Tickle Me Senseless

Tickle Me Senseless is part of a larger body of works called What the world needs now which began in 2008 and is loosely based around the idea that love and conflict are at the heart of all our interactions. This work is a tongue in cheek look at the way we treat each other and the way we interact with the natural world. These interactions can be seen from a number of perspectives. For some it appears as manipulative exploitation and for others it could appear as a loving and endearing gesture of affectation. The Rorschach style alludes to the controversial procedure in which patients are asked to interpret abstract blobs and splotches in order to judge a person’s mental health. However there is nothing abstract here, the harsh graphic aesthetic camouflages any emotional content and presents both animals and humans in confronting and compromised positions. We laugh in spite of ourselves, but there is anxiety in the couplings. The imagery is intended to be a little too sharp to be entirely comic.