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Koika is known among all her friends, and the photographers she
works with, as a mischievous girl. She is always playing tricks,
telling jokes, giggling at secrets. You can see it in her eyes,
can’t you?
You can also see it in her photo series. How often do you see Koika
pouting at the camera, looking over her shoulder, and pulling up
her tiny skirt just far enough to let us see just the lower curve
of her left buttock? Or when Koika pulls off her t-shirt in a movie
to reveal the most perfect breasts the Good Lord ever made, does
any model do it so slowly and with such sensuality, such tease,
such incredible temptation? Yes, sir. Koika knows how to hold an
audience.
In this series, however, she and her photographer, Slastyonoff,
have joined forces to give us an impressive trompe l’oeil
of erotic imagery. Trompe l’oeil is a French term meaning
to fool, or deceive, the eye, and it is usually used to describe
a painting that deceives the spectator into thinking that the objects
in it are not what they seem. To successfully trick the eye of the
viewer, trompe l’oeil artists us objects, situations, and
compositional devices that offer a variety of symbols and levels.
The trompe l’oeil in this series is inherent in the title,
Orange. Looking at these photos as an artistic rendition of a lineage
of events, one must ask – what is happening? But more than
that, one must ask – which is the “orange” in
question? Which is the succulent fruit referred to in the title?
Such a question would not be necessary did Koika and Slastyonoff
offer us so many options.
There is, of course, the literal orange. Koika holds it in her hands,
between her legs, against her lips. It is the only “color”
in the pictures, besides her blue summer dress. Everything else
is verging on white (beige, pink, light yellow). In that sense,
it is the main symbol in the photos.
Looking further, however, we notice that there are several other
“succulent fruits” in the image. Koika reveals these
slowly, and Slastyonoff captures them in a riveting technique of
show and conceal. There are Koika’s lips, which are as succulent
as they come. They seem to have been covered with a glossy, sticky
lip balm. Orange flavor, perhaps? There’s Koika’s hip,
which she keeps showing off in such an aggressive manner. What is
she trying to tell us? And then, of course, there is Koika’s
most private succulent fruit, which makes several appearances in
the light. So many fruits, so little time!
Join Met-Art to see this remarkable series.
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