Flowers & Chocolate

“FLOWERS & CHOCOLATE”
Eva Mueller Solo Exhibition
OPENING APRIL 6TH, 7pm – 9:30pm
***SECRET LIVE PERFORMANCE***

Presented by Art During The Occupation Gallery, Bushwick

Akeem Duncan, Editor of Quiet Lunch Magazine:
“A clever and carnal play on words and imagery, ‘Flowers & Chocolate’ thoughtfully straddles the line between societal commentary and fetish. Mueller sparks discourse by employing erotica and sociopolitics and skillfully composing them in a way that results in an engaging aesthetic that resonates with its audience.”

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Eva Mueller’s newest photographs place the female gaze upon an object of desire: The Big Black Penis. Flowers & Chocolate features a series of hand-constructed light boxes with meticulously crafted portraits of black erect penises, the ultimate symbols of masculinity, each posed with a different flower representing feminine beauty, in markedly different arrangements— showing the fine details of the skin and veins next to the delicate textures of the flower petals. These backlit images create alluring islands of light in the otherwise dark gallery space, creating an atmosphere of intimacy and secrecy.

“If you look at the flower you have to look at the penis, its close-up and it is in your face – how does it make you feel?” Mueller asks. “I was compelled by the sexual confidence and ease of my black male friends but appalled by their stories of what they had to put up with on a daily basis, living in a racially divided culture that propagates intimidation and prejudice. Therefore, I decided to create a seemingly absurd scheme by juxtaposing big black erect penises with flowers.” The flowers, universal symbols of beauty, give permission to take a closer look – the subject is removed from the constraints of identity and the power dynamics of pornography. Flowers & Chocolate invites the viewer to reflect on their own perspective of beauty, sexuality, taboo, race and desire but also encourage to look at the black penis without any judgement, as an object of pure beauty.

German-born and raised, Eva Mueller currently lives and works in Brooklyn, New York. In keeping with the philosophical expressions in her work, Mueller is an active member of New York City’s queer art and lifestyle community, and many of her art projects revolve around the hidden and the unseen of those nonconforming environments.

Flowers & Chocolate follows Mueller’s solo exhibition GenderFuck, a series about non-binary gender identity at the Leslie-Lohman Museum of Gay and Lesbian Art in New York City (2017), and Black Face, a take on racism at Odetta Gallery in Brooklyn (2016). Eva Mueller’s work can be seen at www.evamueller-art.com.

ART DURING THE OCCUPATION GALLERY
Art During The Occupation Gallery is a nonprofit contemporary art space focused on subversive and difficult work. The gallery serves as a platform for discourse on work that is challenging to authority paradigms: feminist, queer, anti-establishment, hyper-aggressive, mystic, and/or joyously sexual.

119 Ingraham Street, Ground Floor, Buzzer 5
Brooklyn, NY 11237
April 6th – April 29th, 2018

Opening Reception & Surprise Performance:
April 6th, 7 – 9:30pm

INQUIRIES – RSVP: julia@thecoinlocker.org

GALLERY LINK: http://goo.gl/e2TvTW