This show, called Riddles, is almost entirely works made for the artist's dissertation. He's made a point not to publish too much in advance of submitting his defense in the unlikely event that someone chooses to publicize parts that are not ready to be published yet.

It's been really neat having him talk about the symbolism of different pieces, and stories related to each part of the body of work.

THIS piece is one of the few pieces not part of his bid for a doctorate. Instead, it represents his main creative outlet.

Last year, when we had Christina Kostoff (who I will post about when I get to backdated shows here) she introduced me to Raz, and told me that they'd met is OCAD (Ontario College of Art and Design) and lost touch after graduation. Years later, more recently, as it would happen, he reached out to her to have a few of his erotica pieces framed. She fell in love with them and insisted he come to her show to meet me.

As he tells it, years had passed from graduation, and one night he had a dream about her. Upon waking, he decided to look her up, find out what she was up to - lovely surprise, she was running a custom framing shop. The rest is history.

Unfortunately, because we're in a mall here, I am limited to how much erotica I'm allowed to show. I would have LOVED to have more from this series. The simplicity of them, the clean lines, the playful movement - I really like them. I was able to allow this piece in, because we have it aimed away from all of the windows. Only guests who come in when I'm here can view it, so it is very unlikely we'll be complained about by any mall-wandering puritans.

Also, this is fairly tame compared to some of the pieces people have run by me in the past.

When people see it, the conversation of what is allowed here always comes up. We do err of the side of safety, but it's a worthy conversation non the less. Why are classic nude artworks considered paragons of beauty and culture, but modern nude pieces considered lewd and inappropriate for children?

Granted, this piece leans heavy on the concept of arousal with ever-changing partners, but the question stands.

I don't paint many nudes anymore, personally, but when I did, none of them were overtly sexual - the most sexual among them were censored. Any time I was able to get them into shows, the venues would hide them, cover them, and sometimes just tell me they couldn't show them at all due to the volume of young people coming through the spaces. And the thing is... Some young people might giggle, but they don't really take offense to naked bodies. It's always the parents.

So far, Revolving Men has only received positive feedback from my guests. Straight and queer alike.

More coming soon. This show is open until next Sunday.

~Rachel
rachelsvparry.ca