Eros & Thanatos

Bob Georgeson, Holy Grail, 2010. Photomontage. Private collection.

An Easter present...

I have been asked on occasion about the process that leads to works such as this. I collect images that I like, thinking that one day they may be useful. They are cut out using a scalpel and cutting mat. The subject matter follows in the dada/surrealist tradition of sex and death, religion versus freedom. There is nothing particularly original in this. Call me stuck in a time warp if you like but in so far as art is concerned I think that very little of interest has been done since the dada revolt and the demise of the surrealist 'movement'. For me the surrealistic aesthetic lives on!

In this picture the background takes views of the dome in St. Peters basilica and throws them together in a distortion that creates two circles (life and death). The crucifix came from a photo of a site in Europe where a massacre of the innocents had taken place...I can't remember exactly the location. It just happened to be the right tones and size although I did like the chains as an added double entendre. The stockinged legs and rather ample derriere are courtesy of Lucy L'Vette, a porn star who specialises in legs, feet and nylon fetishes. What is it about a pair of shapely legs in black thigh high stockings that is so universally erotic? 

The communion cup's origin is unknown, possibly also from the Vatican. It just happened to fit the composition with the cross at the grip aligning nicely with Lucy's backside. The position of her head aligns with the genitals of Christ and the receptacle of the chalice. Out comes the spray adhesive...it's glue time!

Holy Grail is from the Brides of Christ series...