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Vaginal Davis
Porfirio Rubirosa
2015

About the Item

A performer, painter, curator, composer, writer, cultural antagonist, film scholar, and erotic provocateur, Vaginal Davis first gained notoriety in the late 1970s LA art-punk scene. In the New York Times, Guy Trebay has called her "a bedrock of cultural life in Los Angeles," and in Art:21, Ali Fitzgerald has described Davis as "a complex mixture of queercore punk antics and MGM studio glamour," This work is from a series of clay-and-nail-polish frieze sculptures of well endowed male hustlers, rent boys, including some well known names of mainstream he-man box office stars and classic tinsel town matinee idols. The mystic effigies, which also feature perfume, hairspray, and various other products of “traditional” femininity, give a nod to displays of prehistoric ceramics and fertility statuettes found in historic institutions the world over. The title of this work refers to playboy Porfirio Rubirosa, who accordding to Davis was "was married to French actress Danielle Darrieux and American heiresses Doris Duke and Barbara Hutton. His longest lasting marriage was to Dominican dictator Rafael Trujillo who first became his “benefactor” in 1931 so that he could have unfettered access to the famous above average organ known in Paris as The Rubirosas. His many conquests include Marilyn Monroe, Joe DiMaggio, Eartha Kitt, Montgomery “Princess Tiny Meat” Cliff, Dolores Del Rio, William Haines, Peggy Hopkins Joyce, Gore Vidal, Veronica Lake, Spencer Tracy, Kim Novak, Leonard Bernstein and Zsa Zsa Gabor." This materials used in this work are clay, Wet & Wild Evil Taco nail polish, Rival de Loop Spicy Beef Curtains nail varnish, SinFul colors Pinkytessa nail enamel, Sabrina Stink nail armor, Fashion Faire Orange Hissy nail lacquer, hydrogen peroxide, glycerine, AquaNet hair spray, and witch hazel. The use of perfume, hairspray, and various other products of “traditional” femininity as materials, is emblematic of Davis’ break from the social shackles of prescribed feminism. "The resulting forms suggest faces or masks, exposed intestines, genitals and knots of musculature," Holland Cotter wrote in a 2015 review. "Bracingly feminist, prophetically anti-patriarchal." "Davis is not religious," Grace Dunham wrote in the New Yorker profile, "but her work is a sacred mythology for the outsider."

Creator:
Vaginal Davis (American)
Creation Year:
2015
Dimensions:
Height: 6 in (15.24 cm)Width: 5 in (12.7 cm)Depth: 1 in (2.54 cm)
Medium:
Mixed Media
Movement & Style:
Contemporary
Period:
2010-
Condition:
Gallery Location:
New york, NY
Reference Number:
Seller: VD16 301stDibs: LU67732153823

Porfirio Rubirosa

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