Opening Reception: Oliver Cain: Anything on Offer

Oliver Cain: Anything on Offer
opening reception: Friday, May 10 5-7 pm
on view: May 10–June 15, 2024

Contemporary art gallery Kouri + Corrao is hot and bothered to announce New Zealand based sculptor Oliver Cain’s first solo show, Anything On Offer, in the United States.

“Appropriated everyday objects transform stereotypes and famous art historical references become twisted,” expresses Cain. “As a member of the queer community, I use this to examine, question and criticize the relationships between gender, sexuality and societies’ misconceptions about those themes. But, despite what it might look like to the contemporary spectator, a purely erotic and queer reading of my work would be misguided. There is an universal profundity at play revealing itself slowly for those willing to look and feel.”

Anything On Offer is comprised of fourteen sculptures and a large scale installation, which will be located in the front gallery. The sculptures in the main gallery playfully nod to a common grocery store experience where in which sex initially is the commodity the viewer is shopping for; however, upon further inspection, Cain evokes myriad of art history references including Duchamp’s Fountain, Warhol’s Brillo Boxes and Gursky’s 99 Cent photograph. Cain’s immersive work further pushes boundaries with his installation of a glory hole centered around a toilet epically overflowing with polystyrene bananas, pulling from images by Mapplethorpe and Tom of Finland. The gallery will be facilitating a limited edition grocery bag embellished with one of Cain’s line drawings.