“‘Tunnel of Self-Love’ is the offspring of the line in the Bible ‘your body is a temple’ and John Mayer’s line ‘your body is a wonderland,’” Fatty Spice (aka Dani Thomas) wrote about her site-specific installation in Montserrat College of Arts’ Frame 301 Gallery, a storefront window on Beverly’s Cabot Street, from Jan. 21 to March 24, 2019. (Forgive me for getting to this belatedly.) The Boston-raised, Brooklyn-based artist is also included in the group show “Word of Mouth,” at Massachusetts College of Art and Design’s Godine Family Gallery in Boston from March 28 to April 5.
The Montserrat installation was a let-it-all-hang-out display of ribbons and hearts and charms and artificial roses, part wedding cake, part Valentine, prom extravangza.
“It is a heavy nod to the theme park river rides that traveled through a tunnel for an excuse for couples to express affection during the time when PDA was not permitted,” Fatty Spice wrote in her artist statement. “We all know the trend of bullying ourselves, the ‘sad boi’ vibe, memes about sadness and counteracting that with self-love, but the counteraction is mostly in private. It’s almost a cheesy thing to love yourself and not the good cheesy like the one in the blue box. Practicing self-love shouldn’t be a secret thing and ironically is the very first step in sharing love with others. Ru Paul’s encouraging words ‘If you don’t love yourself, how in the hell you gonna love somebody else?’ couldn’t be more true. Be your own Valentine. Send yourself a ‘be mine’ this year.”
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