Sex: What is was and what it's become

The idea for this piece stems from the initial analysis of the way that sex has been viewed by the masses over a progression of time. There have been such important benchmarks over the years that have dictated the public's presumption of what sex means, what its purpose is, and the actions taken in response.

This piece will include narrative sections that visually explain some of those benchmarks such as the implementation of the scarlet letter during Puritan days, the shock "therapy" performed on gay folks before it was no longer deemed a mental illness, the first marks of sex in classic literature, and more. Aside from these elements added to the vase, the form itself will be very simplified, a smooth vertical form that briefly alludes to an abstracted phallic form, without being like "hey here's a vase that looks like a penis!" The pieces that will be added to the vase with the imagery atop will be representative of isomers, thus they will be crafted hexagons. There will be other abstracted imagery on the vase that alludes to the cellular structure of a flower -- this connects to that idea of flowers and sex being intertwined...clearly there are a lot of connections happening with this vase, between different ideas, but it makes a great amount of sense to include those several ideas in this one vase.

The piece above is likely the form that I will be drawing inspiration from. I think that this would be the most dynamic once the hexagonal pieces are added to it -- they'll be right below the halfway point. This piece also references the shape of a tulip, which is a great way to tie in those cellular details that will be added later.I also really appreciate the form to the left and enjoy the way that is so simple and yet has so much character all at the same time.

Something crucial to keep in mind, is that on this piece, there will be hardly any detail on the surface of the vase, other than the hexagonal forms because so much attention will be paid to the painterly work that is executed in order to bring more life to the piece. 

These sketches (to the right) are representative of the basic ideas that I hope to execute on my vase...on the far page, there are some of the imagery that will be shown on the hexagonal forms, what represents the different views about sex over time. 



-- O.D.