‘‘Oh-oh, get that buzz. Love is the drug I’m thinking of. Oh-oh, can’t you see? Love, the drug for me.’ The inimitable Bryan Ferry wrote that and ten years later went on to pen ‘Slave to Love’ with countless nods in between to the power, heart break and excitement that the experience of love embodies. But Ferry is not alone. A study on the “psychology of music” determined that about 67% of lyrics in every song in every decade since the ’60s, were somehow about love.
If money makes the world go round, it is love that can bring it to its knees. ‘Love Is The Drug’ at The White Room Gallery, features three artists new to the gallery. presents a painted black and white stiletto, an homage to Helmut Newton’s famed shot, alongside ‘Desire Despair’, an evocative piece on vinyl that depicts lovers, voyeurs, and fashion in a room reminiscent of a seedy French bordello or room 222 at the Chelsea Hotel where Boroughs was writing Naked Lunch and doing who knows what else. Arthur Miller, who moved into the hotel with his daughter after his divorce from Marilyn and ended up staying oddly six years, said, “This hotel does not belong to America. There are no vacuum cleaners, no rules and no shame.” Little not to love there.
Their second new artist is Rebecca Russo who uses pens and brushes to create line works on paper that explore beauty and decay with red lips driving the narrative. Think Gloria Swanson in Sunset Blvd. “All right, Mr. DeMille, I’m ready for my close-up.” Though the artistic expression of lips has long been considered a symbol of sensuality, emotion, if not true tools of seduction, Russo takes them to a confused state of expression where the line between intrigue and remorse is delightfully blurred.
The third new artist, Grace Baley, is all about the glass. Six months to create the Buddha. Four months each to bring Marilyn and Biggie back to life. Boxing Basquiat and Smokin’ Jimi. All created by hand, cutting the glass, piecing those rhinestone necklaces together, licking off the blood. Inspired by the subway stations of NYC, Grace immortalizes icons in glass which will never fade. It’s been said by Mark Twain and Confucius with Twain oddly getting top billing in google, “If you love what you do, you never work a day in your life.” And this exhibit not only applauds artistry but the hands and minds who continue to deliver the love. The Exhibition runs through March 30th, 2024.
