Sex and photography are often about manipulating perception. Desire to capture or prolong a moment blurs some details as it brings others into focus. In New-York based photographer Marsha Owett’s new exhibition, Fifty Shades of Red, on view at Alfstad Contemporary, you’re never quite sure what you’re looking at, but you feel an emotion.
Sight and touch are closely-related senses–an image of a texture can elicit a palpable response, and a teasing lack of visual information invites your mind to wander. In Shade 8 floral and flesh are compressed by a shallow depth of field. Challenging conventions of aging and sexuality, “imperfections” are often the only details in focus. In a titillating subversion of gestalt theory, a cropped white rose may be a thigh, a fingertip a breast.
Owett’s eye for evocative texture is turned towards her own body, defiantly exposing vulnerability. Macro shots of flesh are draped in rose petals, framing the artist’s skin in a sensuous palette. Each image feels luxurious-resolutely sexy in its embrace of passing time.
In some images, flowers act as surrogates for the body. Through a practice likened to action painting, Owett shoots thousands of photos, acting out fantasies upon her proxy flesh. The resulting images, which feature no post-production, alternately convey lust, trauma, desire and heartbreak.
Marsha Owett, Fifty Shades of Red
April 7 to May 26, 2017
Alfstad Contemporary
1419 5th St
Sarasota, FL 34236
USA
