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2022
The fairies: chthonic beings trapped between Earth and the underworld.
Their supernatural beauty blooms in the dark, humid crevices of reality; visible only to those that know where to look.
Delicate and moist; they grow from a hard and unfertile ground; like a strange flower that tenaciously springs from a crack in the concrete and clings to life.
Their supernatural beauty blooms in the dark, humid crevices of reality; visible only to those that know where to look.
Delicate and moist; they grow from a hard and unfertile ground; like a strange flower that tenaciously springs from a crack in the concrete and clings to life.
Their queer morphology manifests itself as a mask, a chosen face, composed of virtual fragments of flora and fungi that recombine to form a digital second skin over the human one.
It is morphological freedom, the liberty to declare true self identity and presentation, told in digi-botanical metaphor.
It is morphological freedom, the liberty to declare true self identity and presentation, told in digi-botanical metaphor.
The mycelial web that envelops the fairies creates an ancestral, hidden language used by them to communicate in secrecy and self protection, and thus engage in their clandestine, magical and erotic ritual without mortal interference.
From this occult network, the fairies sprout like fruiting bodies: the visible surface manifestation of a vast underground communication system.
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Fruiting Body is a mystical, psychosexual investigation of the queer body and identity.
Fruiting Body is a mystical, psychosexual investigation of the queer body and identity.
It’s comprised of a series of digitally manipulated portraits depicting faeries in states of ritual ecstasy and transformation, that utilizes organic growth networks and faery folklore as a metaphorical catalyst for the retelling of the homosexual story.
Like fungi networks intricately linked by mycellium, the fae extend tendrils from their fruiting bodies, intimately and inextricably connecting them to one another. Botanical and fungal root systems allegorically become the secret coded languages of oppressed communities. The argot, polari, or the hidden tongue historically used by us to search each other out and connect emotionally and sexually.
Like fungi networks intricately linked by mycellium, the fae extend tendrils from their fruiting bodies, intimately and inextricably connecting them to one another. Botanical and fungal root systems allegorically become the secret coded languages of oppressed communities. The argot, polari, or the hidden tongue historically used by us to search each other out and connect emotionally and sexually.
The portraits were created combining photography with AI image generation: following a small shoot, algorithms were trained with datasets of hundreds of images of fungi and orchids; as well as mycelial network infrared photography. The results, at once alien and familiar, recombine botanical elements into radical, magical configurations.
Fruiting Body is dedicated to my queer community. There is a wild and great beauty in our history, in our pain, and my desire is to harness it and write our story with it. Show my brothers and sisters our shared history told in savage fantasy, and watch them recognize themselves in it.
Fruiting Body is dedicated to my queer community. There is a wild and great beauty in our history, in our pain, and my desire is to harness it and write our story with it. Show my brothers and sisters our shared history told in savage fantasy, and watch them recognize themselves in it.
Created in residence, at JO-HS in Mexico City
Featured in ‘Within, Below’ on view at Chinatown Soup 9.18.23 - 10.01.23
and distant.gallery 10.05.23 - ∞
Featured in ‘JO-HS: In Residence’ on view at JO-HS Gallery 9.3.22 - 10.31.22
Read the artist’s residency interview
Featured in RSVP Magazine, CDMX
Featured in Artsy
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original concept, direction, photography and compositing - Pedro Lavín
lighting and phtography assistance - Ilán Sanchez
hair and makeup - Sean Derbees
movement direction - Mauricio Rico
talent - Mauricio Rico & Andres Flores
printing and framing - FOCO Lab
gallery photography (JO-HS) - Renata Souza
gallery photography (Chinatown Soup) - Alan Tansey
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2023
PEDRO LAVÍN
BROOKLYN, NYC