This Delicate Monster2004

A multimedia pop fable inspired by Charles Baudelaire's 19th century collection of poems "Les Fleurs dul Mal". Handelman transposes the "Les Fleurs du Mal" into a haunting and hallucinatory fragmented narrative that can best be described as a cross between a horror film soundtrack and fashion shoot gone terribly wrong. Collaborating with couture fetish designer Garo Sparo, Italian noise band Larsen, and a cast of performers, Handelman seduces the viewer into a three-screen narrative constructed of gestures and sounds that breathe life into Baudelaire's text such as, "No abyss compares with your bed" and "...condemned to an eternal laugh because I know not how to smile". The exhibit is a sympathetic symphony of gasps, shrieks and repetitive actions where passion, obsession, fashion and ugliness collide. Music by Larsen and Lustmord. "This Delicate Monster" has been exhibited at Jack the Pelican, Brooklyn (2004); Rx Gallery, San Francisco (2005); Le Letit Versailles, NYC (2006); Art- Claims Impulse, Berlin (2006); 3LD Art & Technology Center, NYC (2007)