William in Paradise II
Lost in the Gardens of the Pink Narcissus
This work is part of a series of works (Paradise Lost) that investigate contemporary articulations of Queer identity in a postmodern world. The works are an exploration of Queer stereotypes, gay motifs and my own critical responses to theses modes of representation within New Zealand and the Pacific.
In the title ‘Pink Narcissus’ references the anonymous 1971 experimental film of the same name. The film is an erotic poem set in the fantasies of a young male prostitute. The garden image in the painting was appropriated from a cut piece of a discarded mattress found in a skip in Hamilton.