Surface Tension

Surface Tension

Surface tension is one of a number of sculptures by Derrick Cherrie based on beds that suggest sleep, dreaming and sexual activity while resisting a sense of relaxation or comfort. Both seductive and repellent, its use of immaculate white vinyl and Formica, along with its perverse fittings, is reminiscent more of an operating theatre than a bedroom. The padded and buttoned top also possesses a fleshy quality. There is a disturbing gap between the work’s slick, newly-fabricated cleanliness and the bed’s retro, outmoded style.

Surface tension combines aspects of the bedroom, bathroom and swimming pool. Although it is double bed-size, it suggests an antiseptic, chilly platform for solitary, muscular activity. It can be seen as a comment on the commodification of sexuality as well as the 1980s obsession with the quest for a perfect body, aided by strange gadgetry and trendy exercise programmes. The handrails, however, suggest an absent body that is disabled or dysfunctional. The work also references the fluid nature of sexuality, its plugholes aiding in the ‘draining away’ of bodily substances.