Siren Slut is a pain­terly treatise on desire and the search for ful­fil­l­ment. Each pain­ting is a form of intimacy, a sexual encoun­ter, but also a figure of extreme emotional ten­sion. Its source lies not only in the body but also in the gaze—one that car­ries with it the cul­tural and social temp­tation to judge. Siren-​slut, pleasure-​pain, love-​jealousy—Monika Falkus’s pain­tings chal­lenge these sim­plistic, often toxic binaries and instead offer a mul­tidimen­sional, sen­sual, and eman­cipatory experience.

The exhibition title referen­ces the Madonna–whore com­plex as well as the notions of slut-​shaming and vanilla-​shaming, which describe the judg­ment and stigmatization—especially of women—based on their sexual behaviors and preferen­ces. The titles of the individual works reflect a range of psychophysical states experien­ced by women in roman­tic and intimate relation­ships: Dif­ferent, Drip­ping, Elevated, Healing, Loved, Remem­bering, Satis­fied, Satisfied.

Monika Falkus (b. 1993) is one of the most intriguing artists of the young generation. She studied art history at the Univer­sity of Silesia and pain­ting at the Academy of Fine Arts in Katowice. She cur­ren­tly lives and works in Warsaw. She gained recognition for her original pain­ting series and also works with photography and video. Her prac­tice cen­ters on female sexuality and emotionality from a liberatory, feminist perspective.