X = Jenkin – van – Zyl
In the realm of contemporary art, there are always those who will push the boundaries, challenge societal norms, to create thought provoking pieces that leave a lasting impact.
X is one of those.
ONE OF US
X rapes our senses with a discourse of sex, fetish and horror, refusing categorisation… film-maker slash instillation artist slash performance slash endurance art.
X invites viewers to abandon their preconceived biases. To embrace our queer longing, we unpack our packers and embrace our new identities.
Through their gorilla-style queer reenactments and improvised creative film ‘happenings’ (very 60’s/70’s there, Dee, but I do love a retro moment), they challenge the gender binary and the place of sexual fetish within the role of new society world-making.
The use of cruising tunnels and embedded viewing spaces creates a new level in the act of watching.. the audience creates a voyeuristic experience that blurs the lines between performer and receiver, inviting us, the viewer, to question our own desires, perceptions and creativity through the grotesque.
The Art of Trans-Formation… strikes right to the heart of our complicity with society’s inequalities. X uses BDSM costumes as objects of desire, latex costumes, the pop-not-to-pop online group fetish of balloons, along with the abandoned artefacts of filmmaking and the detritus of societal change.
X transforms these into symbols of quizzical empowerment and self-destructive expression. The performers become us, collaborators with X and their fantasy. Together, we embrace our inner wolves and metaphorically skin the complicit poodles of defunct consumerism slash capitalist dog house, devouring the rotten canine flesh and stuffing ourselves into a new form. (No dogs appeared in this work, only in my mind)
We are now donning the masks of rejected masculinity.
This sartorial costume identity allows us to explore our self-awareness, pushing the boundaries of our meaningless existence.
X takes the concept of reality and collapses it, creating a world where the boundaries of senses are blurred, and the excessive narratives are reconfigured.
The use of smelly rubber ramps that lead to latex-filled horrors touches down in infinity-mirrored red velvet rooms, creating a dysphoric experience for us. Hence, we become the exhibit, as we are swallowed into the stomach of another velvet character.
This exploration of love slash violence slash love deconstructs the macro aggression of a monstrous narrative and challenges the slick containers of the current decaying world.
The Rat King slash Human Caterpillar vie with the recently defunct 747-400 for the trope of decay.
I watched passively as I saw X use parts of my beloved aircraft reused, recycled and reduced to a new experience. I refused to have a part of my old plane when offered, but here, X had sorted out my metal love and reframed its carbon-spewing corpse into a new narrative. I wanted to cry… but it was the past, and it had passed.
X spoke of reference for their work. How to explore the concept of suffering as a spectacle. Was X watching my suffering?
No, it was the dance marathons of the 20’s 30’s that played on extreme economic insecurity and became an algorithmic reinforcement to create a world where suffering becomes a form of entertainment. The fantastical Rat King became the contestants, clotted together in a viscous tail-whispering desire to represent the comforting and horrific aspects of the joining of the conjoined. A spectacle of exploration and exploitation explored through the Japanese love slash sex hotels of the 80’s. (Had X time travelled to one of my Tokyo night stops, I was feeling vulnerable now) These power dynamics and manipulation of desire were observed through the queer art eyes of the 21st century, complete with D/s toy rack (it was fairly meagre by comparison to the real thing!)
X’s exploration of their masculinity, identity, and desire challenges a society that often seeks to categorise and label in an effort to understand.
X reminds us of the power of art to inspire change in its most visceral way.
Mx.D.P 
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