bacchanal
Not since pagan Rome has there been an era as giddily hedonistic as the glittering 1970s. Unapologetic pansexuality, along with party drugs like cocaine and Quaalude, fueled an atmosphere of bacchanalian excess in which the relentless pursuit of pleasure was society’s raison d'être. Discos, like Studio 54 in Manhattan, provided the strobe-lit backdrop against which the zeitgeist would play out. In this series, Quaalude’s RORER 714 logo and Studio 54's infamous man-in-the-moon-with-a-coke-spoon, become core icons around which the louche 70s narrative unfolds. An overlay of Christian symbolism, juxtaposed with debauched archetypes like vampires and diablos, examines the sharp contrast between 70s mischief and the 80s backlash of intolerance and hyper-morality that occurred with the global AIDS pandemic.
With this series, I am hoping the party will live on, at least in our memories.
