The Exquisite Folly of the Event and its Participants
a photographic installation by Dimitrije Martinovic °° 8/14/07



There are four colour panels depicting picnicking naked couples of various gender preferenced couplings, caught in a series of performative poses. The summer sun dappled bodies generously engage in nine different sexual positions. Thirty-six pictures in all comprising 4 sets of nine. Each set of nine repeats the exact same positions. Evidence of multiple wine bottles and full glasses suggest inebriation. The shooting off of their individual large guns in each image posits questions; such as: What are these people hunting? or perhaps; Are they marking their orgasm?

These collections of poses are reminiscent of 'how to' manuals. But to do what? and for what? Perhaps we are being shown how to enjoy ourselves? Within these Kama Sutra-like series we find everything to meet our desire as the voyeur in us is vicariously fulfilled. But a temporal pause in our shared reverie cautions: Somewhere in this bucolic garden of effulgence and beauty we are tipped off that these people acknowledge that their ideal level of pleasure will not now or ever be met. And in their pursuit of pleasure their limits of desire have pushed all boundaries into a region where their own peril may exist. That the moment of material achievement granted through the 'picnic' has passed unknown to them. The clues to the inquiry may be found within the elaborate decorative repeat framing of each image. These include multiple Buddhas, 19th century English Baroque William Morris-like patterning, identical blocks of suburban home like-temples their interiors well lit for evening with enclosures, and in each right hand corner heavily laden boughs of grapes ready for harvest all floating on a background of a spectral and boundless sky.

The requisite parts that would create a nominal pornographic picture to excite us are all present. But, if we can effectively look at and place ourselves within these pictures we can only begin to feel truly compassionate otherwise what is viewed can only be judged as mere stupidity. What we feel then in this excess of indulgence on this stage is a revelation of the beauty of what it is to be human. As the Confucian Book of the I Ching confers; The power of the great is in small measure. There is much to read here beyond our initial weary response to the omnipresent subject of sex and violence. Inherent within this story is a 'how to' manual of instruction which is given over to the viewer and their authorship of personal conduct.
—Susan Mackay

(2007) four panels, 11" x 144", $780.00 each print.
The Exquisite Folly of the Event and its Participants
four electroluminescent panels, 9" x 114", $3000.00 each panel.

Panel 1
** Panel 2 ** Panel 3 ** Panel 4
warning: contains nudity

more work by Dimitrije Martinovic:
APATHOT
and

(2008)