Do you ever go to places in dangerous neighborhoods because the prospects of trouble and the intensity & unpredictability of the environment excite you? There’s something about danger that thrills us as humans and the indescribable feeling that fear has on our minds. Maybe you like to take your dates to seedy/run down motels because it turns you on. Something about it being bad for you that makes it so exciting or perhaps dating a stripper, even though you know its bad idea. Maybe it isn’t even the person your with that turns you on but where you’re at. You’re aware of walking into a trap but you can’t stop yourself. You’re fascinated by the danger and unpredictability of the moment and place. It’s sexy, dirty, exciting, exhilarating and you can’t contain your curiosity for the unknown. Does your thirst for sexual experience take you to places you shouldn’t go? And with people you shouldn’t be with.

This May The Shooting Gallery is excited to exhibit the art of Aaron Hawks with his solo show entitled “Locus in Quo”, which translated from Latin is “the place in which” – an exhibit of erotic photography and interactive sculpture. Aaron will have over 25 color and black & white photographs on display through the month of May & June. Hawks’ work feature’s drop dead gorgeous women in old run down rooms & structures reminiscent of an old Hitchcock film. At first glance, the environment appears to be the background for his models, whom aren’t really models at all but true dominatrix’ and fetishists. But after closer examination we realize that the rooms and sets themselves are the foreground and serve as the focal point to these dark & moody photographs. Aaron, a local photographer from Emeryville, has been a photographer for 15 years honing his skills as a master of the photographic still. He is a surgeon with his camera, dissecting fantasies from our sexual subconscious. These photo’s are contemporary images with subtle references to the past causing them to become timeless records of sexual noir. But the secret to Aaron’s work isn’t the beautiful vixens or technical capabilities but the sets themselves. They are all hand built by him in his warehouse in Emeryville. They exist only in places we rarely experience: a dark hotel room in Paris, an old basement in Prague, that abandoned house you were afraid to go into as a child and the dungeon of a dominatrix. They are the places in which things we don’t talk about have happened. They are our fantasy’s that we dare not share with those closest to us but reveal them to complete strangers. He leaves no room for error with his keen eye for lighting and attention to details and has become a craftsman at building his sets.

Along with his photographic works, Aaron will also have interactive sculptures on display, a piano suspended from the ceiling over one of his favorite pieces and a custom built installation of one of his sets in the back of the gallery that will serve as the location of an erotic performance by a few of his damsels in distress on the night of the artist reception. To help with this historical event, Aaron has collaborated with Nick Bertoni (Professional fabricator), Miranda Lloyd and Jason Peters (Professional Museum Installations) and Simone Kross (Professional Dominatrix). They will all be applying their special talents to create Aaron’s complete masterpiece that is “Locus In Quo”.

“Locus In Quo” by Aaron Hawks
Erotic photography and interactive sculpture
Collaborations by Nick Bertoni, Miranda Lloyd, Jason Peters, Simone Kross, Seven and Ivy Red.

Opening reception: Thursday – May 12, 2005 / 7pm – 11pm

Showing through: June 4, 2005

The Shooting Gallery
839 Larkin St.
San Francisco Ca 94109
415-931-8035
www.shootinggallerysf.com