Nevine Mahmoud at M+B

A bubblegum pink slide juts out from a marble archway in Nevine Mahmoud’s exhibition, Foreplay II. The archway’s methodically carved aesthetic and materiality have a medieval flair, but its details are rounded and bubbly, like a playset version of a more imposing form. The pink children’s slide was repurposed and made into a kind of tongue-like fetish object with the application of glossy, baby pink auto body paint. 

In Swing Set, a carved marble seat dangles from blue chains fastened by carabiners to a shiny purple frame, while a glass donut shape outfitted with a rubber nipple is harnessed nearby. Though often repurposed from or informed by children’s toys, Mahmoud’s sculptures subvert their innocence with a kind of fetish-finished sensual fantasy. Colors are bold, and tongues, orifices, and chains abound. Yet aside from the Freudian psychology that the sculptures ignite, a steadfast dedication to craft, finish, process, and production sets the work within an art-historical lineage. Like a kind of Oldeberg, McCracken, and Bourgeois hybrid, her sculptures are slick, minimal, surreal, playful, and physiological.

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Photo: Nevine Mahmoud, foreplay II (installation view) (2021). Image courtesy of the artist and M+B.