David Brody at Esther Claypool

Though viewers should be warned about the "adult" nature of David Brody's subject matter, his sexually explicit paintings conjure the polymorphous perversity of the child. Brody depicts imaginary gratification objects that consist of disembodied breasts with long, red, baby-bottle nipples; vaginal and anal orifices; curious probing fingers that belong to no body. Set in featureless landscapes with occasional puddles, rocks or tufts of grass, the body parts evoke a surreal pre-Oedipal dream world, where the limpid atmosphere and quietude seem eerie; pale breast/buttock forms float blimplike in blue skies or sit passively before low horizons. A sense of mystery pervades these paintings, but the needs giving rise to the strange erogenous organs Brody envisions are nothing if not familiar. Detached, the tender body parts remind us of when we were connected. Impersonal, they hint at repressed yearnings for intimacy. Lacking agency, they disavow the all-encompassing power of the maternal body that once gave us comfort.

Brody's desiring subject, the needy babe in arms, gives way in another group of images to the inquisitive child, perplexed by the enigma of sexual difference. Here, the body parts are supplanted by solitary female figures, naked except for fetishistic high-heels or black pumps, in vacant interiors or flat, expansive landscapes. Isolation and frontality lend these exhibitionist figures an iconic status as they stand or squat to urinate, staring blankly in the viewer's direction. They are buxom, masquerading as pin-ups, but the slim hips, spindly legs and hairless pudenda are distinctly those of prepubescent girls. An archaic, forbidden curiosity seems to be at stake as these matter-of-fact spectacles reveal the origin of male voyeurism in an insatiable need to know: how are girls "different"?

A highly intelligent artist, Brody has read his Freud and is amused by him. If the cartoony quality of these images betrays a certain wry, humorous approach, Brody is absolutely serious about technique. An emphasis on fine drawing, delicate surfaces and careful considerations of color and light informs all his pictures. One might even wonder whether this obsessive craftsmanship served some sublimatory purpose--were it not, that is, for the unabashedly un-sublimated, frankly psychosexual content of Brody's provocative compositions.

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COPYRIGHT 2003 Gale Group