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Every Sunday I walk 160 blocks round trip, to the Metropolitan Museum and
back. At the Met, I stand to draw, on sheets of antique parchment paper,
23in x 20in that I rotate on a hard surface that is only 8in x 11in. I am
attempting to draw from all of the animals in the various collections. I
also draw from the heads of the Greek, Roman and French busts. These, I call
“the lovers.” This regime is a stoic discipline. I have also written a series of
over 150 anecdotes during this time, based on ethnographic research into the
sex clubs in New York, cultural musings and documentation of my personal
life. On top of the Metropolitan
drawings, I am placing a quote from the texts. On top of this I draw from
the subject of the text - lingerie, shoes, lizards, snakes, and motifs from
art historical sources. This discipline will result in an
exhibition proposal that will include the writings, drawings and a large
wall drawing of the overall motif, the twisted lizards. The twisted lizards
signifies sexual entanglement. The philosophy that backs up this
body of work vacillates between a high and a low aesthetic. My paintings are
large, consciously gorgeous, renderings of animals, often juxtaposed with an
historical art reference. My personal presentation adheres to rigid habits
of exercise, stoicism, and an ongoing study of philosophy, literature and
high art. But I also explore the seedy side of life with a similar
dedication and thoroughness. Sex has been an ongoing theme in my work and
this present body of work; risky ethnography, metaphorical
innuendos and shades of pornography furthers the expression of my knowledge. Julie Oakes |