Zepster Gallery proudly presents Chokehold, a dual exhibition by Lucy Luckovich and Rebekah Rubalcava. In Chokehold, Lucy Luckovich and Rebekah Rubalcava are directors of female obsession. They conquer the voyeuristic gaze of man and machine. The paintings in this show depict a subject position that is not static, but in constant struggle to resist and repurpose subjugation.

 

Luckovich's paintings depict layers of AI-generated faces and fluids posed in the liminal over-exposed space of a screen. The desire in these images looks back toward the viewer. Luckovich paints contemporary still life – merging the uncanny reality of girls who exist on the internet and the girl who watches. The obsessive impulse is tactical, glitches for big lips, smooth skin, bright eyes. A disturbing sensation of control dominates these paintings.

 

Rubalcava's fantastical paintings deal with voyeurism too, but in a different light. In her paintings, there is a dark anonymity to the imposition of danger - relishing in the lust, like a divine act of contrition. Motifs like a venus fly trap, a threatening doberman, and sets of glaring eyes enact a sort of mystical desire without depicting the subject of that desire directly. Eat me, drink me, watch me. Her paintings aestheticize the push and pull of a􀄈raction and repulsion. By playing with internal worlds, the work in this exhibition situates the viewer in the muck of erotic fixation. There is fantasy, insatiable infatuation, and a touch of romance. For both Luckovich and Rubalcava, Chokehold is the sexual pleasure of giving up control, possessing you before letting you go.