Return to site

What do “Brave New World” by George Grosz and “Balkan Erotic Epic: Women in rain” by Marina Abramovic have in common?

Little did Aldous Huxley know when he wrote “Brave New World” in 1931, that his dystopian novel would herald a time in which “IVF” and “Sperm Bank” are practically universally understood terms.

broken image

George Grosz renders a poignant homage to Huxley’s masterpiece in this watercolor; he presents a major development in the field of fertility -a depiction which is here nevertheless not devoid of eroticism.

broken image

Conversely, Marina Abramovic presents a historic instance of the employment of eroticism and sexuality in Serbian folklore to address everyday issues. For example, if it rained too much the women of the village would run into the fields and lift their skirts in an attempt to scare the gods and end the rain.

broken image

So, both works address fertility therefore -of the human species and of the soil; yet what unites these otherwise very different approaches is a common acknowledgement of sexuality as a catalyst for fertilization, and in both instances, without the direct involvement of menfolk…

broken image

My personal experience with the imposing Marina work was that even as male viewers mostly seemed a bit rattled by the obvious sexuality radiating from the work, female visitors universally displayed an unequivocal and very touching response to the symbiosis between the revelation of the female sexual organ and the lushness of the landscape.

broken image

FERTILITY” was the inaugural exhibition of the gallery I founded and operated in Berlin from 2011 to 2018.

broken image

I thought this theme would constitute a marvelous metaphor for artistic creativity, as well as one marking the “birth” of my exhibition program.

broken image

Please click on the image below for installation views.

broken image
broken image

"Fertility”: Side by Side Gallery Akim Monet, Berlin, September 9 – November 26, 2011.

Photos: 2011 ©️ Side by Side Gallery Akim Monet GmbH, Berlin

broken image

Popcorn Gallery Los Angeles is the curatorial branch of Akim Monet Fine Arts, LLC. After a decade in Germany, where Akim Monet founded and operated the renowned Side by Side Gallery Akim Monet GmbH on Berlin’s famed Postdamerstrasse, he moved his practice to Los Angeles in 2018, where he continues to develop his focus on thematically curated exhibitions that juxtapose modern and contemporary art.

broken image

BY APPOINTMENT ONLY

Akim Monet Fine Arts, LLC
100 Wilshire Blvd. Suite 700
Santa Monica, CA 90401
Untited States of America

+1 (424) 394 8480