‘Black Pussy’ artwork now available in hardback

In 2006, Los Angeles artist Jason Rhoades created a community for himself and his friends where the worship of all things vaginal could linger. He called this visually and intellectually demanding studio space “Black Pussy” and the events where guests helped him create his masterpieces “Black Pussy Soirée Cabaret Macramé.”

Although these happenings were very private and low-key, they are the center of attention in the recently released, ultra-bulky “Jason Rhoades’ Black Pussy Cocktail Coffee Table Book.”

Crawling across every image in full color of this dynamic 308-page book, Rhoades and his friends are pictured at the height of a good time. Unusual items are scattered and cluttered in their company – blankets, hookah pipes, “Black Pussy” stickers, a multitude of racks, glittery curtains, cowboy hats in every color and even a pair of cast-resin bull testicles.

“Jason Rhoades’ Black Pussy Cocktail Coffee Table Book” dives deeper into Rhoades’ process for creating this tireless art, which has often been mislabeled by critics as “obnoxious” in the past.

Within this 3,000-square-foot cave, along with his invite-only guests, Rhoades allowed his work to undergo several subtle medications, making this languishing wonderland of color and chaos a rather unique way of exploring creative ways of making art. The hands-on creativity gave Rhoades the opportunity to carefully examine the immediate pleasure it gave to the viewers and participants. Qualities like these defined Rhoades as an artist’s artist.

The ultimate example of this would be how guests engaged in one of Rhoades’ supreme activities, the Pussy Word Harvest. In search of the ultimate “P” word, Rhoades and friends eventually grew his dictionary of synonymous pussy words to about 7,000 (and not just in English). Names include: “cherry poptart,” “hairy clam,” “spasm chasm,” “groove tube,” “long-eye,” and “lotus blossom.”

The photography work by Alexia Pilat and Joshua White featured in the art book go on to obsess on the other activities Rhoades directed at his private and secret garden at 3113 Beverly Blvd. Photos depict guests weaving knots to symbolize the metaphors of weaving fibers, as in humanity’s endless propensity of weaving flesh; and at a microphone, gushing over their new “P” word phenomenon.

While the occasional amateur beaver shots adorn the pages of Rhoades’ book, “Jason Rhoades’ Black Pussy Cocktail Coffee Table Book” is perhaps the most exciting book you could find nowadays at museum stores. It’s raw and it’s a party.

And, with the various combinations and inventions of the synonymous pussy words, this book could’ve easily been named anything – “Grilled Cheese,” “Crotch,” “Taco,” “Honey,” “Baby ATM,” “Pan Dulce,” and “Cream Puff.” But, as “W” magazine editor Kevon West pronounces in the foreword, “Black Pussy is explosive, and liable to erupt at any moment.”