At NYC's Museum of Sex in Flatiron, The Life Force Brings Amparo & Manuel Foundation Portraits to the US

"The Life Force: Portraits from the Amparo & Manuel Foundation" is on view at the Museum of Sex, 233 Fifth Avenue at 27th Street in Flatiron. The show opened April 24 and runs through November, so it is in its final stretch. It is a collaboration between the museum and the Amparo & Manuel Foundation (AMMA), and it marks the first US presentation of works from the foundation's collection.

The organizing idea is the tension Sigmund Freud identified between Eros, the life instinct, and Thanatos, the death drive. The exhibition treats intimacy as a response to the fragility of life. Aging, rupture, uncertainty and collective instability form the backdrop, and within that context the life force intensifies.

The works are large-scale figurative pieces in painting, sculpture and drawing. Figures appear in states of self-reflection and exposure, and nudity reads as vulnerability made visible. Bodies and environments show signs of fracture, hinting at structural stress beneath a composed surface. Sensuality is framed as a kind of soft power: subtle, embodied and persistent.

More than 30 international artists are included, among them Tracey Emin, Lisa Yuskavage, Hernan Bas, Sarah Lucas, David Shrigley, Katherine Bernhardt, Brad Kahlhamer and Bert Stern. The curator is Tam Gryn of the Museum of Sex. Exhibition design is by Eunice Yunjeong Lee, graphics and design by Studio Bingo, and sound design by Flavorlab.

Tickets are sold through the museum's New York ticketing site. Last ticket entry in New York is two hours before closing. With the run ending this fall, visitors interested in contemporary figurative art should plan a visit soon.