Euphoria

Oil on canvas

40.5cm x 50.8cm x 1.5cm

EUPHORIA - 

a state of intense happiness and self-confidence. Sex should be fun and feel safe but for many gay people throughout history and sadly still, this isn't always the case. People ask why do they still feel the need to shove it in our faces? Why do they still find little spots to fornicate! It's complicated but for many it's as much to do with the idea of a safe space and confidence as much as it is the intense sexual thrill.

The sister series to Summer 2020. These pieces became more abstract, more faceless. The days turn to nights. The ponds and pools are left behind as we enter the woods and the world of cruising. Hook ups and orgies, strangers meeting the regulars. Whilst creating the larger pieces of Summer 2020 I used smaller canvases as palettes throughout the process . This allowed me to keep things very free for this latter series of work. Not worrying about the final structures, I would see what marks were left and, staring into the brush stokes, the raw movements that had been smeared on the canvases I would see figures, just made out. Faceless. The result is quite raw, naive but it helps capture the lust and the sexuality of an evening meet up. 

The history of cruising in the U.K. is complex, sexual and secret on one hand and yet with a determined sense of community, of similarity and a place where anything goes.