In a way his flirtation with death, religion and sex is predictable, but his intelligent compositions and complex “image weaving”, do provide a challenging viewing experience. His personal mythology contains aspects of Christianity, Hinduism and Judaism, mainly focusing on the darker side of the spectrum, with some edgy “ritual sex” to make things even more disturbing.
As I stated before, I usually hesitate to display religious themed erotic art, for obvious reasons I guess. But when an artist makes it personal, and is not just adding religion for the shock effect, or the easy gained depth, it should be shown on the Art of Love. We really try to cover the whole erotic arena, not just the easy and generally accepted part. Having that said, lets take a closer look at the work of this digital master, his work will probably raise an eyebrow here and there, but his visual virtuosity is amazing.
His work can be divided in allegorical pieces, like the fist one in the gallery, where a Hindu God is honored by sex, holding up different religious artifacts. And the more subtle monochrome images, that are ranging from a love making couple to a male character who’s intimate with a Mannequin doll. But all of his images have that overall disturbing and dreamlike atmosphere, continuing the dark tradition of artists like H. R. Giger and John Santerineross.
I enjoy his wicked and ironic mixture, although some religious references are a bit to confronting for me personally. But I guess that’s telling more about my own cultural and religious background, it doesn’t say much about the artist’s intentions. I do think that Simon SubRosa is an artist worth showing, and I will continue to follow his artistic career. Somehow I have the feeling we are watching a big talent emerging here, all the way from Southern Africa.
