2000-02 / Chalk and charcoal on paper / 22.8 cm x 30.5 cm each / Artist: Jose Legaspi

Phlegm is a large-scale installation consisting of 1,000 same-sized drawings meant to be neatly laid out on a grid. These occupy several walls and form a huge mosaic of monochromatic drawings. The drawings were created in series between 2000 and 2002.

Encountering a collection of such numerous images prompts viewers to identify a logical sequence in its arrangement. This impulse emerges from the manner in which the individual pieces are organized, resembling a storyboard or comic frames. A closer examination, however, reveals that these are arranged in random fashion, defying a linear narrative. This randomness makes the gathering of images appear like a visual translation of scenes from a dream, imaginative fragments, or streams of visions from one’s unconscious in the tradition of automatism. Rendered in chalk and charcoal, the drawings are executed in a brash and aggressive manner. The figuration is generally associated with the schematic quality found in children’s drawings, which further contrasts with the provocative imagery of the subject matter. The work contains graphic depictions of people engaging in explicit sexual acts and other taboo behavior, such as bestiality, necrophilia, and sadomasochism. The disturbing mixture of pain and pleasure is visualized in the gory images of nude bodies, mutilated body parts, knives, blood, and other chilling details. There are also representations of people in a traumatized state or suffering from anxiety. All these subjects are situated in a bare room, giving the impression that they are isolated or trapped in a small, cell-like space.

The work explores sensitive themes that challenge the bounds of art, confront social standards and values, and bring up questions about the limits of normative human behavior. By gathering images of what society regards as perverse and corrupt, it invites reflection on our notion of what is acceptable and what threatens the social fabric. Phlegm was exhibited at Art in General, New York, 2001, during the artist’s residency there, and at the fourth Asia-Pacific Triennial of Contemporary Art, Queensland Art Gallery, in Brisbane, Australia, 2002.