Beyond The Pleasure Principle

About

Millington | Marriott are pleased to present London based artist Michael Slusakowicz's first solo show at New Gallery London, Beyond The Pleasure Principle. The show is the final instalment of a five part series curated by Millington | Marriott a part of their five month curatorial residency at New Gallery London. Taking its title from an essay by Sigmund Freud, ‘Beyond the Pleasure Principle' (1920), Slusakowicz has created an installation that transforms the gallery space, engaging the viewer through interaction of light, painting and drawing. Slusakowicz's work continually questions, measures and tests viewers resistance to sexually explicit imagery. His earlier works have shown an interest in fear as a powerful driving force of human imagination. In his latest work Slusakowicz tends to penetrate the veiled sides of our society in search for a core of humanity with both its dark and bright sides. Beyond the Pleasure Principle looks at the relationship between two opposing instincts and drives, the human sexuality and self-destruction. The exhibition explores themes from Freud's essay and refers to the state of human isolation in which sexual frustration overtakes our normal routines. In consequence our frustration becomes obsessive and leads us to a perverted self-destructive form of sexual satisfaction. The show attempts to recall mechanisms of these impulses by creating the unpleasant atmosphere and forces us to assume the position of the voyeur. For Slusakowicz the viewer is the witness confronted with fears and dark fantasies and his paintings acts as a trigger for our imaginations. These investigations have resulted in a fascinating body of work that includes new paintings based on erotic images found over the Internet. Slusakowicz works predominately in painting, video and drawing, often using different mediums to express his subject matter. This exhibition is the first time these pieces have been shown and includes the newly commissioned light installation work in which Slusakowicz attempts to expand his practice towards abstraction.