Homage to the very first take film Industry

2 in the sky II
Acrylic on canvas, 100 x 100cm

5 in the sky
Acrylic on canvas, 150 x 200cm

Melting, 2022
Acrylic on canvas, 200 x 200cm

Exhibition «Steven Fridman: Guilty Pleasures», 2022
curated by Paco Barragán

Hummingbird, 2017
Mixed media, 145 x 200cm

Hummingbird II, 2022
Acrylic on canvas, 128 x 111cm

Exhibition «Steven Fridman: Guilty Pleasures», 2022
curated by Paco Barragán

Vibrations, 2018
Acrylic on canvas, 50 x 60cm

In the balcony, 2019
Acrylic on canvas, 100 x 100cm

Eclipse RSVP, 2018
Mixed media, 90 x 110cm

Vibrations II
Acrylic on canvas, 128 x 111cm

Tropical, 2018
Mixed media, 120 x 91cm

Exhibition «Steven Fridman: Guilty Pleasures», 2022
curated by Paco Barragán

OF TOUCH AND VISION

Porn photography informs but does not define Steven Fridman’s image painting. A remarkable stance characterizes the works in his series from 2016-2017. The anatomy of sex is presented as a paradoxical coming together of figuration and abstraction. The organization of elements throughout the series resolves into a fresh visuality. Fridman weds an unorthodox compositional balance to the uninhibited appeal of erotica.

Based on close-ups of genitalia both during foreplay, as evidenced by very visible hands (or fingers), and in actual penetration, the series is open-ended in its exploration of the sensuousness of color and of the mental processes that underlie the creation of patterns. The use of close-ups clearly means there are no entire bodies represented in the series, but the striking thing is the operation of displacements on the sex act in photographic images that typify porn as sex fodder, into arresting sex emblems through painting. His proposal could be crazy and zany but his sex paintings turn out to be both dead serious and electrifying.

With deft mental moves, and even surer visual acumen, the artist appears to pass list to the sassiest options in figurative painting from both European and North-American sources. These sources are subjected to what can be called ‘a will to abstraction’, with unorthodox results. Fridman’s paintings are representational, based on pornographic photographs, but they eschew realistic effects. Fragments of human anatomy tend to the abstract. The stress is on the flatness of the canvas’ surface, and this allows for an unusual immersion in the perceptual.

While ostensibly dealing with depictions of sex, the artist interweaves voyeuristic impulses with potent reminders of visual pleasures with which painting rewards viewers. His references would appear to be to modes of painting from 1960 onwards. He also clearly brings onto the picture plane an assortment of devices that construct imaginary extensions and amplifications of the sensory experience of touch.

Chromatic range and contrast enhance the readings of hands on genitals, the probing fingers edging towards folds, and mouths with open lips and sometimes protruding, sometimes camouflaged tongues. Unreal color schemes provide access to a gamut of sensations that break away from any straightforward effect of recognition of body parts. Graphic and painterly passages frequently alternate with zones of geometrical painting. The conjunction of optical art patterns and figurative signs activate the pictorial surface creating what could be caĺed energy emblems.

The haptic, in visually sensuous presentations, is very much to the fore in Fridman’s paintings, and entails a degree of surprise for the viewers. The series could be taken as a tribute or celebration of porn, which in a sense it is, but not quite. It certainly is in-your-face, up-front, but not abject. And it resonates with the full-blast eclecticism of Fridman’s pictorial practice.

Jorge Villacorta

Art curator

DE TACTO Y VISIÓN

La fotografía pornográfica alimenta pero no define a la pintura basada en imágenes de Steven Fridman (n. 1975). Los trabajos de su serie de 2016-2017 están caracterizados por una toma de posición muy nítida. Presenta la anatomía del sexo como una paradójica convergencia de figuración y abstracción. La organización de elementos a lo largo de la serie da como resultado una fresca visualidad. Fridman combina un equilibrio compositivo poco ortodoxo con la atracción sin tapujos de material erótico.

Basada en acercamientos de genitales tanto durante las caricias previas, como lo evidencian unas muy visibles manos (o dedos), y ya en el momento de la penetración misma, la serie es abierta en su exploración de la sensualidad del color y de los procesos mentales que subyacen a la creación de patrones. El uso del acercamiento claramente quiere decir que en la serie no hay cuerpos enteros represensados, pero lo que sorprende es la operación de desplazamientos sobre imágenes fotográficas del acto sexual que tipifican al porno como pasto de consumo, para llegar por medio de la pintura a emblemas sexuales impactantes. Puede que su propuesta sea loca y desopilante pero sus cuadros de sexo van en serio y son electrizantes.

Con diestras movidas mentales, y una sagacidad visual aún más presente, el artista da la impresión de estar pasando lista a las opciones más desfachatadas en la pintura figurativa tanto de fuentes europeas como norteamericanas. Estas fuentes están sujetas a lo que podría uno llamar «una voluntad abstraccionista», y los resultados no son nada ortodoxos. Los cuadros de Fridman, basados en fotografías pornográficas, son representacionales pero descartan todo efecto realista. Los fragmentos de anatomía humana tienden hacia lo abstracto. El acento está puesto en lo plano de la superficie del lienzo y esto permite una inmersión en lo perceptual que no es la acostumbrada.

Aunque a todas luces son representaciones del sexo, el artista entreteje impulsos voyeuristas con recordatorios potentes de los placeres visuales con los que el arte pictórico recompensa a su público. Sus referencias parecieran ser las modalidades de la pintura a partir de 1960. También pone claramente sobre el plano del lienzo un surtido de dispositivos que construyen extensiones y amplificaciones imaginarias de la experiencia sensorial del tacto.

Rango y contraste cromáticos realzan las lecturas de las manos sobre los genitales, los dedos que van bordeando hacia los pliegues, y bocas con labios entreabiertos y lenguas a veces camufladas y otras pronunciadas. Los esquemas de color irreal dan acceso a un abanico de sensaciones que rompen con cualquier efecto directo que podría resultar de conocer partes del cuerpo. Pasajes gráficos y netamente pictóricos alternan frecuentemente con zonas de pintura geométrica. La conjunción de patrones provenientes del op art y signos figurativos activan la superficie pictórica y crean lo que podría uno llamar emblemas de energía.

Lo háptico está muy presente en la pintura de Fridman, bajo las sensuales representaciones visuales, y conlleva un grado de sorpresa para los espectadores. La serie podría ser tomada como un homenaje o celebración del porno, y en cierto sentido, lo es, pero no del todo. Ciertamente es tan frontal que resulta confrontacional, pero no es abyecta. Resonante, sí que es, y a todo volumen, con ese eclecticismo que define la práctica pictórica de Fridman.

Jorge Villacorta

Curador de arte

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2 in the Sky, 2019
Acrylic on canvas, 200 x 200cm

Landscape, 2018
Mixed media, 200 x 200 cm

Flag, 2018
Oil on canvas, 80 x 81 cm

Eclipse RSVP, 2018
Mixed media, 90 x 110 cm

1 in the sky, 2019
Acrylic on canvas, 200 x 200 cm

Yin & Yang, 2018
Acrylic on canvas, 200 x 200 cm

Tongue, 2018
Acrylic on canvas, 120 x 100 cm