THIRST TRAP

The Java Project is delighted to announce THIRST TRAP, a solo exhibition of Colin J. Radcliffe’s recent ceramic sculptures and intimate photographs. There is an opening reception on Saturday, March 4th from 6pm-9pm.

A thirst trap is an image posted on social media that, through sex appeal and a promise of intimacy, garners positive attention for the poster. On the surface, a thirst trap suggests a need for validation and affirmation, but a more empathetic perspective reveals a very genuine, very human desire for connection and intimacy. 

Radcliffe’s figurative ceramics, with their playful nude forms, cartoonish faces, and vibrant child-like colors draw us in to reflect on our own needs and desires for love, lust, and companionship. Intertwined couples take selfies together, commemorating a fleeting moment of connection, while individual figures sext and pose for thirst traps to seduce a potential lover. Radcliffe’s confessional ceramic work speaks in humor, honesty, and tenderness; inviting us to hold a mirror up to our own successes and failures in love and pushing us to strive for more fruitful (and fruitier) relationships.

A certain vulnerability is required to post a “thot-ful” selfie open to public critique from peers, love interests, exes, and strangers—Radcliffe’s work is no different in its openness. Photographs, all taken from Radcliffes’ personal life, reveal the honest and exposed moments the ceramic couples were modeled from. 

With lewd and pithy ceramic cellphones, popper bottles, and condom wrappers interspersed amongst his figures and photographs, Radcliffe’s work ventures beyond the perceived shallowness of hookup culture into the depths of Queer intimacy. THIRST TRAP is a confessional celebration of Queer love, sex, and intimacy, capturing all too familiar experiences set against society’s increasingly digital landscape.

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Colin J. Radcliffe (b.1994) is a ceramic sculptor based in NYC. Radcliffe graduated with a B.A. in Studio Arts from Bard College in 2016, and has exhibited work both nationally and internationally. Notable solo and two-person exhibitions include Equity Gallery, Spring Break Art Fair, Proto-Gomez Gallery, and Schlomer Haus Gallery. Radcliffe has had work included in group exhibitions at Villa Noailles, C24 Gallery, Lauren Powell Projects, Flatland Gallery, and the Bob Mizer Foundation. Publications that have featured Radcliffe’s work and practice include PAPER Magazine, Artsy, PNPPL Zine, Friend of the Artist, and Arcade Project, among others. His work is included in collections in Belgium, Brazil, France, Germany, South Africa, South Korea, the UK, and the US.

For inquiries and appointments please contact [email protected]