The Big Reveal

The novelty of nudity is dissipated by familiarity. What’s extraordinary about marriage is the way it murders intimacy. People dress, undress and go to the bathroom in front of each other, while managing to extinguish the thrill of revelation. Roommates are rarely as casual as married couples who live in the state of coddled infants who are wiped and diapered and fed with only the one-sided communication of mother or caregiver to child. You might say that married couples create a womb in which they recreate an oceanic feeling of connection that's at the same time pre-conscious. Wake up lest familiarity also breed contempt! The perpetuation of the infantile state of innocence in mature couples is a form of regression—that can only lead to rebellion. Men and women seek the thrill of individuation and differentiation that’s often eradicated by the security of the marital bond. A relationship can be like a work of art that suddenly opens up the world, returning the feeling of strangeness and beauty to the most quotidian aspect of the persona whether it’s a secondary sex characteristic or merely gesture--or, in fact, death. 

See the invite for Hallie Cohen's show, Mi Ricordo: Roman Watercolors, February 29-May 1

and listen to Joan Baum's NPR review of The Kafka Studies Department by Francis Levy