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London’s Royal Academy’s 1997 exhibition Sensation was controversial for a number of reasons. Bad taste, explicit sexual content and general shock factor forced the Royal Academy to declare one of the 15 halls as an adult-only zone. The mannequins of theWe are all smudged
London’s Royal Academy’s 1997 exhibition Sensation was controversial for a number of reasons. Bad taste, explicit sexual content and general shock factor forced the Royal Academy to declare one of the 15 halls as an adult-only zone. The mannequins of the Chapman brothers and the works of Sarah Lucas were too graphic in sexual content to warrant this cautionary action by the Academy. However, Sensation was one of the most successful collective exhibitions ever, drawing an audience that was intrigued much more by the controversy and backlash rather than by the artistic merit of the exhibits. The Maltese Islands have always been ill at ease with any artistic display of sexually or erotically themed works. Religious and social ‘decorum’ have inhibited local artists from explicit representations of the human body, especially ones that highlight the sexual act. Smudge is an organic artistic collaboration between four contemporary Maltese artists who, maybe somewhat along the lines of the notorious British exhibition, strive to dispel the myth of smuttiness that surrounds one of the seven basic functions that define us as living organisms. Gabriel Buttigieg’s The Infant as Monster... Read more