As a collective of three artists based in Ghent, Belgium, we have been creating work for the streets with sex as our main theme for some time. Because of our mutual interests and because we happen to share the same sense of humor when it comes to this particular subject matter, this extended project all happened very naturally. Our street art consists primarily of various images of pin-up girls that are reduced to graphic black and white images, which become almost iconographic. Because they are taken out of their original contexts, through us they start a new life on the street.
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Cum*
As a collective of three artists based in Ghent, Belgium, we have been creating work for the streets with sex as our main theme for some time. Because of our mutual interests and because we happen to share the same sense of humor when it comes to this particular subject matter, this extended project all happened very naturally. Our street art consists primarily of various images of pin-up girls that are reduced to graphic black and white images, which become almost iconographic. Because they are taken out of their original contexts, through us they start a new life on the street. At first, these sensual, erotic and even pornographic stencils of women carry no specific meaning. In this way, they achieve a purely aesthetic status—for those who notice them—but they can be interpreted in many different ways. The viewers themselves have the task of filling in the meaning for each stencil.
Originally a project slated just for the streets, it eventually evolved into a series of “studio works.” In the end, these works provided us with more artistic freedom to experiment with such explicit subject matter. These paintings are a combination of many different elements aside from the pin-ups. In addition to our departing from a certain visual narration in these works, we also utilize symbols and icons devoid of connotation, just as in our street work. This results in some even more aggressive constructions, but this chaos and rawness found upon our canvasses is similarly replaced in our street work by the environment itself. The decay of natural elements as well as of the traces of human intervention that surround us every day play the main roles in the outcome of the work. A work on the streets continuously decays until it is totally gone. Therefore, we approach our street work from a totally different angle.
Our collaborative way of working in the studio results in a combination of sexy, vulgar, funny and disturbing imagery. Clearly defined aims and goals are not part of the process. We work without restricting each other’s interventions and without prior deliberation. This intentional but controlled chaos not only compels the viewer to look and interpret, but the viewer must also be prepared to read the painting. The multitude of techniques employed—silkscreen, spray-paint, pencil, acrylic paint, pen, marker and etc.—only serve to emphasize this.
The types of content we employ are influenced by all kinds of personal interests and fantasies, but mainly by the massive amount of pornography readily available on the internet. Obviously, the current trend of filming homemade sex tapes that are easy to make and view (thanks to web-cams and cheap digital cameras) have made a notable impact on our work. These kinds of recordings are at once sexy, provocative, raunchy and voyeuristic. These tapes could be considered comparable to the atmosphere of our paintings.
Since the beginning, the essence of our work has relied on the fact that we, as three like-minded friends, love working together in creating new things. We find our inspirations in things that are projected onto us by all kinds of media, as well as by our personal fantasies and especially our three absurd senses of humor.
www.cuminthestreets.com
