Courtland Thomas – Exhibition Proposal (10/1)

Of the galleries during our visit through the Lower East Side, I would jump at the chance to present at either Salon 94 in the Freeman Alley or the Simon Subal Gallery situated at the intersection between Lower East Side and Chinatown on Bowery. Both spaces captivated my interest, and flared my creativity, particularly JJ PEET’s use of music to heighten the viewer’s experience and interaction with the sculpture pieces at Satan Ceramics, and the balcony view of Bowery Street from Simon Subal’s gallery room.

–

Courtland Thomas
Boys In Beds, 2013
24” x 30”
Six black-and-white analog prints

Courtland Thomas
Bed, 2014
72" x 84"
Sculpture, California King-sized mattress (Ikea); black paint

Exhibition Proposal:

Visually documenting “the morning after,” Boys in Beds epitomizes the emotions involved the morning after a one-night consummation of a summer-long love. The artwork encapsulates the psychological tension involved both internal and externally throughout the wee hours of sunrise, displayed through a play of contrast between colors white and black, and forms medium photography and sculpture.

Large-scale black-and-white analog photographs, printed via six individual 8”x10” sheets of transparent paper are glued together, and each is hung with an accompanying sheet of colored paper. Two red, two white, and two black. Three of the combinations are hung over the windows that overlook Bowery Street and act as windowblinds. The remaining three photos are hung in distinct, but prominent areas of the exhibition – at the entrance door, in the bathroom, and upon exiting the exhibition through the back stairwell leading to Grand Street. The locations of these photos are meant to micmic the mind-boggling journey of emotion that following "the morning after," when every thought is concentrated on the constant appearance of said boy.

Each photo is a sensual demonstration of the male form, displaying a toned-but-not-too-toned-just-toned-enough-to-know-he-eats-relatively-heathily boy, laying in a disastrous bed, hair disheveled in any but one direction, sheets overlapping and folding, and a darkened gradient stretching from the sun-lit window in the background to the corners of the bedroom.

A single California King-sized bed, coated with black spray paint, sits in the center of the room. The bed has a softness to it, but yet, retracts any touch – three pillows and a comforter lay absent-mindedly amidst the center, similarly coated with black paint.

Paradis’ La Ballade de Jim plays lightly in the background.