Bobbi Woods is a conceptual pop artist of multiples.
Using old movie posters as the base images for her art, the LA artist
applies spray enamel to obstruct specific portions of an image. Her
current show at Fourteen30 Contemporary reduces multiples of classic
sexual images into frustratingly vague—yet
intriguing—anti-sex compositions.
For instance, Woods’ series titled As Long As is constructed
from multiple copies of a poster of Marilyn Monroe reclining on a pool
chair, one leg in the air as she fixes the laces of her platform heels.
In one of Woods’ manipulations of the image, she coats the original
with thick white enamel, leaving Monroe’s lips floating on the
24-by-36-inch poster. These disembodied iconic lips—contrasted by
another image in the series where only the laces of Monroe’s platform
shoes are left visible—become less a classic sex symbol and more
an object-oriented account of culture-wide desires (we all want pillowy
lips to kiss and shoes that make us feel attractive). In the third
image of the series, the metal frame of Monroe’s chair does a solo and
the actress is removed entirely. Here, Woods employs omission to
highlight how Monroe is culturally positioned, chairlike, as a
dehumanized structural element that supports our fantasies.
Woods often explores ideas of positioning—preferring the stage
term “blocking.” In another series titled “Nothing/if it feels good,”
Woods uses promotional posters from the softcore production
Emmanuelle: The Joys of a Woman. The poster displays a photo of
a man and woman, both topless and leaning in for a kiss—under
them a second nude woman is mid-moan. Woods masks dominant, sexualized
chunks of these multiples with large black fields of enamel—as if
applied with a roller—thus “blocking” characters into new,
desexualized contexts.
Possibly the strongest aspect of this show is arts writer John
Motley’s contribution—the former Mercury critic was
commissioned by Fourteen30 Contemporary to write supplementary essays
for their upcoming year of programming. (This show marks the first of
12 essays he’ll be creating for the gallery.) Where Woods’ work fell
short of communicating her conceptual impetus, Motley’s essay filled in
the gaps, becoming less supplemental and more integral to the exhibit
as a whole.