Worlds collide for the Lethal Amounts family at the NSFW intersection of fashion, spectacle, body modification, sexual liberation, club culture and photography in their current exhibition, “Community Guidelines.” After all, the gallery is home to Sex Cells, a performance art club night at Lethal Amounts, and John Waters is its spirit animal.

For this extra-eccentric group show, London-based high-end fringe culture impresario Parma Ham curated a selection of X-rated video and photo-based art labeled transgressive by the arbiters of decency employed to censor social media. The 16 artists, many of whom work as collectives, share an interest in gender-fluid presentations of and unconventional relationships to the human body. They also share the common fate of suspended accounts.

Mimi Virus; Credit: Courtesy of the artist

Mimi Virus; Credit: Courtesy of the artist

Jason Ebeyer; Credit: Courtesy of the artist

Jason Ebeyer; Credit: Courtesy of the artist

Each artist contributed an image and/or short film that has been or certainly would be removed by Instagram or Facebook, allowing participants the freedom to display work that they could not show through their current online presence. Every video work has a corresponding still photography or wall piece.

For example, Possessed is a serious fetish designer and Fecal Matter really does make clothes, and they have extravagant and sexually assertive runway shows. Their stunning video was, in fact, their SS19 runway. Another garment-based work is a deconstructed wall sculpture by Princess Austen and Shmue1l is a material metaphor, a conceptual work made from shards of upcycled garments that retain just enough of their original forms to express the transformations visited upon them. 

Video by Possessed; Credit: Shana Nys Dambrot

Video by Possessed; Credit: Shana Nys Dambrot

For some, the link between the videos and the photographs is one of film stills; for others it’s the featuring of a performance artist who also acts as a designer’s or photographer’s muse. As a whole, it is clear that this is in fact a community — just not the one Facebook is “protecting.”

Parker Day; Credit: Courtesy of the artist

Parker Day; Credit: Courtesy of the artist

Follow the ARTISTS on Instagram, while you still can:
3rd EyeChakra (@3rd_eyechakra)
BabyRatta (@_d1e_)
Lewis G Burton (@lewisgburton)
Parker Day (@heyparkerday)
Dahc Dermur VIII (@dahc_dermur_viii)
Jason Ebeyer (@jasonebeyer)
Aun Helden (@aunhelden)
Agustin Hernandez (@agvstin)
Latex Lucifer (@latexluciferr__)
Fecal Matter (@matieresfecales)
Orograph (@orograph)
Possessed (@_possessed_)
Princess Austen (@princessausten)
Salvia (@salvjiia)
Shmue1l (@shmue1l)
Mimi Virus (@mimivirusofficial).

Lethal Amounts, 1226 W. Seventh St., downtown; (213) 265-7452, lethalamounts.com; Wed.-Fri., noon-5 p.m., Sat.-Sun., noon-8 p.m.; through March 7; free.

Princess Austen and Shmue1l; Credit: Shana Nys Dambrot

Princess Austen and Shmue1l; Credit: Shana Nys Dambrot

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