The relentless pursuit of pleasure and a searing indictment of the aesthetic decadence of turbo capitalism…
In PILOT issue #1 we published an interview with American artist Terry Rodgers. As talented as he is controversial, at first glance, Rodgers’ work appears to show a world of unrestricted hedonism. Jaw-droppingly beautiful people at play in elite private parties where sex is currency and everyone pays. Closer inspection of the artist’s work reveals a disturbing undercurrent. Despite their apparent wealth and beauty, nobody seems happy, no one is smiling and there is no interaction between the different subjects. The message is clear – wealth, beauty and promiscuity cannot conceal the overwhelming emptiness of their lives. The work of American realist Terry Rodgers depicts the complexities of the modern world and the contradictory rules that govern social codes. The celebrity culture that defines the Zeitgeist values beauty, fame, money and power at all costs. Washington born Rodgers takes these themes to their logical extreme, depicting the seductive fantasy worlds of our collective subconscious. Through the work of Rodgers we can observe the beautiful people at play in their natural habitat. While each painting depicts the kind of fabulously decadent scene that the culture has trained us to covet, the beautiful people within look lost. Hopelessly, utterly disconnected from each other. Frozen in time, stricken by personal baggage, confusion and insecurities, the evil truth is that the beautiful people are just as disillusioned and discombobulated as the rest of us.
In his hyper-realistic style and vividly baroque use of colour, Rodgers paints portraits of an initially attractive young jet set. However, the initial allure of this luxurious fictional world serves only to veil the artist’s true subject: the tension between desire and loneliness. In his carefully composed fictions – Rodgers presents us with a world in which no one seems to be able to truly connect. The viewer sees a beauty that is as inviting as it is repugnant, in which the figures exude boredom, loneliness and a yearning for true human contact…
Rodgers has a new exhibition called Boundaries of Desire on display at the Scheringa Museum, Spanbroek, in The Netherlands. The exhibition coincides with the publication of Dimensions of Ambiguity a new comprehensive full-colour catalogue of new works by Rodgers who is emerging as one of the most challenging visual artists working today. Dimensions of Ambiguity is accompanied by ‘The blessing and curse of sex appeal –You just might get what you ask for’, a critical essay by Dr. Eva Karcher. In this piece Dr. Karcher investigates the ambiguities of contemporary desire as portrayed by Rodgers. The piece can be read here. It’s a fascinating essay, as both art critique, and as a searing indictment of the aesthetic decadence of turbo capitalism. It’s all too easy to apply the same critique to the fashion industry, so much so that as I was reading I was uncomfortably reminded of New Zealand raised model Jenna Sauers’ post yesterday unveiling herself as Tatiana the Anonymous Model Blogger for Jezebel.
More on Terry here.
