Think That You’re Throwing, but You’re Thrown?

By Amy Mikel in Arts & Entertainment on Mar 13, 2008 6:40PM

The Bachelor is premiering next week, and we always find the show to be interesting in a "hi I am determined to find the love of my life" kind of way. We often think about how sometimes eliciting sexual attention or “meeting someone” can be so contrived and forced. Is the satisfaction of “making it happen” worth wondering if it otherwise would have naturally happened, and maybe trying your hardest to please the other person leaves you with even more disappointment when things don’t work out?

Anyways, if this kind of thing interests you, too, check out Lilly McElroy’s I Throw Myself at Men exhibition, opening this Friday at Thomas Robertello Gallery. In these performance photographs where she is literally hurling herself at men, McElroy attempts to question “relationships, social connecting, sex, gender, and the desire to form relationships quickly that are both intense and long lasting.” For the project, McElroy placed ads on Craigslist seeking men who would meet her in bars and allow her to throw herself at them.

Maybe a simple concept, but McElroy’s imagery is not too far off from the measures people will take to get each other’s attention, and when you notice these kinds of things actually happening, it makes a lame bar wayyyy more interesting.

939 West Randolph St., 3/14 - 4/19, opening reception Friday from 6-9 p.m.

Image via Thomas Roberto Gallery website