Puppies Puppies: Fuckin’ Fruit

Puppies Puppies‘ Green Works pair yellow and blue (distinct individuals) and green (their union) as a marker of works bearing some connection to love, and especially to ou r family. The newest Green Work, as of this writing, is Brazilian Flag (blue) (yellow) (green), 2016, an open edition of mass-produced Brazilian flags. An example of this work is included in the exhibition “Fuckin’ Fruit” and can be seen through the gallery window, flying over a building close by.

Using simple geometry and color can invoke a complex picture of national values. Just as Felix Gonzalez-Torres‘ two touching circles can be understood as homoerotic, within the flag of the United States, “White signifies purity and innocence, Red, hardiness & valour, and Blue … signifies vigilance, perseverance & justice.”

The background of the Brazilian flag is a yellow rhombus floating in the center of a green field. The green represents the House of Braganza, and therefor Dom Pedro I, the first emperor of Brazil, and the yellow rhombus represents the House of Habsburg, and therefor Empress Maria Leopoldina, his wife. A year before his abrupt abdication of the Brazilian throne, and three years after the death of Maria Leopoldina, Dom Pedro I amended the Penal Code in 1830 to remove any references to sodomy, effectively legalizing homosexuality.