THE NORTH RIDING PROJECT

A fascinating affiliation between Fluxus and pop art occurs in Al Hansen’s Venus collages produced from about 1960 to 1995. In most of them Hansen appropriates Hershey bar wrappers to reference oral sensuality (“Lick me,” “Like me,” and “oh” over the crotch) and graft it onto the visual art tradition of Venus-making. These Venuses’ ”licked” wrapper surfaces evoke both classic Venuses (of Botticelli, for example) and, with their accentuated hips and thighs, primitivistic fertility goddesses such as the Venus of Willendorf. Some of Hansen’s Venuses are made of cigarette butts or matches, likewise conjuring up lewd associations with orality and a strong libidinal force. Although these collages, especially those made with Hershey wrappers, clearly partake of a pop art context, the banal association with consumerism is complicated by the overlay of 1960s sexual mores, art-historical references, and the flavor of chocolate. 

Higgins/Experience