Lydia Emily with artwork “Bound” in background
Bound! At first blush this latest Lydia Emily show appears to be a homage to Bondage and Discipline. But the pieces are really symbolism for other ties that bind: medical pain, food, pills, money and even children (although Lydia’s daughter Coco let us know that the piece featuring herself and sister Dorothy, was really about the bond of sisterhood with the things that they love). As the gallery notes advise:
In Bound, Lydia explores what ties a person down. “Vices, often undistinguishable, creep under the skin,” she says. “Once there, they course through the veins, spreading like a disease—binding. Binding is the desire and need for money. Binding is orthodoxy; binding is the alcoholic’s sip; binding are the colors adorned as symbols of membership and brotherhood. Binding is the need to stay afloat while others are sinking fast. Vices disguise themselves as simple pleasures, elating moments, feelings of inclusion and belonging, even a way of life. Yet, underneath the façade, the suffocating grasp drowns us.” Her adventures into this sea of insecurity, addiction, reliance and fetish with her latest intimate portraits.
Lydia is well-known for her political pieces, and although not advertised as such, these pieces have political undertones – the politics of weight, for example. The pieces are nothing short of provocative – which we have come to expect from Lydia. The show runs through June 20, 2014. Call to confirm gallery hours.
Lydia Emily discusses her artwork with hotelier Ghassan Sader
[youtube]08dn0o6gqGo[/youtube]
Photos by Paula Lauren Gibson/AfroPix
May 17 – June 20
GARBOUSHIAN GALLERY
427 North Camden Drive, Beverly Hills, California 90210
TEL 310.274.5205
FAX 310.274.2024
INFO@GARBOUSHIAN.COM
