Mouth, Tooth, Tongue

Recently, while devouring the creamy lips and dainty toes of Tom Wesselmann‘s screen prints, I considered the impact of individual body parts when taken separately from the whole. I often choose subjects based on my fascination with a single feature. For example, Ostrich Wings Saddlebag and Ostrich Parts sprang from that creature’s pimply flesh and burly toes. Wesselmann’s figures reflect a 1960s aesthetic – synthetic perfection. The mouths I depict are fowl-breathed and grotesque, owing more to psychology and feminism than to any standard of beauty. Several years ago, while traveling in Bali, I fell in love with masks and sculptures of Rangda, the mythic demon-goddess. In every portrayal she vomits her elongated, muscular tongue – intrepid symbol of power.

We use this organ to kiss, shape words, and bare our teeth. Our pliant lips stretch and distort to communicate every emotion on the spectrum. What is more visceral than a mouth?

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