= Arts and Entertainment

Radiant Flesh Penetrates the Essence of Identity

Kali Thurber, A&E Editor

 

In an eerie yet alluring collection of self-portraits, the
exhibit of Radiant Flesh explores self-image in a shock-
ingly fresh way. Skai Fowler and José Ramon Gonzalez
have created various super-imposed photos of them-
selves with the intent of delving so deep inside that what
was once the internal immediately becomes the external.

All of the pieces that appear in this exhibit portray
two images of the artist that blend and smear into one
another. The result is a heart-palpitating and surreal
experience that forces an enormous heaviness on percep-
tive viewers. Though both artists develop a playful
relationship with light and shadow throughout, there is a
distinct difference between the two that can only be
explained as their own distinct relationship with them-
selves.

Gonzalez seems to be displaying a secret obsession
with his own sexual prowess. In a photographic sense,
he’s letting the world watch his external self violently
make love to his internal self. In one such piece, one
image of himself gazes out from under.a sea of glass and
into the eyes of another shot of his face. Though I ques-

 

tion the significance of the Calvin Klein underwear in
one of the more risqué photos of Gonzalez, the bright-
ly beaming elbow that mysteriously pokes out of his

groin provides a strangely sexless feeling for a semi-nude
photo.

However, Skai Fowler’s collection offers more of a
romantic affair with light than with herself. Images of
her voluptuous, naked body are overlapped with others
and create an almost dizzying effect. One of Skai’s pho-
tos shows her half-undressed in a white, lacey gown that
is magnificent in the way that it’s blurred to perfection.

These photos ate so personal that it’s nearly impossi-
ble to decide whether these artists are exhibitionist,
voyeuristic, or simply narcissistic. But in any case, the
photos feel like something that you’ve been caught peek-
ing at. Emerging from Grunt Gallery’s exhibit of Radiant
Flesh feels the same as dashing out of your lover’s bed-
room after carefully dissecting every word of their diary,
but I imagine that this sense of guilty amusement was
intended.

 

 

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