©

LARI PITTMAN

Faith, Hope and Charity

1985
acrylic, printer's ink, and enamel on paper
37 x 29.5 inches

The primary motif of Faith, Hope and Charity is a semi-realistic alimentary canal. The large intestine is draped across the entire sheet like a civic wreath or ceremonial swag, echoing both sides of the frame, with the vestigial appendix framed by the green corner; its tail dots the "i" in "Faith". Dead center is a star of black lines surmounted by sprays of silver gray. Its title is also its spidery inscription.

Early critics read these works as political commentary, a biting condemnation of the religious pretensions and moralistic rhetoric of the Reagan White House. On another level this painting can be read as a comment (literally) upon Abstract Expressionism. The picture's ground, in fact, is composed as a Hans Hofmann-esque, muscular, painting, but this rigorous structure is surmounted--or denied--by a superimposed motif. And what a motif: the large intestine is one of those body parts that polite people never mention. Limp and deadly white it suggests the injured body parts of ex votos. At the same time, the colon terminates in an anus, an organ with obvious associations to the gay male body. The central star can also be read as a puckered anus, although it also suggests a magical spirit. Recent histories of homosexuality and its cognates emphasize anality as one of the identifying tropes of gay male identity.

From E. Brown, Lari Pittman Drawings, University Art Museum, UCSB, 1996.

Lari Pittman Exhibition		Past Exhibitions		Exhibition Calendar		Museum Home Page