situs solitus
pigment on rag
40 x 40 inches - edition of 3
(scroll left to view images)
installation shots, The Studio Door, San Diego, 2021
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With 'situs solitus' (from Latin: 'in the proper place' or 'on the same side’) I am challenging the perspective we have as a society about the human genitals, male in particular. As soon as we are born, our innate naked innocence starts to dissipate. Societal norms taint our perceptions of what genitals are and we start to believe that they are something bad, disgusting, something to cover over up and keep away from plain view. There is a religious modesty associated with this concept giving this quilt a moral authority. But as we fall in love with someone else, we discover unconditional love for their entire body - their genitals become equal with their eyes, their heart, their fingers, their shoulders. These body parts seem 'normal' again, guilt free, completing the puzzle of our innocent, pure love. With this project I am ‘beautifying’ these rediscovered organs mimicking a ubiquitous censorship technique of pixelation, so as to maintain their normality, in the hope that the societal 'eww' factor associated with them dissipates, keeping them on the same side with love, life, and innocence. I am bringing these organs back in plain view, bold, colorful, flowery like, maybe amongst flowers, since genitals are to humans, primordially, the equivalent of what flowers are to plants: life promoting, generating, holy.
