Chapter 6
A month later, the day of Bradley's second installment of exploration into performance art had arrived.
It had taken most of a week to construct the exhibit. Bradley, Alison, Maria and Tabitha had moved a total of 60 life-sized bas reliefs of Maria over to the gallery and secured them into rows to create a tunnel of sorts, the walls and ceiling being paneled with the reliefs alternating from right side up to upside down, all of which were covered by long sections of light blue Lycra.
The end result was an area that patrons could enter...a tunnel covered with a bizarre topography of curves. Because of carefully arranged lighting, inconsistent shadows were cast across the surfaces, making it difficult to immediately discern that these were, indeed, alternating female forms.
On the evening of the show's opening, attendees arrived, chatted, enjoyed the wine and canapes, and circulated among Bradley's pieces. Eventually, a guest wandered to the back part of the gallery, having been attracted by the diffused blue light emanating from the entrance of the tunnel they had constructed. Others noticed and followed, filing into the confined space of contours.
The exhibit was constructed to encourage physical contact with the contours, and the gallery staff did nothing to dissuade such contact with the artwork. Pretty quickly, the viewers recognized the contours as being casts of a female body and there were some smiles. One female attendee jokingly grabbed a pair of the hard, acrylic breasts and pretended to feel them up. Others did the same until a male guest placed his hands on one of the alternating, identical breast forms hanging from the ceiling and he let out a cry of surprise. This set of breasts were almost lifelike alongside its hard cast neighbors. He motioned others to feel this set and they wondered what the material was that made it seem so realistic.
Of course, an hour earlier, Maria had been helped up into a false ceiling and lowered herself into just the same position as she had been that Sunday afternoon when Tabitha and Alison returned to the studio and found Bradley and Maria creating the molds.
During the exhibit, she was able to keep quiet as she was groped, fondled, grabbed and caressed over and over again by several dozens of guests. Not being able to see her admirers, she closed her eyes and got more and more aroused and wet. Being separated by only a millimeter of sheer fabric from these appreciative, anonymous hands was highly erotic. She somehow managed to remain motionless and silent for the duration of the exhibit.
Some were sure that they were feeling the real thing, others believed it to be an ultra-realistic facsimile that was prepared to leave them wondering. All, though, left the exhibit having enjoyed the unexpected surprise and the sense of voyeuristic titillation. As with the armoire exhibit, Bradley made no mention, and no one ventured to ask if the exhibit was "real" or not. Not knowing was part of the experience.
Later that evening, the four friends had dinner and debriefed on the event. Bradley and Maria, of course, had had long talks about the reality of this project...that Maria would be basically be fondled by strangers, and that that was the intent of the art. Just like Alison before her, Maria would be exposing herself in a very real way, and the patrons would essentially know exactly what it was like to touch Maria intimately.
Of course, Maria was anonymous, and there would be no direct contact, but one could certainly argue that there was essentially no difference. Maria did consider it carefully before agreeing, but the more she thought about it, the more it seemed exciting and arousing, rather than troubling. Bradley, Alison and Tabitha all questioned her on how she felt now that it was done. Maria said that she found herself fantasizing about who was touching her and wondering how aroused they were.
She could easily make out which set of hands belonged to women vs. men, both in the size, but also the way they touched her. She found herself fantasizing about ways she could orchestrate having anonymous sex. Clearly not at an art gallery, but it was a thought she parked in her mind for future exploration.
Despite enjoying the arousal and attention, she said that she was pretty highly charged, and excused herself at the end of the dinner. She indicated that she wanted to go to her own home for the evening for some much-needed masturbation.
Bradley was satisfied with his first two attempts at allowing access to the beauty of eroticism through performance art. First, through a voyeuristic auditory experience, then through a tactile one. To hear and touch live bodies, while respecting the privacy of Maria and Alison, was exactly what Bradley had hoped to achieve. Already, he was thinking about his next work...
Shortly after the exhibit, Alison and Bradley travelled together to a nearby town to attend a woodworking convention. Bradley had been considering the third installment of his performance art series, and had an idea that he was excited to explore. Allison's performance had allowed an audience of art lovers to experience intimacy from an auditory perspective, Maria's had actually allowed nearly direct contact with a nude girl. Both shows stressed the consent and anonymity of the performer. The art community, as expected, was buzzing about the two shows and was eager to see more.
Bradley had received sizeable, unsolicited offers to purchase the armoire, and knew he could easily sell a limited series of Maria's bas reliefs when he was ready to do so. Of course, the proceeds of the sales would be equally shared between Bradley and each girl. Bradley had already decided that he'd contribute his share of the proceeds to the art community, but the girls could use their share however they pleased. He suspected that the girls would be pleasantly shocked at what those pieces would command.
Bradley had been consciously silent since the shows, and did not agree to interview requests that were coming in with increasing frequency. Instinctively, he knew that building the suspense would generate increased interest in the show to come, and with it, an increase in the proceeds.
He did have an idea, and Tabitha would be the performer, that is, if she was interested in doing so. He was confident he could find another willing participant, but Tabitha exuded such an air of openness to go along with her flawless beauty, that he felt the performance wouldn't be right without her.
In the car ride, Alison asked if he had specific thoughts in his head. She thought that Bradley's performance art was important, and was grateful that she was involved in helping him produce it. He told Alison what he had in mind.
It was just the beginnings of a concept, but it would involve allowing viewers to actually see the performer engaging in intimate acts, but the views would be strategically obscured by screens made of fabric and/or wood in order to allow the audience to know exactly what was happening, but with the identity of the performers protected, and would necessarily keep the performance well short of actual pornography. Since Bradley had limited experience with wood projects, going to this seminar would help him decide if the project might be feasible. Alison had agreed to go with him as a second set of eyes and ears, and ultimately, to help him with the construction. Alison also loved Bradley's company, not insignificantly because Bradley was such a generous, skilled lover.
Bradley and Alison's relationship was casual, open and they tended to bring out the adventurous side of each other. After the day long workshop, the two found a nice restaurant where they could relax, share a bottle of wine and a fine dinner.
After a cocktail, while waiting for appetizers to arrive, Alison suggested that they play truth or dare. Alison, since losing her virginity to Bradley, had been eager to explore new experiences...to test boundaries. Maybe she'd get it out of her system eventually, but up to then, she hadn't found her limits.
