December 4, 2010
THE FEARLESS PROJECT PRESENTS INSTANT
Curated by Justin Violini & Dan Ziemkiewicz
Video installation by SUPERM, New York
(Slava Mogutin, Brian Kenny, Gio Black Peter)
Video Installation by Drasko Bogdanovic, Toronto
What do Justin Violini, Slava Mogutin, Brian Kenny, Gio Black Peter and Drasko Bogdanovic have in common? … INSTANT @ La Petite Mort Gallery curated by Justin Vioilin, New York and Dan Ziemkiewicz, Ottawa.
A One-Night Stand like no other you’ve had, get ready for 120 orgasms, photography that shows everything but reveals nothing, videos that will make your loins dance with each frame. Voyeurs will giggle with delight and exhibitionist well… we’ll remain hopeful.
For the first time ever in Canada, La Petite Mort presents INSTANT part of The Fearless Project. INSTANT is an on going and increasing collection of 120 Polaroids of male faces as the body is receiving various stimuli (self pleasure, oral sex, anal sex) capturing individual facial expressions at orgasm is having a One Night Stand at La Petite Mort Gallery. In addition to the Polaroids photographed by Justin Violini there will be additional artists representing themselves in their own style including John Arsenault, Gio Black Peter, Drasko Bogdanovic, David M. Buisan, Stuart Sandford and more.
Listed below each Polaroid is a word or phrase which signifies the ultimate tipping point that convinced each participant to breakdown their own boundaries and put forth sexual expression, which is often seen by very few people, in a public forum.
The entrance to the gallery will be framed by a video installation by SUPERM (Slava Mogutin, Brian Kenny, Gio Black Peter). Lower level of the gallery will include more video installations from SUPERM as well as Drasko Bogdanovic. Male nude photography will be exhibited by Ottawa photographer Dan Ziemkiewicz.
****Justin Violini
“I’m infinitely fascinated by the boundaries that I’ve set up for myself and how I compare and contrast those friends, contemporaries and general society around me. Creative expression in any form should be fostered and given a platform to grow and even if no one sees it, the simple act of the creative process having happened is what’s important. With The Fearless Project I aim to create installations, events, exhibitions, shows and an online community that has a relationship between urging people to do something and simultaneously giving it an audience to be seen and heard. If I can find a way to have people recognize their borders and then figure out a manner to smash though those boundaries I like to think I’ve done something right.”
****Gio Black Peter
GIO BLACK PETER (born Giovani Paolo Andrade Guevara) was born in Guatemala and emigrated illegally to the United States with his family at the age of five. The name Black Peter is taken from the folkloric elf who delivers “bad” presents to bad children on Christmas. A performance artist as well as an ardent visual artist, he examines text and subject, believability and fakery, authority and multiplicity. His psychosexual events, which act as a slap in the face of social convention, quickly turned him into one of the young artists who participate in today’s dialogue regarding the new reality (the falling apart of the high profile white box presentation and the desire to bring art closer to the people).
****Brian Kenny
Brian Kenny was born 1982 in Heidelburg, Germany, on an American military base. While growing up he traveled extensively throughout the US with his Army family. As a teenager, Brian was a competitive gymnast. After high school, he went to Oberlin Conservatory on a vocal scholarship, but eventually left school to concentrate on his own music and artwork. Kenny works across drawing, painting, sculpture, text, sound, video and blogging. In 2004, Brian moved to New York where he began collaborating with Slava Mogutin under team name SUPERM. They are responsible for site-specific, multimedia gallery and museum shows in New York, Los Angeles, Berlin, London, Moscow, Oslo, Bergen and León, Spain.
****Slava Mogutin
“I’m trying to examine the very concept of ‘shame’ by being completely ‘shameless.’ That’s why I’m so fascinated by old, pre-AIDS porn, where sex captured on film wasn’t so mechanical, emotionless, plastic… I enjoy photographing people in vulnerable, intimate situations, like a guy sniffing another guy’s armpit, a boy with a cucumber up his ass, or German skinheads spitting and pissing on each other. The point is, my models must be totally comfortable with me and my camera in order for me to photograph them. It’s about trust and compassion. I find these kinds of scenes totally engaging and beautiful and I don’t need anyone’s moral approval of my work. As Rimbaud once said, ‘Morality is a type of brain disease.’ I’ve always enjoyed breaking taboos and stereotypes. I think that’s what real art is about!”
****Drasko Bogdanovic
Experience a world of the unspoken homoerotic. Male sex appeal, unvocalized desires, kink, perversion and all that is considered naughty, and not right, is Drasko Bogdanovic. Raised in Sarajevo during the Bosnian conflict, Drasko’s view of real world strife strongly influences his photographic view. His subjects are raw, a little filthy – the message is to the point. Inspired by film noir and German sexual proclivities, Bogdanovic is credited with his ability to expose the raw, often-missed angles of sexuality. Whether still or motion photography, the message is simple – there are no rules, sexuality has no bounds, all is right with the perverse.
****Dan Ziemkiewicz
Best known for the Ottawa Wolves 2011 Calendar, Dan was born in Warsaw; has grown up and currently lives in Ottawa. He has also calledAthens, Saskatoon, Yokohama, Montreal and Los Angeles home. In addition to photography, Dan paints abstracts and portraits in oils. His debut showing was in Ottawa in 1997. While living in Montreal Dan has been an official photographer for several international events, such as the White Party, Red Party and Black and Blue. He has also freelanced for a local publication in Montreal; more recently The Dinner Jacket.
INSTANT is an on going and increasing collection of 120 Polaroids featuring the male face during orgasm, which is presented as an exhibition by The Fearless Project. In addition to the Polaroids photographed by Justin Violini there will be additional artists representing themselves in their own style including John Arsenault, Gio Black Peter, Drasko Bogdanovic, David M. Buisan, Stuart Sandford and more.
Listed below each Polaroid is a word or phrase which signifies the ultimate tipping point that convinced each participant to breakdown their own boundaries and put forth sexual expression, which is often seen by very few people, in a public forum.
“The little death,” that gorgeous moment that juxtaposes suspense, tension and relief just after the release of a really good orgasm.
