A TONGUE IN CHEEK LOOK AT DESIRE
I LICKED IT, IT’S MINE
In the heart of New York City's Museum of Sex, a tantalizing new exhibition awaits, inviting visitors to delve into the complexities of human desire and the myriad ways in which it manifests. What does it mean to be “consumed” by lust, or to “possess” another? The artists Oh de Laval, Shafei Xia, and Urara Tsuchiya explore every manner of appetite, from sublimated yearning to all-consuming hunger.
As visitors step into the exhibition space, they are greeted by an array of paintings and ceramic sculptures that blur the boundaries between fantasy and reality. Oh de Laval's erotic vignettes draw inspiration from cinematic references and femme fatale archetypes, weaving together pulpy melodrama and decorative elegance. In her monumental new work, "The Intimacy of Knowing How to Make Someone's Perfect Cup of Tea," viewers are transported into a world where desire takes center stage, with a commanding hostess poised to take possession of her eager partner.
Meanwhile, Shafei Xia's rococo-inflected magical realism transports viewers into a timeless universe where human characters interact with anthropomorphic animals such as tigers and pigs. Through her paintings and sculptures, Xia explores themes of tenderness and intimacy, inviting viewers to contemplate the intersections between human and animal desires.
Urara Tsuchiya's ceramic vessels and sculptures add another layer of complexity to the exhibition, ranging from studied realism to playful exuberance. In her new work, "Doll House," Tsuchiya imagines a whimsical scene of everyday orgy in an apartment setting, blurring the lines between the mundane and the fantastical.
Together, these artists engage in a rich dialogue around the nature of desire, ownership, and the erotic imagination. Through their works, they challenge conventional notions of love and competition, inviting viewers to explore the primal instincts and animalistic urges that lie beneath the surface of human relationships.
Oh De Laval
Polish-Thai artist Oh De Laval’s vibrant, faux-naïf figurative paintings are beautiful yet macabre, unsettling yet humorous, and deviant yet honest. Her characters reside within lush landscapes and interiors reminiscent of a Rococo-esque frivolity, yet the women are often bare-chested, painted in garish pinks and reds, and the men have sardonic grins plastered onto their melting faces. Paintings that may appear romantic from afar take on an unsettling or playful edge as she explores 21st-century eroticism. “The eroticism in my paintings is as much about sexual desire as lust, wrath, violence, despair, and happiness,” the artist has said.Shafei Xia
Shafei Xia was born in ShaoXing, China, in 1989. After graduating in set design from ChongQing University, in 2013 she turned down a steady job in her native city to move to Shanghai, where after various experiences her first sale of a work enabled her to “catch the scent of freedom in the air,” as she writes. She moved to Bologna and earned a degree at the Fine Arts Academy in 2020. In 2019 she won the Talent Prize of Fondazione Zucchelli per l’Arte.Urara Tsuchiya
Urara Tsuchiya (b. 1979, Japan) lives and works between Glasgow and London. The artist’s expansive practice– spanning intricately constructed ceramics, immersive installations, costume, performance and video– is united by its subversion of kitsch or quotidian objects to break down boundaries of acceptability in her humorous, often playful, work. She has found inspiration everywhere from a nude sauna to seedy hotel rooms, and creates immersive environments that are likely to surprise. By adopting narratives from personal conversations, but also films or TV shows, Tsuchiya is concerned with pushing the boundaries of comfortability.
