Further explore the exhibition’s theme of semi-visibility through a slow-looking exercise related to this work.

Transcript
Narrator: At a distance, Tiona McClodden’s 2023 piece "Very, Very Slightly – VVS.1" looks like a matte-black painting with a few faint markings and without a frame. Two and a half feet wide by three and a quarter tall, it is actually hand-cut dyed leather with shoe polish and diamond dust applied.

Up close, faint wrinkles appear across the surface in short parallel bunches, most of them running horizontally. Then the arc of a perfect, double-ringed circle becomes apparent, which spans nearly the piece’s whole width. Flush beneath it and hugging the perimeter, a sequence of capital letters reads “LOVELY DOMINANT BLACK MISTRESSES.” Resembling a commercial stamp, one could absently misread it first as to do with “mattresses,” which it may well be in a way.

The partial legibility of the text, resulting from McClodden’s process of printing onto the leather, echoes the subtlety of the message related to BDSM (Bondage-Discipline, Dominance-Submission, Sadism, Masochism). In similar typeface, more faintly across the top, are two short lines that read as a single sentence: “DO IT YOURSELF” and “COLOR OR BRUISES.” The printed text is subtle and obscure against the dark surface, yet bold encoded message. It seems pretty apt, too, for information of this nature to be conveyed discreetly, or in code, under darkness. The way the artist withholds from view is both protective and tantalizing.

Below and to the right of the “BLACK MISTRESSES” text is a sort of infinity symbol. Its curving line actually comes to an end twice, however: one end left, and the other right of the central crossing. That means, strictly, it’s a knot, in what may well be a rope, which could bear relation to dominant mistresses, who may impose bondage using ropes and knots.

Not far from the bottom edge, a speckled and slashed sort of ribbon, rope, or scar runs across the work parallel to the edge. The surface of the speckled ribbon is textured with diamond dust. Moving around it, light refracts and sparkles radiantly. Thin, faint lines beneath the knot suggest the vestige of creases, like wrinkled bedsheets or the wear and tear of a garment.

The entire textured leather surface contains patterned wrinkles like aged and weathered skin. The left side has a slight purple blush, most pronounced toward the bottom. Although diamond dust is applied on the piece, much of the surface is still shrouded in darkness.

The title "Very, Very Slightly" references a type of diamond with many nearly imperceptible flaws that can cause it to sparkle with unique radiance. How do the materials McClodden used—leather and diamond dust—connect to the concealment and visibility of this work’s message?

In this installation, prayers benches are placed in front of McClodden’s works on view. Please feel free to kneel on a prayer bench if desired.

Ver todos los episodios