Pronaos

Abstract

I want to put the viewer in a transitional place defined by a state of tension between the sacred perception of our being and the sexuality of the subject, a contemporary version of the classical dichotomy between the sacred and the profane. My painting installation, Pronaos, is a series of fifteen oil paintings of large-scale frontal female nudes with an arguably confrontational focus on each subject's pubic area or groin, presented at the viewer's eye level. The relatively closed form combined with the regular rhythm of the repetition transform the bodies into organic architecture. They are the human translation of the colonnade of a Doric Greek temple. My focus on female genitalia is not configured as erotic as constructed and disseminated in contemporary culture. As sacred architecture made flesh, their bounded surfaces resist entry and offer no implicit invitation to sexual possession and voyeuristic penetration. Within this visual context, does the frank nakedness emphasize human vulnerability in contrast to the enduring presence of classical marble and stone or does it elevate the body towards a closer association with the gods by referencing their divine space?