Robert Melee's 'A Dozen Roses' Exhibition Features Provocative Photographs of His Mother

Robert Melee's exhibition 'A Dozen Roses' presents photographs of his mother in sexually charged, theatrical poses, shot between 1997 and 2004. The images depict her drunk, seminaked, and often in domestic settings like bedrooms or toilets, with heavy makeup applied poorly. Works such as 'Facelift' (1997) show Melee squatting over his prone mother while holding a sheet of glass against her distorted face, directly implicating the photographer. Other notable pieces include 'Winter Solstice' (2002), where she appears as a monstrous sprite in a snow-covered wood, and 'Red Wig' (2001), featuring her naked except for a back brace in a shabby room. The exhibition marks the first time these photographs are staged alone, separate from larger installations. Melee's work belongs to a lineage of artists exploring eroticized transgression, including Larry Clark, Nan Goldin, Richard Billingham, and Leigh Ledare. The photographs blend dark body humor with Oedipal themes, presenting his mother as a demented drag queen in a critique of industries preying on women's fears of aging. Despite her central role, Melee's mother remains elusive, with the artist's boyhood sexuality emerging vividly through the magic and horror of the images. The show was reviewed in ArtReview's October 2014 issue, highlighting its camp theatricality and references to Francesca Woodman's aesthetic, though with a lower-rent, less nymphlike femininity.