Note: This post contains some (quite lovely) nudity. Consider yourself warned.
The show is called "Pheromone Hotbox." If just those very words conjure up a strange heat in your body parts, a feeling that's mysterious, sensual, frenzied and feminine -- you're on the right track. The current exhibition at Steven Kasher Gallery features five young female artists, each addressing contemporary themes of self-portraiture, post-feminism and selfie culture in her own way -- often, without much clothing involved.
The exhibition features emerging photographers Aneta Bartos, Amanda Charchian, Shae DeTar, Olivia Locher, and Marianna Rothen, each of whom will showcase ten recent works, all photographs of women by women.
"The understood biological purpose of pheromones is creation," Charchian, who developed the show's title, explained to the gallery. "In addition to reproduction in the organs, creation manifests itself for the female artist as an expanded conduit for communication of pheromones between spiritual and material realms. Exuding from the female psyche, these images become an imprint from this hotbox of uninhibited vision. The tension created by sending these pheromones into a biologically confounded process is specific to photographing another woman intimately."
The artists' techniques tend to converge -- they all recruit their friends as models, taking them to remote locations where they proceed to act out loosely defined narratives taking place in the nexus of reality and mythical memory. As Charchian told Time Out New York, "The line between dream and reality is super thin, and art is a way to get to that point." However, despite this baseline similarity, each artist has an artistic flavor and aftertaste all her own. See their work below and let us know your thoughts in the comments.
"Pheromone Hotbox" runs until February 28, 2015 at Steven Kasher Gallery in New York.
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