Annie Sprinkle's Public Cervix Announcement, A PaintingA radiant, earth-like, globe lies shimmering, calling the eye into the cavern between a woman's legs. With the awe of moon orbiters, "Oh I can see it," and "Oh I see it too," can be heard throughout the theater, as Annie's cervix is glimpsed for the first time. Its watery blue-greens emit a swirl of soft light. This tiny, pearlescent earth is framed by a speculum that is primitively rendered, and casts shadows into her inner depths. Poised tenderly, the pressure of the two first fingers of an elongated, ultramarine blue hand keeps the speculum in place between two immensely sculpted, raspberry-colored thighs. Like huge fallen pillars, these thighs are more marble than flesh. They fan out creating a smooth valley, crescent shaped, within which the painting is cupped. Rising above the opening to the cervix stands a set of olive lips turned on end, revealing an ochre smile. The mound of lip is covered in heathered and hazey lavenders and forest greens, which give it a moss-like or cloud-like texture. Suddenly a black brassiere rises behind all of this thigh. It frames and anchors the upper torso with its wave of tiny scallops, reminiscent of the antique lace used in up-lift lingerie. Uninterrupted, flat blackness surrounds the breasts and circles around into the background, to frame a face that lifts and peers straight out above the body. The face, a mask of electric greens, has a child-like expression of coyness and joy. It looks lit from below by an unseen light, or by the sheer brilliance and reflected glow of the more than ample, purple bosoms. Like misguided headlights, the orange nipples ride upon the roller coaster of lace trim, to poke their pale pink spouts, just gently, in opposite directions. Mask-like, the lime-green chin rests neatly in the cleavage, and supports a slightly opened mouth. Upper teeth rest down upon one extended blue forefinger, that girlishly probes the mouth while the rest of the fingers dally upon the breast. Raised eyebrows are sketched, simply, above her eyes...blue eyes, almond shaped seas, with orbs floating. Surrounded by shades of yellow, the eyes are kept drifting on the translucent, green mask. The motionless forefinger, held in teeth and lip suspension, asks the same question as the searching eyes. This superhero tests her viewers. She looks out curiously, beckoning the viewer to respond to her innocent and intimate invitation, to investigate her inner reaches. Annie Sprinkle's Public Cervix Announcement, A Painting |