Current Exhibition
Exhibition Statement
Bucked Up is a pre-workout supplement that contains deer antler velvet extract. Some of the Bucked Up products are prohibited by the US Department of Defense.
Mramor uses a camera, printer, paint, and poetry to explore imagery, voyeurism, and cruising culture. Tattoos of animals on bodies leave the skin and take on life. He’s someone who stares too long. Drawn to animal tattoos. A snake on the arm, a bat on the ankle, a buck across the chest. What does it say? Can you really live up to the animal? Some of the images are taken in secret, on the subway or at the gym. For others, a conversation is had and the model becomes aware. Mramor prints the photos and paints on top of them. Touching the skin not only with his eyes but now with brushes. Beating the skin. Favoring Fauvism over color correction. A dictation from a broken printer.
Along with these tattoo images Mramor is exploring past and present cruising spots. He visits locations that once served as places to pick up other people for sexual encounters. Places documented by artists like Alvin Baltrop at the Piers and Arthur Tress at The Ramble. Mramor presents the paintings as both archives and depictions of their current state. Spaces much like the paintings, places to explore — paint, color, weight, mark.
A companion to the exhibition Mramor has put together a book published by Raw Meat called Bucked Up. This book includes poetry Mramor penned during the creation of these paintings. He uses words like paint. Immediate. Scroll, scroll, scroll. Stimulation. Like, like, like. Over stimulation. Make me young. Bucked Up! Oh God, I am so Bucked Up!
David Mramor was born in rural Ohio, outside Cleveland. Currently he lives and works in New York City.
Location
45 Division Street
Second Floor
New York, NY
10002