Tal R talks to AnOther ahead of his exhibition, Sexshops

In his latest exhibition, Tal R celebrates the strange, seedy world of the adult entertainment

By Holly Black

Israeli-Danish artist Tal R first became preoccupied with the aesthetics of the storefront four or five years ago, when he walked past an art shop displaying a vacant frame in the window: “It is a bit of a cheesy metaphor, the idea of the empty frame, but it reminded me of a pop song,” he says, as he prepares for a new exhibition of his paintings at Victoria Miro. 

This image of the unfulfilled display was the spark for a major project concerning the nature of the shop façade, where an individual has to make the decision to cross the threshold and discover what lies within. However, Tal quickly focused his attention to one particular trade: that of the sex shop. “These sorts of places are almost two-dimensional, because often the windows are blacked out, and there can be the extra layer of a back-room. You only know if you enter – otherwise it is up to the imagination.”

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Image: Tal R, Temple Bar, 2017