Midland exhibition of female genitalia

Sep 7 2008 By Adam Aspinall

VISITORS to a Midland art gallery might be excused for blushing when they check out one of its latest exhibits.

The artwork by the American Jason Rhoades features an amazing 185 different words – for female genitalia.

The racy exhibition is housed in the unlikely location of a garage on a Wolverhampton industrial park.

It includes items worth millions of pounds from the private collection of art lover Frank Cohen, who previously owned a chain of DIY shops.

Entitled The Lightness Of Being it includes modern art from controversial artists such as Tracey Emin.

But it is the work of the late American artist Jason Rhoades which might leave visitors a little flushed.

Overdose

It features dozens of Ikea-like shelves containing dream catchers, camel saddles and neon signs spelling out different slang words for female genitalia.

The piece is called Black Pussy Soiree Cabaret Macramé and was the last work Rhoades did before he died of a drug overdose in 2006.

Last night curator David Thorp insisted Midlanders were ready for such a frank exhibition.

He said: “The things you see in the exhibition are no different to the kind of things people would see in their everyday lives, and certainly after the 9 o’clock watershed.

“I think the people of the Midlands are more than ready for this kind of exhibition and won’t be shocked in the slightest.

“There is nothing in there that a broad-minded person would have any kind of problem with.

“I think people in Britain are more visually literate than ever before so I hope more and more people will get interested in this kind of exhibition.

“And even if they do have a problem, 99 per cent of the exhibition is perfectly innocent.”

Jason Rhoades was a colourful figure in the American artworld until his unexpected death, aged just 41, two years ago.

Black Pussy Soiree Cabaret Macramé is regarded as his landmark achievement, and the original version, completed shortly before his death, included over 350 unique Dream Catchers, 89 beaver-felt cowboy hats, 72 Chinese Scholar stones, Venetian glass vegetables, and colourful cloth rugs.

Other artists on show at the Initial Access gallery, on Calibre Industrial Park Four Ashes, are Dan Attoe and John M Armleder.

The gallery opened in January last year as a space to display art from Frank Cohen’s collection, and uses two refurbished warehouses providing 10,000 square feet of space.

* Admission is free and the current exhibition runs until December 19. More information is available through the website at info@initialaccess.co.uk or phone 01902 798999.