Karam Natour

Video, 21:44 mins, HD Video, 2018

Four men in a row are squirting colored water in a scene reminiscent of childhood games, of boys challenging each other who can urinate the farthest. Karam is known for his fine line drawings, in which he draws himself naked in various situations. In many of these drawings, humor is a central element, whether in the figure depicted, or the absurdity of the act. Humor is also present in this work, in which Karam and his cousins participate in a squirting competition that has no set rules.

 The cousins - bearded, wearing white T-shirts, bursting with laughter - represent a sort of generic male archetype. The artist involves his family in his work in order to examine the interactions between them and in relation to their environment. The game reveals their relationships and kinship.  

Marcel Duchamp attempted to exhibit a urinal as an art piece in a gallery, confronting the question of what art is. He expropriated an object that represents masculinity from its daily use. Here too, Karam's performative work isolates and ridicules the act of male urination in public toilets. His work reveals the delicate relations between family members, gender representation and fragile masculinity.