SPARE ME THE DETAILS
Spare Me the Details was an intimate exhibition hosted at General Practice Studios in Lincoln, June 2024.
Attendees arrived in bondage tape, pink sunglasses and leather for the occasion. Following is our interpretation:
Spare Me the Details magnifies the details we all too often like to spare one another from in certain topics of conversation - some filthy, some revolting, all beautiful. Here we invite you to indulge in them, as you step into our intimate, sexy, queer, haven.
Photography by: Xander @mt33.media
Sally Na Gig, Melody Phelan-Clark
Melody Phelan-Clark @melodyphelanclark
Sally Na Gig is a new interpretation of Sheela-na-gig gargoyles, a mysterious type of grotesque sculpture most commonly found in Ireland and across Europe. Some believe ‘Sheelas’ to ward off evil spirits, while others consider her to be a symbol of fertility. The ‘pulling open’ of a Sheela na-gig’s vulva is both amusing and enigmatic.
2. Barbie Dream House, Luna Rosson
Luna Rosson @snot.grrrl
Barbie Dolls have had a significant impact in recent pop-culture as the 2023 box-office hit Barbie encouraged feminist conversations old and new - one topic that was spared however was female/femme sexual pleasure. In ‘Barbie Dream House’, four barbies ‘play’ together - exploring bondage and sharing a mechanical sex toy. The dolls, so often prim and pristine, take delight in periods, stomach fucking, and the playful mess around them.
3. Emily’s Epic Extreme Orgy Extravaganza, Emily Collyer
Emily Collyer @hairypitsntits
Engrossed in sexual euphoria, vibrant characters explore and please one another in this celebration of polyamorous love, queerness and fucking— alluding to joy, freeness and orgasmic pleasure in a scene so often depicted as vulgar and disgusting, or hyper- sexualised and misogynistic in porn. Collyer re-writes (paints) the media-fuelled narrative of what sex means and looks like.
4. Kiss, Will Thompson
Will Thompson @willrene_artist
Thompson has crystallised beach shells that he’s kept for over a decade. The crystals have given the objects a second life, enriching what was once found- discarded by salt water and engulfed by sand. The objects suggest a vaginal form; the crystals beautify the proposed genitalia, which is so often depicted as ‘revolting’, and the colours (representative of the bisexual flag) softly declare their queerness.
Details of the intricate objects are photographed here, whilst the physical shell can be seen opposing these (7).
6. Please Take One, Theo Vasiloudes
Theo Vasiloudes @Theo.vasiloudes
Released in 2009, Grindr (an app designed for gay men to find casual sex) transformed how queer men relate to one another - evolving a rich history of cruising from an activity that takes place in public urban spaces to an internet-age instant-gratification activity occurring in the privacy of one’s own bedroom. ‘Please Take One’ is an installation that
reflects the ephemeral and transactional nature of these digital interactions, printing personal Grindr chat histories as visitors pass. The piece transforms these fleeting exchanges into tangible “receipts” that visitors are encouraged to take, blending the lines between private communication and communal experience.
The receipts in Spare Me the Details are taken from the piece’s installation at UKNA’s ‘Old Walls New Art’ Derby 2024.
7.In a world so hyper-focused on phallic objects, here are some lips...
Bondage-tape Vulva, Luna Rosson
Crystallised Shell, Will Thompson
