidemic. It was thought one could be cured of syphilis by sleeping with a virgin prostitute, which is one of the reasons why there were so many young, teenage prostitutes. Gross.

Lie Down Dear, You're Feeling Hysterical by Melissa Nannen

mobile of hunky people for they hysteric to focus on

Sadly, this is a piece not well translated into photography. Inside the chair was a massage pad, so the viewer could remove their shoes, place on the provided flip-flops, lay down and relax to a vibrating massage while gazing at the hunk of their choice.