Ten years ago I painted a series of 100 portraits called ‘100 Men I never Met’. These images were appropriated from a site where gay men from all over the world would post intimate pictures of themselves without an expectation of contact. This quickly developed into sites advertising for sex.
Recently, I was told by hetero freinds that women are also now posting nude images of themselves online and that the exchange of these images has become a part of the dating process. I was very curious how women presented themselves sexually in a post-feminist society. The site for casual sex on craigslist Los Angeles provided thousand of examples. It is an open forum where approximately 500- 700 images a day might be uploaded. I began to explore ways of presenting these images through paint. I felt it fair to begin with a painting of myself.
However, after the recent Luc Tuymans verdict, followed by a legal action against myself regarding the ‘Following G.’ series, it became obvious that it is no longer safe for painters to base their work on found images. What was thought of as traditional, following the work of Tymans, Richter, Warhol, Rauschenberg and too many others to mention, is now illegal in Europe. Though the internet has become part of out reality, painters are no longer allowed to depict it.
I have therefore begun to legalize some of these paintings through the action of painting over them while blindfolded and gagged.
Others will remain illegal. These paintings can not be shown without threat of legal action and will be treated as Black Market contraband
|
