A quick glance at Anne Buckwalter's new exhibition can’t help but evoke the purest childhood memories. Scenes of wholesome domesticity sit flatly in conjoining quadrants, conjuring reminiscences of doll houses, quilting patterns and the kind of floral wallpaper that wouldn’t have been out of place on an episode of Little House on the Prairie. On the surface, these are images of wholesome domesticity, idealized farmhouse interiors, and good old-fashioned rural Americana.
Look a little closer, however, and there’s something else at play.
Hidden in small details, every painting in IWill Clean the Closet, I Will Climb the Stairs also lays bare elements of human — often queer — sexuality. In Reverse Picnic, snacks on a kitchen table are accompanied by the sight, through picture-perfect windows, of a lesbian couple (one wearing a strap-on) romping naked on the lawn outside. In The Arrangement, a framed image of a trio of naked lovers sits next to an antique clock and doily on a side table decorated with flowers. In Making Plans in June, a bed covered with plaid sheets overlooks a scene of natural beauty outside. There just happens to be a bondage manual and length of rope also sitting on top of the covers.
The feeling that emerges while observing this combination of wholesome domesticity and raw sexuality is not one of discomfort. Rather, the juxtaposition challenges certain notions of conservative family values by demonstrating that a cozy home life and a healthy sex life need not be mutually exclusive. Buckwalter’s work serves to remind the viewer that sex — even in its rawest, most unimpeded forms — is as old-fashioned as America itself.
Because the exhibit — the first at Rebecca Camacho Presents’ beautiful new gallery space in Jackson Square — is so refreshingly shame-free, I Will Clean the Closet is also effortlessly thought-provoking. Game of Chess asks observers to consider why a marble bust of a naked woman is widely accepted decor, but a framed image of gartered and stockinged ever-so-slightly-open legs is not. Can stodgy tradition (a wedding gown) and sweaty desire (portraits of queer sexual congress) coexist, Something Borrowed challenges? And how, Buckwalter’s compositions query, can the physical passions that spark intimate relationships endure within the mundanities of everyday routines?
Buckwalter’s roots lie in a Pennsylvania Dutch lineage and she currently lives in rural Maine. Those environmental influences have seeped into all of her aesthetics. The culture clash inherent in her work is a highly effective challenge to how America so often views queer spaces — urban, underground, somehow deviant. Beyond that, I Will Clean the Closets, I Will Climb the Stairs asks us to consider how sex and domesticity co-exist in all family homes. With her meticulous work, Buckwalter has created an exhibition that manages the rare feat of being both provocative and highly relatable.
-Rae Alexandra
