Bas Kosters: Such delicate tenderness
1421 Laveta Terrace, Los Angeles, CA 90026
Sunday, November 24 at 2:00 PM 6:00 PM
Ends Dec 24, 2019
In the artist Bas Kosters' words: In my work there is always a strange contrast between outspokenness and tenderness, childlike optimism, and provocative aesthetics. I like to combine our world of emotions and senses in strong contrast with bold shapes and graphic notions. During my residency I reflected on different emotional and sexual aspects and layers of the world of the queer and lgbtq community. I created series of drawings and tapestries, to strengthen and deepen my vision within my erotic art, fed by my personal experiences in Los Angeles. My stay at the Tom of Finland foundation was truly magical. It is a place with a strong energy, which is great to revel in. The rich history, which the foundation represents, has proved its meaningfulness, yet it is still necessary to keep pushing boundaries and create space for our community. I am really excited to help shape the future landscape of erotic art, as it is one of my great interests. If with this I can contribute to people developing personally and sexually, that would be a great outcome. For me my residency has been open and full of experiments, which lead to a large variety of works, themed by my personal fascinations and points of view. I tried to touch all the things in my erotic universe that please, inspire, alarm or excite me. I also tried to answer the question where my interest in the erotic art comes from; I realized it is a deeply rooted fascination; that is simply part of my whole emotional, personal and professional being. The title reflects on the stigma that sexuality has in our western world, which seems to become more prudish every day. Sexuality can be emotional, spiritual and transcendental, not just dirty, offensive or naughty. In past times homosexuals had various very soft nicknames marking them as feminine, while gays nowadays might focus a lot on masculinity themselves. With my projects I strive to embody fluidity, softness and playfulness, instead of thinking too much in stereotypes. Let’s get tender! For my final exhibition I created several new series of works next to a large number of single drawings and textiles. - “Pink boys”, a series of 26 pink nudes in fountain pen and water color on collected ephemera - “You are, therefore I am”, a series about the importance of community and safe space, resulted in 30 portraits based loosely on a drawing by Tom of Finland depicting a man with a leather hat. - “Guidelines for responsible gay living” is a series of eight tapestries in digital print on cotton and wool embroidery.