?Sex? ? just three letters but what impact they have!

When its newest exhibition opens to members at the Bermuda Arts Centre at Dockyard (BACD) on Sunday, it remains to be seen how participating artists have interpreted the provocative title in conservative (at least on the surface) Bermuda.

Certainly, the tasteful red invitation with its naked, magenta female torso has stirred interest among recipients through whose letter boxes it has fluttered.

In terms of the theme for the first new show of 2004, curator Justine Foster makes no apologies for BACD?s choice.

?We thought, ?Enough of the euphemisms ? let?s just say it?. We?ve had ?Love? in the past, and the current show is ?Seven Deadly Sins?, both of them touching on the theme of sex, so we thought we?d just be blatant and see what people came up with.?

Mrs. Foster adds that when the Gallery decides on themes for its shows, the aim is try and select titles which have a wide range of interpretations, ?so that the broad spectrum of artists can be inspired?.

?The word ?sex? used to mean the simple biological distinction between men and women, but it can also be used to symbolise ?otherness?, or it can have the much more contemporary erotic meaning that we are most familiar with,? she says.

She notes that, at first blush, while ?Seven Deadly Sins? ?appealed very much to female artists, ?Sex? seems to be appealing to male artists?, which may be why the two guest artists for the show, Peter Lapsley and Jon Legere, are both male.

Certainly, Mr. Legere has no qualms about declaring his interest, artistic and otherwise, in the theme.

?I think sex is a theme that relates to everybody,? he says. ?I enjoy any aspect of sex, and I enjoy producing works that reflect that. It?s all the same act.?

Not wishing to give too much away, the artist says that in addition to silk screen paintings and wood cuts, he will be exhibiting a sculpture that is ?half mannequin, half television with a video and sounds created by me?.

His statement, ?Sex is watered down passion, so I added a little white to red? presumably adds to the mystery.

Mr. Lapsley, on the other hand, had a few self-doubts as an artist when contemplating the theme.

?When I was approached to be a featured artist in the ?Sex? show I looked at my work and wondered whether it represented sex,? he says. ?Does the nude body constitute sex? In the context of Bermuda I would have to say ?yes?.

?Bermudian culture has never been an open one when it comes to sex, preferring instead a behind-closed-doors approach. Consequently, when any artist works with nudes it tends to be viewed as titillating, not artistic.

?This is reinforced by comments from people who say they like the work but they could never have it in their house, or their spouse wouldn?t appreciate it, or the best one: my wife doesn?t want me staring at that woman?s bum all day?.?

In the end, he will exhibit a recent series of paintings on which he has been working which reflect his interest in line, and the relationships between the elements within the paintings.

Since artists won?t be submitting their work until a few days before the new show opens, Mrs. Foster is unable to predict what it will consist of, but expects ?lots of nudes/life studies, and certainly some abstracts and intriguing conceptual pieces?. In any case, if the adage, ?Sex sells? proves correct, the exhibition should be a success.