EVENT DESCRIPTION
PODIUM is delighted to present ‘Ballet with the Devil’, a group exhibition that employs the metaphor of a treacherous yet seductive dance with the diabolical to probe humanity’s entanglement and complex interplay with desire. Through the lens of Lacanian psychoanalysis, the artists, including João Gabriel, Shimon Kamada, Dew Kim, Jaewon Kim, Joy Li, and Tao Siqi, dissect and unveil the intrinsic unattainability of human yearnings, and explore the potential transcendence of its ensnarement. Navigating the precarious terrain where fantasy and materiality converge, the works compel the viewer to reevaluate the agency of one’s subjectivity when confronted by manifestations of trauma and anxiety rooted in the psyche.
Drawing from pre-AIDS, 1970s gay pornographic imagery, Portuguese painter João Gabriel creates works that are pervaded with desire, loss, and nostalgia through feathery, dream-like brushstrokes, visualising the inherited trauma and questioning the boundaries of joy, fear, and sexuality in contemporary queer culture. His works were collected by Sunpride Foundation, Hong Kong. Contextualising his sentimental photo archives, Shimon Kamada constructs layered compositions that fuse figuration with abstraction, exploring the fragility of time, the inevitability of loss, and the elusiveness of memory. Kamada invites multiple, often ambiguous interpretations, transforming intimate recollections into universal meditations on nostalgia, alienation, and the porous boundary between reality and dream.
