Minggu, 24 Januari 2021

Perth artist Carla Adams' new exhibition explores minefield of online dating - ABC News

After matching with 2,000 men on dating app Tinder, Perth artist Carla Adams has used her experiences to create work that explores the minefield of meeting strangers online.

Her paintings, sculptures and visual diaries are now on show at the Art Gallery of Western Australia in an exhibition titled 'sorry I was/am too much', which displays her work alongside pieces by Australian modernist Albert Tucker from the gallery's collection.

Adams says her work "centres around the female experience of online dating and just what it's like to be a woman online in 2021".

"[In] 2019 I did a project where I matched with 1,000 men on Tinder and asked them to describe themselves using just one word, and these works are responses to that project," she explained.

Pink painting of men's faces with words 'weird' and 'pathetic' under each face
Carla Adams asked 1,000 men on Tinder to describe themselves in one word.(ABC Radio Perth: Emma Wynne)

Adams has then drawn the men's faces, based on their online profile pictures, and painted the words they gave underneath.

While the most common answer was "horny" she did get some surprises answers.

"Those were the ones that were really genuine, like dynamic and difficult," she said.

Pink painting of a man's face with the word 'dynamic'
Adams painted portraits of the men based on their profile pictures.(ABC Radio Perth: Emma Wynne)

One described himself as a disaster.

Ghosts brought to life

Another series is made up of coiled woven portraits.

"They are portraits of guys I've met on internet dating that have chosen to ghost me," Adams said.

"Ghosting is this behaviour where you just cut off communication with somebody abruptly and give no reason why, and no warning, which is quite common, unfortunately.

Pink coiled rope face with gemstones
Entitled Tom, this is one of a series of coiled rope portraits of men who ghosted Adams on Tinder.(ABC Radio Perth: Emma Wynne)

"So, these are guys that chose, after meeting or an extended period of online communication, to disappear.

Despite her artwork's raw depiction of the encounters she's had on Tinder, Adams remains a big fan of the app.

"I think Tinder gets kind of a bad rap sometimes," she said.

She said she believed it was possible to make "really meaningful and beautiful connections" with people using the app

"Obviously, there is trash on there. But … sometimes you meet really nice people," she said.

A woman with long brown hair and a pink shirt in front of a painting showing snail-like shapes near an ocean
Carla Adams' work sits alongside paintings by Albert Tucker, including Sunbathers (1955).(ABC Radio Perth: Emma Wynne)

Unfortunately, Adams has now been permanently banned from using the app, which she misses.

"I've been banned about eight times but now I am permanently banned, or at least until I get a new phone," she said.

Tinder says it bans a user if it detects account activity that violates the company's terms of use or community guidelines.

Perfect artistic match

The pairing of Adams' work with renowned Australian modernist artist Albert Tucker was the idea of AGWA's curator of 20th Century Arts, Robert Cook, who was looking at ways to approach the Australian collection from new angles.

Albert Tucker: Man screaming, 1989
Albert Tucker: Man screaming, 1989, part of the WA State Art Collection.(Supplied: Art Gallery of Western Australia)

Looking at Tucker's work, Dr Cook realised it was "screamingly emotional, it was just full of feelings".

"I went back and read a bit more widely, and about that sense of loss when he and [fellow artist] Joy Hester broke up." he said.

Taking them out of their historical context, and placing Tucker's paintings of anguished men alongside Adams' work was "giving life to his work in a way", Dr Cook said.

"[You can see] the fragility of them and how their defensiveness might push people away.

Adams says women tell her that they see their own experiences reflected in her pieces.

"It does develop a lot of conversation about what it's like to be a woman online and the stuff we have to put up with," Adams said.

"Regardless of whether someone is really conventionally beautiful, if you are a woman that does online dating, it's a minefield.

A sculpture made from a rock which looks like a body with a jewelled pink head on it.
A sculpture made by Carla Adams called Ugly.(ABC Radio Perth: Emma Wynne)

For others, it's a glimpse into another world.

"It's almost like a peep show, or looking behind the curtain at something that is super private and saucy."

AGWA is hosting a series of events tied to sorry I was/am too much, including a Valentine's Day single's workshop where participants can make their own coil portrait. The exhibition runs until March 15 and entry is free.

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2021-01-24 22:09:00Z
CAIiEBf2WYhsLHypc4kCJq-ev10qFggEKg4IACoGCAow3vI9MPeaCDDc2g4

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