Artists: Bruce LaBruce, Booze on Boobs, Gabriele Edlbauer, Julia Goodman, Prince Richard
Exhibition title: The (Divine) Comedy
Curated by: Salvatore Viviano
Venue: Gallery Raum mit Licht, Vienna, Austria
Date: September 4 – October 22, 2021
Photography: all images copyright and courtesy of the artists and Gallery Raum mit Licht, Vienna
The exhibition is part of curated by – annual gallery festival with international curators in Vienna. (https://curatedby.at) This year´s theme ´´Comedy´´ –
The concepts of carnival—masks, floats, freaks, inversion, otherness— form a shell to inspect blurred lines: tragedy becoming comedy, comedy becoming tragedy, a dismantling of hierarchies—gloomy-gay imaginings of offhand comedic maelstroms and ultraviolet mental alibis.
(from essay by Estelle Hoy)
The (Divine) Comedy or The Spell as Art Practice
MIDWAY upon the journey of our life
I found myself within a forest dark,
For the straightforward pathway had been lost.
La Divina Commedia, Inferno, Canto I
Lost, I was. Then, Julia, Bruce, Gabriele, Booze and Prince came my way.
The (Divine) Comedy brings your best dreams and worst nightmares together. Your life is the stage, you won the Oscar for the Best Supporting Role.
Julia Goodman, Bruce LaBruce, Gabriele Edlbauer Booze on Boobs, and Prince Richard have something in common, something crucial, something that can only be revealed, understood and misunderstood, by stepping into The (Divine) Comedy.
(Car)mirror on the wall, who’s the naughtiest of them all?
The Spell as Art Practice.
Divine is big, bigger than life, someone says she died, but who should we trust?
Well, your guts, what else?
Divine is the Queen of Comedy, like Dante was the Queen of the Italian language: queens, queens everywhere, but why too many kingdoms then? Sick and tired of such a dichotomy? The artists could help you.
Masks will fall. Your dating app profile says you’re a bottom. Sweet, but how many lies are you capable of saying on public television? Can you write a Billboard hit? Can you rule a country? Masks will fall.
Comedy, what a succulent risotto, what a fat lasagna. Eat it!
Julia Goodman, Bruce LaBruce, Gabriele Edlbauer, Prince Richard, Booze On Boobs, Bruce Goodman, Gabriele Prince, Julia Richard, Prince On Boobs, Booze LaBruce, possibilities are infinite.
Riding a banana while staring at the ceiling, in bed, what a treat, be our guest.
A hustler will charm you to death. Lipstick extravaganza. Are you vaccinated? You will probably be eaten by nasty seagulls anyway. You are welcome.
And because we believe in the power of one-liners, of distorted visions and of true lies, we will leave you with a cryptic question that you will have the rest of your life to answer: what time is it?
(town), July 2021
