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The Uneasy Beauty of Joyce J. Scott’s Seductive Forms

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Scene Seen: MFAST Thesis Exhibitions at MICA

by Cara Ober

Originally published July 11 at Hyperallergic.

The golden man is tiny, but he’s got a penis like a garden hose. Naked, he stands over a much larger woman, holding a long loop and pointing the tip at her face, which is obscured by what appears to be a thin, white cloth but is in fact ejaculatory fluid. Her body is voluptuous with perky, upturned breasts. She lays on her back with legs curving towards the sky, supporting his feet with her open hands. She is languid, as if engaged in a powerful yoga maneuver or floating in water, while he hovers over her. Although he dominates her, this is definitely a consensual act; her body practically purrs with pleasure.

Rendered as pornography, or as part of Jeff Koons’s Made in Heaven series, this scenario could be shocking or offensive, at least gross. However, sculptor Joyce J. Scott manages to make it refined and even dazzlingly beautiful through her choice of medium. Constructed completely in blown and beaded glass, the piece presents a surface so luminous and rich, its naughty content is obscured until it’s too late and you’ve already fallen in love with it.

To read the entire review, click here: http://hyperallergic.com/310313/the-uneasy-beauty-of-joyce-j-scotts-seductive-forms/.

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