Borderline
Too all the girls panel one
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This is about shame. The shame of empty bed sheets, or the shame of a dreamathon after which you wake to wet, empty bed sheets. “Something in the way you love me won’t let me be” the last thing I remember her saying was about dogs in parks and the rules of dog parks and how we will never work out because I have two cats she has a dog and it’s just nature how some animals should never live together, how we are difference species and therefore against nature. how do you evaluate prolonged desire when you are used to facing it by yourself for so long, practicing “accidental abstinence” as I described it to a friend, when she tried telling sex is just sex and not related to intellectual connection. and this was just a discussion of the everyday; several times I’ve kept my bed very empty for someone I longed for but could only communicate with digitally.
To all the girls: 1. Chide Hassam, Maud Sewing, 1883, 2.Emmet Gowin, Edith, Danville, Virginia, 1970, 3. Max Klinger, Awakening 1883-87, 4. Auguste Rodin, Reclining Woman, 5. Otto Dix, Reclining Woman, 1928, 6. Rembrandt van Rijn, Sheet of Studies (with a woman lying ill in bed) c.1639-42, 7. Max Beckmann, Reclining Figure (Portrait of Johanna Loeb) 1922, 8. Max Klinger, Dreams, 1880- 84, 9. Max Beckmann, Woman on a Sofa (Fridel Battenberg) 1916,
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“Something in the way you love me won’t let me be” so you practice further, practice farther. how does one not romanticize the mundane? there are a couple of strategies. for instance, try being open and practicing extreme honesty. or recite advice from a self-help book at barnes and noble that you read at the store but do not buy. or be intact. and be tactful. so far I can’t tell if these are guidelines for handling single bed sheets or cures for conceptual intimacy. but here I am, rejecting all the definitive clauses, regardless of unwashable stains from spilled coffee or long-ago sex, and trying to be me and me, you in a way that maybe you or me will let me be. - Cole Lu
10. Roy Lichtenstein, Reclining Nude, 1980, 11. Max Beckmann, Reclining Figure, 1922, 12. André Kertész, Distortion No.130, 1933, 13. Wenceslaus Hollar, Sleeping Huntress, 14. Michael J. Gallagher, Sleeping Girl, 15. Albert Bernard, Death (la Morte), 1888, 16. Jacqueline Thurston, Untitled, from the series “Hospital”, 1976, 17. Rembrandt van Rijn, A Woman Bathing Her Feet at a Brook, 1658, 18.Paul Gauguin, Manao Tupapau (The Spirit of the Dead Watches - Elle sense au revenant) 1894, 19. Renée Stout, Red Room at Five, 1999, 20. Max Beckmann, Seduction, 1923, 21. Bill Brandt, Nude, c 1956, 22. Aristide Maillol, Sleeping Nude, 23. Ernest Moser Planck, Part of Photography Portfolio, 1978, 24. Erich Henkel, Asleep, 1927, 25. Eileen Cowin, Untitled, 1988
Who’s lovin you?
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Lauren Cardenas invited us to participate in this project, by considering our bed. Intrigued, we began thinking about our bed, maybe more specifically by thinking about what the idea of bed means to us as a couple. We met with Lauren individually and as a couple to discuss the concept and look at prints and drawings. This incredibly fascinating topic began to capture our imaginations. What follows is an exchange that we developed in which we took turns responding to one another with words. The structure was loose but prompted each of us to hear the other’s thought and answer with a word that begins with the same letter as the previous. This simple rule gave us the chance to generate pairs; we feel the pairs echo the idea of a “couple”. Play, challenge, support, exchange, rest, share, present, announce, joke, hold, care, remember, touch, silence, feel, etc. These are just some of the actions this word-finding study of bed created for us. The following list is made of two hundred others, a pair of hundreds, one hundred from each of us, making a couple. We hope you enjoy looking it over and taking the time to consider that stage of yours where so much unfolds. Yours, Mike and Laura Who’s loving you? :1. Max Beckmann, Embrace, 1922, 2. Max Klinger, Psyche with the Lamp, c.1880, 3. Max Klinger, Night, 1883–87, printed 1920, 4.Max Beckmann, Siesta, 1923, 5. Max Klinger, Death, 1882–87, 6. Max Beckmann, Woman at Night, 1920, 7. Max Beckmann, Night, 1914 8.Max Klinger, The Proposition, 1880–84, 9. Max Beckmann, Illustration for Chapter 5, from the novel The Duchess by Kasimir Edschmid, 1917, 10. Max Beckmann, Illustration for Chapter 5, from the novel The
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+++ our bed +++ rest reprieve comfort cozy potential peace interruption intimate performance pacify expectation elevated disappointed dawn persuasion passion action ambiance explore elicit explicit envelop fear fantasy posturing playful commit contemplation memory moonlight reflection real future fleeting connecting complete planning present sex slap sweat suck grasp give taste tempt feel fuck friend fail hold hands breath beneath entangled entire presence pussy island in promise peak many mirror intense imply safe sensual open other more melt Laura lint refresh revel babe between sounds skin pace pretend movement mate toys tongue Mike masturbate slow spit smell stay Tony try soft smile sweet satisfy moan moist sleep still sensation sigh love lust lie lick wet welcoming chance cock kiss keep discomfort dogs hot healing Rex relentless dreams delicate black big rhythm refuge feelings fulfilling fascinating flexible watching waiting anxious ass release relish desire delve trust tryst grow guilt experiment exhale laugh listen miss milky doubt dance gamble gag oral ouch aware after place pitbulls drift deny transform talk stage scream hello hair full freak power pillows gentle grab closeness cry quietness quiver wish whisper support strength time tits blush belly pain partner collect caring bright bend everything emerge succumb serene renewed rant touch tired repetition retreat
Duchess by Kasimir Edschmid, 1917, 11. Max Beckmann, Lovers I, plate 4 from the portfolio “Faces”, 1916, 12. D. Michael Cheers, Washington D.C. (The Knights on Mattress), 1990, 13. Honoré Daumier, Behold the moment (after midnight) when calm and peace truly reign..., published November 22, 1840, 14.Tom Huck, Bed of Bones, from the portfolio “2 Weeks in August: 14 Rural Absurdities”, 1995
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Bed: where unformulated dangers threatened, the place of contraries, the space of the solitary body encumbered by its ephemeral harems, the foreclosed space of desire, the improbable place where I had my roots, the space of dreams and of an Oedipal nostalgia. - Georges Perac, Species of Spaces and Other Pieces Empty, vacant, devoid of human contact, lifeless, hollow, idle, bare, deactivated, close, dear, warm, cozy, snuggle, private, personal, secret, inner, personal space, inward, sexual, desire, romantic, affection, sex, lovemaking, copulation, coitus, threshold,boundary, border,uncertain, contentious, ambiguous depression, forlorn, sadness, melancholia, sorrow, woe, despondency, a heavy heart, despair, desolation, tears, doldrums, blues, seasonal affective disorder, disorder, mania, siesta, nap, slumber, rest, loss, passing, expire, finish What is that binds me? From what was the chain formed that bound the Fenris Wolf? It was made of the noise of cats’ paws walking on the ground,of the beards of women,of the roots of cliffs, of the grass of bears, of the breath of fish, and the spittle of birds. I, too, am bound in the same way by a chain formed of gloomy fancies, of alarming dreams, of troubled thoughts, and fearful presentiments, of inexplicable anxieties. The chain is very flexible, soft as silk, yields to the most powerful strain and cannot be torn apart. - Kierkegaard Either/Or Borderline: 1. Abelardo Morell, Camera Obscura Image of the Houses Across the Street in Our Bedroom, 1991, 2. Yasuo Kuniyoshi, Bedroom, 1922, 3. Lilo Raymond, Stratford, 1972, 4. Barbara Karant, Untitled, Chicago, 1978, 5. Eva Rubinstein, Toby’s Bed, Rhode Island, Print Number 2 from “Eva Rubinstein: Portfolio 2”, 1972, 6. Lee Friedlander, Galax, Virginia, 1962, 7. Stephen Shore, Motel Interior, 197475, 8. Renée Stout, Red Room at Five, 1999.
Lauren Cardenas’ “Borderline” explores the space of the bed as a distinctly feminine arena for rest, sex, illness and dreams. Using as her starting point historical works on paper from the Study Room for Prints, Drawings and Photographs at the Saint Louis Art Museum, Cardenas selected from this collection a suite of images depicting women in bedrooms by a deep time-span of artists from Rembrandt to Renee Stout. These images serve as the dialogic counterpoint for her beverly exhibition, in which they reappear, fragmented and reimagined by Cardenas via contemporary print and digital media. Focusing on the peculiar intimacy of the bedroom — and how renderings of that space engage the viewer in both analogue and mediated forms of witnessing — “Borderline” assembles a community of women across time and space seeking solace in the private realms of their bodies and minds. Exhibition-viewers are invited to make an appointment at SLAM’s Study Room to view “Borderline’s” source imagery, and to further expand the dialogue between spaces, institutions and artifacts. Jessica Baran
Borderline
A Saturday Press Zine Production in collaboration with Borderline an exhibition at beverly St. Louis, MO September 3- October 3, 2016 New Works by Lauren Cardenas Contributions from: Cole Lu, Michael Behle, Laura Grady, and Jessica Baran Images references are from the St. Louis Art Museum Study Room for Prints, Drawing, and Photographs To view the curated selection of images at St. Louis Art Museum, Please email: paper@SLAM.org to request an appointment with the Research Assistant/Study Room Manager. When you visit the Study Room, make sure to snap a photo on instagram, #allthebedsIhaveneversleptin #SlamStudioShare and tag @Saturday_Press