(left) Esmeralda Montes, Minions in Landscape, 2013. (right) Esmeralda Montes, Domina, 2012. Courtesy of gallery

Waxing the Bud, the current group show at Actual Size gallery, takes as its central theme the visual forms of sex and reproduction. Organizer Erich Bollman culls together the “disparate strategies” of artists Deanna Erdmann, Esmeralda Montes, Orlando Tirado, and Paul Waddell to create a landscape of shapes and images related to this idea.

Installation view. (Left) Paul Waddell, LA Sex Painting,
 2012.
(center) Orlando Tirado, Untitled, 2013. Courtesy of gallery.

At the gallery’s center stands Orlando Tirado’s Untitled, a work made of a distressed gallery pedestal upon which hang a number of personal affects: a draped jean jacket vest, a photograph of a shirtless boy, and a patch of rabbit fur. Taking as its cue the form of reproductive organs, both human and flower, Tirado’s sculpture seems to show an unaggressive and curious idea of sexualization.

Installation view. (left) Deanna Erdmann COLT, video, 2011.
(right) Orlando Tirado, Untitled, 2013. Courtesy of gallery.

Most of the work similarly suggests curatorial attention to this idea; Erdmann’s video “COLT” is a collection of edits from erotic films, emphasizing the sexual forms of the actors’ bodies rather than their potency. Bollman’s curatorial method, while direct and simple, seems to focus the small space and the exhibited work into a short and easily read phrase.

Waxing the Bud
March 16 – April 14, 2013
Actual Size Gallery, Los Angeles

-Contributed by Eric Kim