Gawker Artists presents NSFW (Not Safe for Work)

I have a feeling Dan will be looking forward to this one. Press release, RSVP info below:

Opening Reception
Thursday, January 28
7-9 pm
210 Elizabeth Street, 4th Floor

RSVP to artists@gawker.com

Gawker Artists presents NSFW (Not Safe For Work), a group show of works by Gawker Artists Steve Ellis, Emiliano Granado, Justine Lai, Heather Morgan and Randy Polumbo, and the latest exhibition in the Art@Gawker series.

Featuring sexually suggestive works typically considered off limits for the workplace, NSFW showcases Gawker Artists’ playful irreverence and ongoing exploration of the boundaries and roles of corporate art programs.

Steve Ellis’ Amanda Lepore Stripping Pen is inspired by Lepore’s own story of transsexual transformation. Ellis’ iconic painting celebrates both a common object and the reinvention of sexual identity. In Ellis’ own words, “This portrait on the surface looks like a curvy porn star, but instead the model is a sculpted sexual being and work of art unto herself.”

Emiliano Granado’s photographs document the raucous atmosphere of spring break, capturing the many desperate ploys for attention and culpability of the crowd in encouraging booze fueled hedonism. Granado’s matter-of-fact perspective highlights the vulgar realities of this modern American phenomenon.

In her ongoing series Join or Die, Justine Lai paints herself having sex with the U.S. Presidents in chronological order. By objectifying these revered faces, Lai’s striking and comical portraits explore the nature of power. Lai examines her own identity through the lens of American history, exploring and asserting herself through imaginary pleasure, dominance, liberty, and control.

Heather Morgan’s lush paintings elicit feelings of confrontation, vulnerability and empathy. Her unconventional female figures challenge common ideals of beauty and sexuality. Drawn in by their defiant gazes, the viewer is invited behind the curtain into the lives of Morgan’s confident, yet dysfunctional subjects.

Randy Polumbo’s provocative sculptures made from replicas of mass market sex toys inspire, in his own words, “questions of beauty, libidinal economies, and propagation … from the contrast between our public faces and private appetites.” Polumbo’s works, which at first glance seem more alien than erotic, require a double take before realizing their actual implications.

Each of the works in NSFW recontextualizes its subject, inspiring new interpretations of their beauty, intention and importance via timeless isolation and mischievous tribute. Simultaneously uncomfortable, shocking, and humorous, the works force the viewer to question their own definitions of sexual objects and acts. As a whole, NSFW questions the meaning, role, and audience of sexually provocative art work, in the context of a corporate setting which commonly avoids works that are not safe.

NSFW is curated by sisters, Genevieve and Liz Dimmitt. For more information please visit www.artists.gawker.com or email artists@gawker.com.