What is love, really? Five artists, born in the 80s and 90s, have been brought together for a group show at Paris’s Sultana to explore this strange beast in their own way; via poetic, sexual and, occasionally, downright creepy means.
The whitewash of the gallery space and much of the artwork—even the drapes—offers a pure backdrop for the punctures of fleshy and blood red tones that are provided here and there; a splashy pink, orange and yellow painting from Sojourner Truth Parsons (The same rope that pulls you up will hang you his and hers edition II, 2016) is a rare bright outburst, as are the cartoonish and rather alarming lips and heart of Dardan Zhegrova’s Your enthusiasm to tell a story (White), 2016.
Celia Hempton’s NSFW small-scale works, an urgent mix of trouser flies, hands and genitals, provide a more modern view of love, and sex, as viewed through the computer screen. They sit cheekily about the space in a manner which is both off-hand—poor use of words perhaps?—and teasingly appealing.
Paul Maheke’s aforementioned drapes, To Read the Wavering of the Swarm, 2016, serve to mask some of the more intimate content from the outside world—though they’re still a little sheer for keen Peeping Toms—and their various folds also mask a clear reading of their own text.
In the clean, white space one might hope that answers about love would expose themselves for all to see, but it remains as contradictory as ever.
‘No Ordinary Love’ is showing at Sultana, Paris until 9 September
