sharon arnold | dimensions variable: Interview, Troy Gua

Troy Gua is getting a lot of attention lately with his Pop Hybrid series. It's understandable; after all there's a lot going on. While initially attracted to their colourful varnished surface (think melted Jolly Ranchers), I couldn't help but look harder/closer to see there's so much more depth. Literally. Metaphorically. Troy uses a repetitive method of laminating, building up a physical layering and overlap that echoes the story.

Here's my conversation with Troy:

I don't think there was any great challenge to overcome, but I did try to steer clear of my own stereotypical thoughts of what erotic art is. I think my style tends to lean toward a certain sexiness on its own (I'd like to think so anyways), but I wanted to do something less overt than what I immediately think of as 'erotic' art. Something with a definite sex appeal, but relying more on the viewer to assign it their own level of eroticism.

I've got two pieces in the show, both of which I'm excited about. One is in my 'Pop-Hybrid' family of candy colored and coated, super-imposed graphic portraits, and the other is a bit more experimental and is something I'd like to continue working with and elaborate more on in the future.

The painting, titled The Pleasure's All Mine, depicts two women from the neck up, throwing their heads back in what appears to be ecstasy. The bottom few inches, just below the chin line, is a muted darkness from which the women have seemingly emerged into a moment of enlightened clarity, possibly an orgasmic experience. Whether they reached that point separate from each other or together, or with or without each other's (or an-other's) assistance are a couple of the questions that I think it poses. I hope viewers will have some of their own questions as well as answers and find it interesting enough to ask.

The second piece is called Tongue and Groove, and it's a sculptural wall piece in metal-flake paint on gator board, coated in resin. You asked me before what makes it erotic to me...I think the smooth, curving figures appear to be embracing each other, melting into each other, becoming each other. Are they two or one - or three? What are they? The piece is chock full of tongues and grooves, innies and outies, voids and hollows, appendages and extremities. I think it's suggestive of alchemy, chemistry, a union, an intercourse. All candy coated in the color of hot blood, love, lust, and topped off with a high-luster, permanently glossy wetness...and it makes you wanna touch it!

Your Pop Hybrids are designed to make us look closer at connections versus distance; they suggest that things are not unrelated or perhaps that they don't have to be. What is at the heart of your [comparative] investigation? How did you arrive at the Hybrids?

You know, this series really evolved out of a couple of others that I had done in the past. I was trying to unclog my creativity, if you will, to cleanse my style and start on a new path, and I was doing these abstract diptych and triptych paintings of overlapping circles in a very precise, minimalist style, and at the same time I was doing these simplified cut paper portraits between glass. Those two separate ideas just sort of morphed into one. I'm fascinated by the concept of overlapping - eras, personalities, philosophies, styles. Everything is overlapped to some degree, and I like the idea of looking closer at that with specific cases that everyone is familiar with, and wrapping them in a slick, shiny, futuristic package. There's been some evolution within the series as well. The very first piece was just overlapping versions of the same source image of a Buddha in varied distortion, which was nice, but I wanted to do something that I felt was clever, interesting and required a little bit of thought. I started putting personas together based on what I felt were obvious connections, and who also happened to have names that were easily attached to each other. Others I based solely on witty (some may say silly) combinations of name or title, and seeming utterly random, would force me to concoct a connection, eventually making complete sense, at least to me. All of the iconic characters I use mean something to me on a personal level, either through fascination, obsession, respect, reverence, or awe, and they've all somehow influenced me to various degrees.

The surfaces of your work (and your work overall) seem so slick. Can you tell us a little bit about your process, what goes into each piece?

Well, if you mean the final step, it's just a self-leveling resin epoxy of the type used for bars and table tops and such. The image itself is drawn out and hand-painted using acrylic and latex wall paint in several layers. No silk-screening, no stencils - not that there's anything wrong with that!

Will you be making more of these sculptural forms in the near future?

Yes, I do plan on it. I'm busy with work for a show at Vermillion in July and more Hybrids for SAM Gallery and the Alexis Hotel later in the year, but I would love to see more of these pieces take shape and turn into a whole new animal. Just need a nice big wall to cover. Anyone? Anyone?

I'm dying to know -- who are the girls in The Pleasure's all Mine? Are they picked at random or are they celebrities? Is it more important it remains a mystery? (your secret's safe with me)

I will say that one is an extremely high-profile sex symbol, and the other an average, everyday kind of person, but I do want to keep a little mystery. I guess the point of the combination there is that it doesn't matter who you are or what you look like, we're all doin' it.

What do you most look forward to in this year's Seattle Erotic Art Festival?

Just being involved with this event and being included among so many great artists such as yourself is a huge honor for me, so I must thank you for allowing me that pleasure. I'm really just excited to see what everyone brings to the table...and what they wear...or don't wear.

Give us one thing you think is unexpectedly sexy:

Just one? That's difficult. How about two? Sobriety and lack of pretense. Okay, I'll make it into one: A sober lack of pretense? Dead sexy.

Troy, thanks for playing :)

Thanks for including me! Great questions and fun times!

Don't forget, you can always visit SeattleErotic.Org to read up on the artists, Festival calendar, and performances.