Faculty of Art

Sculpture/Installation

Patrick Stochmal

Eros

(Lift the glass stopper and gently waft while inhaling... stay with the sensation as the scent tenderly caresses your viscera, reverberating somewhere deep within)Processes of extraction and distillation bear fantasies of absolute stasis through isolation and capture; a yearning to ascertain concrete delimitations of something. Slippages between the literal and abstract, the material and the semiotic, complicate distinctions of essence and the structuring organization of normativity. Present as a clear liquid, the perceived transparency of this scent unveils itself as an ambiguous object of hidden contamination, an ongoing contamination that interweaves bodies, encompassing life and death. Inhaling the scent you become contaminated - it temporarily becomes a part of you as its molecules invade your nasal passages and enter into your lungs (touching other innermost cavities, perhaps a moment of queer intimacy). An image of the distillation set-up is included below the artwork documentation for reference.