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Detailed references to the complex experience of living with AIDS as a
gay man are evident in the large-scale portrait, Gulliver Awake by New
York artist Frank Moore. Lilliputian figures surround and tie down the
giant figure, who lays on a white bed of medical detritus and lifts his
upper body and head as he awakes, breaking the restraining ropes.
Floating amongst the pills and syringes are signifiers of gay sex -
tubes of KY Jelly, packets of condoms, butt plugs and handcuffs.
Scrutiny shows the restraining figures to be those of stereotypical gay
men, dressed in leather, uniform, and vests.

Looking on are people from
all works of life, among them, a woman with children, soldiers in
camouflage suits, a group of (AIDS?) activists, a buddhist, a
photographer, and a heterosexual couple who seem to be in a hurry. An
old woman offers the awaking figure an apple, while religious figures
with flower heads administer a religious ceremony, perhaps the last
rights. It seems that the figure is breaking with the pigeon-holing
which accompanies societal perception of living with AIDS, at that same
time that he is fighting the restraints of stereotyping or the urge to
conform from within the gay community.

He is being offered the cliched
"apple a day" by a motherly figure, while different religions offer
solutions to cleanse or heal his body. The detail in this work is
incredible, and can be viewed clearly in The Virtual Collection by
utilizing the zoom effect to its full extent, in conjunction with the
"roaming frame" device which allows one to survey the piece in close-up
at will.

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