Adam Martinakis’s Last Kiss
In honour of Valentine’s Day, I thought this digital print was particularly fitting. Martinakis’s Last Kiss is a digital print capturing an intimate kiss between a couple. What is interesting is the composition of the piece. The crop gives absolute focus to the act of the kiss itself, excluding any other distractions to capture the purity of the act. With the fibers focused on the lips of the couple and stretching outwards, there is a visual metaphor at play to a blossoming or growing love.
Given the intimacy of the subject matter and the composition of the piece, I find a reference to the works of Nan Goldin and her photographs capturing the intimate moments shared between her friends and lovers in bed. The viewer is invited to share in the moment but is still kept at a distance from the couple since they cannot partake in the action themselves.
On the other hand, the title also holds a more morbid tone to the piece. The title expresses that this is the couples last kiss. Rather than the kiss as the site for a blossoming love, it could in fact be the site of a love ending bringing to light an undercurrent of mortality to the piece.
Martinakis’s piece disproves the idea of digital art being cold or unfeeling given the intimacy of this work in particular, but also to his body of work with specific reference to sexuality and intimacy between lovers.
-Katlin Rogers
For more information on Martinakis, visit his artist website/blog here
