‘Kissing, like painting, never dies – but the perfect kiss, like a perfect painting, is almost impossible,’ says Francesco Bonami, curator of Luxembourg & Dayan’s new exhibition on the art of kissing in the 20th century, ‘Kiss Off’.
The title refers back to a print made by Canadian feminist artist Joyce Wieland at the Nova Scotia College of Art and Design, in 1970, who pressed her lipsticked lips against the lithographic plate while singing the Canadian National Anthem. Just a year later at the College, and Vito Acconci made a remarkably similar work titled Kiss Off – an edition of prints produced by applying lipstick and kissing his own body, then rubbing his skin on a lithography stone.
The tension between these two works – similar in approach, divergent in purpose – is at the centre of Bonami’s ‘Kiss Off’ exhibition in New York. ‘We started with this idea of a solipsistic gesture by Acconci – and from there we went into exploring just barely the surface of this archetypal action performed by humankind who knows since when.’
O Canada, 1970, by Joyce Wieland, lithograph.
‘Kiss Off’ explores different kinds of kissing, as immortalised by some of the world’s greatest artists, from the salacious (Jeff Koons) to the sultry (Andy Warhol’s 1963 film of couples kissing for three and a half minutes) to the sapphic (Lynda Benglis’ video Female Sensibility) and the surreal (Picasso). A kiss, of course, is not only a romantic gesture. The easy visual link between the works makes viewing fun, but is there another side to this intimate act?
‘I think a kiss with all its implication is a very serious if joyful thing,’ says Bonami. ‘So the show is more about joy, pleasure, passion and survival than about fun.’ Reminders of this come via Ulay and Marina Abramović’s 1977 performance Breathing In/Breathing Out, in which the couple appear, lips locked and nostrils blocked, until they eventually pass out, 19 minutes later.
Having researched the subject of smooching so extensively, what for Bonami captures the perfect kiss? ‘Brâncuși’s sculpture of the kiss which expresses the best how a kiss can transform two people into one person,’ Bonami suggests, while in painting ‘clearly Klimt for the same reason: two forms become one through the act of kissing’. But the ultimate union of the oral senses, according to Bonami, perhaps comes in the form of a certain Italian confectionery. ‘If we talk about food, the best kiss is Perugina’s: two people kissing turned into a delicious piece of chocolate.’
Installation view of ‘Kiss Off’ at Luxembourg & Dayan. Courtesy of Luxembourg & Dayan, New York
Kiss Off, 1971, by Vito Acconci, lithograph. New York. Courtesy of Anna Leonowens Gallery NSCAD University Permanent Art Collection
Installation view of ‘Kiss Off’ at Luxembourg & Dayan. Courtesy of Luxembourg & Dayan, New York
INFORMATION
‘Kiss Off’ is on view until 14 April. For more information, visit the Luxembourg & Dayan website
ADDRESS
Luxembourg & Dayan
64 E 77th Street
New York
-
Audi launches AUDI, a China-only sub-brand, with a handsome new EV conceptThe AUDI E previews a new range of China-specific electric vehicles from the German carmaker’s new local sub-brand
-
Inside Izza Marrakech: A new riad where art and bohemian luxury meetHonouring the late Bill Willis’ hedonistic style, Izza Marrakech fuses traditional Moroccan craftsmanship with the best of contemporary art
-
Clocking on: the bedside analogue timepieces that won’t alarm your aestheticWe track down the only tick-tocks that matter, nine traditional alarm clocks that tell the time with minimum fuss and maximum visual impact
-
Henni Alftan’s paintings frame everyday moments in cinematic renditionsConcurrent exhibitions in New York and Shanghai celebrate the mesmerising mystery in Henni Alftan’s paintings
-
Inside Jack Whitten’s contribution to American contemporary artAs Jack Whitten exhibition ‘Speedchaser’ opens at Hauser & Wirth, London, and before a major retrospective at MoMA opens next year, we explore the American artist's impact
-
Brutalism in film: the beautiful house that forms the backdrop to The Room Next DoorThe Room Next Door's production designer discusses mood-boarding and scene-setting for a moving film about friendship, fragility and the final curtain
-
‘This blood that is flowing is my blood, and that should be a positive thing’: Tracey Emin at White CubeTracey Emin’s exhibition ‘I followed you to the end’ has opened at White Cube Bermondsey in London, and traces the artist’s journey through loss
-
'There’s an anxiety under all of it': Violet Dennison in New YorkViolet Dennison debuts abstract paintings with new show 'Damaged Self' at Tara Downs Gallery
-
‘Gas Tank City’, a new monograph by Andrew Holmes, is a photorealist eye on the American West‘Gas Tank City’ chronicles the artist’s journey across truck-stop America, creating meticulous drawings of fleeting moments
-
Mark Armijo McKnight’s bodily landscapes capture the tactile serenity of the American WestThe artist’s new exhibition at the Whitney Museum, which is organised by the museum curator Drew Sawyer, offers a succinct window into his contemplative suggestion of queering a landscape
-
Dark, glamorous and hedonistic: a photography book captures New York in the 1990sNew York: High Life, Low Life, by Dafydd Jones, goes behind the scenes of New York society
