Lessons on Love, in its first incarnation in 2004, was shaped in unfired clay. The image was culled from a coffee table volume of erotic miniatures that showed an amorous couple entwined in the acts of lovemaking and hunting. The political balancing act between lovemaking and violence at play in the work was brought to the fore when a series of three similar couples were made for the Istanbul Biennial (2007). On this occasion three sculptures were fashioned out of hundreds of kilograms of brightly coloured Plasticine – the material’s overt playfulness and malleability lent the work an exaggerated dynamism, drawing out the discomfort of the figures’ conflict-ridden pose with a palpable sense of amusement. Hammad Nasar
