Marcus Harvey
Mary Boone Gallery
541 West 24 Street
New York, NY 10011

Tue-Sat 10 AM - 6 PM
Tel: 212 752-2929

*all images courtesy of
Mary Boone Gallery, New York

other art reviews:
Daughters: Mika Machida at Art Fiend
by Reiko Katakura
ABC No Rio
by Erika Biddle

Still Life with Dildos
by Katie Stone

The contemporary art world is not a friendly place for traditional forms of art making. It is rare that one enters a gallery and does not see video monitors or plasma screens, LED bands or ambient noise, large scale installations made entirely of cotton balls, or photography, photography, and wait - more photography. It's enough to make some wonder if painting is dead, or worse yet, irrelevant in the face-paced tech savvy twenty-first century. Marcus Harvey's exhibition of recent paintings titled "Still Life with Dildos" at Mary Boone Gallery reminds us it is not.

The exhibit consists of five monumental works: three tableau still life and two door paintings. Technically, all excel and reveal Harvey to be more than a cheeky Y.B.A who was part of the "Sensation" show back in 1999. The still life pieces have a visual clarity and compositional structure that reminded me of Baroque Vanitas paintings (cornucopias of expensive or exotic goods that were supposed to remind the viewer of the impermanence of earthly pleasures, and hence the importance of God). Meanwhile, the door paintings acted as Impressionist counterpoints, posing blurry, romantic domestic scenes behind a fuzzy glass. But where the structure and technique lies in history, the subject has a life all its own, for Harvey's compositions are about sex. And not romantic sex, but dirty sex, replete with sex toys, handcuffs, liquor and smokes. The dildos come in every shape, color, size and texture imaginable: a corn on the cob, a handgun, a frog on a log, to name just a few. And their placement next to old pizza boxes, dirty plates, and wine stained glasses seem to suggest only one thing: the morning after.

Or is it?

The assumption that Harvey is shedding light into a torrid sex den is tempting, but visually hard to defend. After all, only two of the paintings show the real nitty gritty, and even they are dubious when you get right down to it (after all, do you stick yours in the fruit bowl when you're done with it?) The other still life Ð paraphernalia stuck into the sock drawer is more like real life, but far less exciting. And lastly, the two door paintings, one of a woman dressing and one of a small boy peering out, seem to have no relevance, unless perhaps they are the inhabitants of our love nest. Beyond the spoof of elevating an electric penis to a subject worthy of high art, what is this world he's creating, and more importantly, why?

Well, it turns out that the answer to the why question lies in Harvey's inspiration Ð an "Ann Summer's Party." Immediately recognizable to Brits, less so unfortunately to Americans, Ann Summer's Parties are for sex toys what Tupperware Parties are for plastics. That's right, no late night trysts here, these paintings are in fact representations of the wares shopped around by Ann Summer's team members as they hop about England throwing ladies-night-out parties and collecting cash.

I'd recommend checking out the Ann Summer's websites, (www.annsummers.com for catalog and www.annsummerspartyplan.co.uk to learn about the parties.) Not only does it help contextualize the paintings, but the catalog rivals the Lower East Side's Toys in Babeland for fun fare and wins great looks from co-workers peering over your shoulder (note to self: get internet connection at home). Plus, the working class, do it yourself morale the company embodies sheds real light into an everyday British sphere rarely displayed in fine art, either now or historically.

HarveyÕs work shows a desire to paint what he knows and in this respect it is refreshing and hip. He keeps things safer for himself by choosing a subject matter that he knows will be sensationalistic and in doing so protects himself from comparisons with older, established painters. But overall the work is gutsy and fun. ItÕs witty and multidimensional Ð a week after the show I am still thinking of the people who inhabit his rooms, eat off his plates, and sip his wine. And most of all, I am captured by the image of the small boy, fuzzy behind panes of glass, his arms full of, could it be...Dildos?