Kisses for Paris
A number of years ago, I was asked by a French critic visiting my studio, what I would do for a public space project she was thinking of organizing in Paris. I immediately said that I would want to cover Pairs with kisses. What I envisioned was a series of billboards printed with some of my paintings and drawings of people kissing. What I liked about the project was that if I cropped in on the source photo enough, it became difficult or impossible to determine the gender of the kissers. These images are a decodification rather than a reinforcement to the way we react to images of adults romantically kissing.
The project never came about. Over the years I have reinvented it in slightly different forms as possibilities for one venue or another but either the venue closed (the Wrong Gallery in NYC. I have no connections with the Tate Modern) or the dealer was showing no interest in doing anything with me much less this. (Names unmentioned because you never know).
Betty Tompkins NYC 2011
Kisses for Paris
A number of years ago, I was asked by a French critic visiting my studio, what I would do for a public space project she was thinking of organizing in Paris. I immediately said that I would want to cover Pairs with kisses. What I envisioned was a series of billboards printed with some of my paintings and drawings of people kissing. What I liked about the project was that if I cropped in on the source photo enough, it became difficult or impossible to determine the gender of the kissers. These images are a decodification rather than a reinforcement to the way we react to images of adults romantically kissing.
The project never came about. Over the years I have reinvented it in slightly different forms as possibilities for one venue or another but either the venue closed (the Wrong Gallery in NYC. I have no connections with the Tate Modern) or the dealer was showing no interest in doing anything with me much less this. (Names unmentioned because you never know).
Betty Tompkins NYC 2011