French artist Didier Faustino has included a salacious hole in the centre of this ornately framed silver mirror.
Didier Faustino’s mirror – titled Terra Incognita (Glory Hole) – is silver plated to produce a reflective surface across the flat panel and its decorative Baroque-style frame.
In the middle of the piece is a modest circular opening, developed to reference a glory hole.
A glory hole is a gap created in a partition, usually among public toilet cubicles, that an person puts their penis by way of to get anonymous oral stimulation.
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On Faustino’s mirror, the hole is capped with a little adornment to match the elaborate surround.
“The Baroque trophy and its reflection deforms the image of the spectator,” mentioned Faustino. “This effect guides our judgement on the field of anxiety, embarrassment, perplexity and paradoxically contemplation.”
Terra Incognita – which translates as “unknown land” – was created for an exhibition to celebrate the 140th anniversary of Portuguese silver company Topázio.
Faustino created the mirror to merge “an ornamental piece and a fragment of vanity”.
The artist took influences from early texts on Queer Theory, which took vital approaches to problems of sexual identity, as properly as literary perform by 18th century French aristocrat Marquis de Sade – recognized for his libertine sexuality.
“Referring to the ‘queer readings’, literature of the 1970s, and the writings of Le Marquis de Sade, this operate highlights a praise of the transgressive aspect of our pleasures,” mentioned a statement from Faustino.
The Topázio – 140 Years of Silver exhibition opened on Saturday at Lisbon’s Museu do Design e da Moda (MUDE) and runs till 28 March 2015.
