PRIMARIES-RED | BEX MASSEY
Bex Massey’s practice (Newcastle, 1985) explores the role of painting within the context of popular culture. By depicting everyday objects, Massey combines symbolism and metaphor, creating visual juxtapositions that evoke female bodies and imbue the images with a subtle sexual tension. Her artistic research delves into the languages of queer culture, challenging stereotyped gender norms.
The Primaries series was created by the artist in 2021, following the 2020 American presidential election that declared Joe Biden as President of the United States.
Primaries consists of three paintings—Blue, Yellow, and Red. Massey chose to intertwine three main themes in these artworks, two of which play on a word association linking different meanings of the title: ‘political primaries’ and ‘primary colors’ merge to form three unique pieces representing, respectively, the blue policies of the Democrats, the red policies of the Republicans, and the yellow of moderate centrist forces.
The third and final key element of this series is the figure of the goddess Aphrodite, whose representations across various cultures—Venus, Astarte, Ishtar—are explored by the artist and used as a guiding thread in a narrative woven into this sort of triptych.
Primaries is especially relevant today given the recent elections and, considering the outcome, has gained an additional layer of meaning.
Primaries-Red is dedicated to the Republican political group, represented by the future, as well as former, U.S. President Donald Trump.
The artwork is rich in references, with numerous allusions to the figure of Venus: the full, smiling red lips, symbols of beauty and lust, evoke the sensual and erotic side of the goddess; the wave of red liquid also refers to the myth of her origins in the sea.
The pomegranate fruit—at the top left—symbolizes fertility, while the heart on the right is an explicit nod to the pop culture of ‘likes,’ alluding to increasingly social media-focused election campaigns and the type of content typically posted: visually appealing, often lacking in substance, and crafted to appeal to people’s emotions by simply asking for a ‘heart’ rather than engaging them in a more nuanced debate.
The pomegranate and heart replace two eyes that, together with the perfectly bright, textbook smile, form a semi-human face: beautiful if observed in individual elements, but grotesque when viewed as a whole.
Bex Massey
Primaries-Red, 2021
Oil, acrylic and cloth on canvas, 130.5 x 95 x 2 cm
Courtesy the artist
16/11/24