In the ancient Chinese divination manual known as the I Ching (Book of Changes), the first two hexagrams (out of 64 hexagrams) are qian (heaven, force, male) and kun (earth, flow, female). Thus, the foundation of the universe is held in place by these essential binaries and their eternal exchange. “Pixy Liao: Relationship Material,” at CPW in Kingston through January 17, illustrates the harmonious human cosmology that can occur when the female flow and the male force take turns and even switch roles, highlighting the indispensable intersubjectivity of existence.
During their 19-year artistic-romantic collaboration ongoing, Pixy Liao and Takahiro Morooka—who lovingly refer to themselves as “PIMO”—continue to explore their qian-kun dynamic through staged portraits that capture the obsessive innocence and playful kink of their coupledom. I have been a fangirl of PIMO’s work since I first discovered them, and the art theorist in me would categorize their performative practice as a mode of “onto-situational sex-thetics.” In other words, the PIMO being (ontological) engages with the familiar world around it (situational) in a way that reveals its sensually charged co-creativity (sexual aesthetics).
Featuring approximately 45 artworks, “Relationship Material” is a visual diary of the intimate life of this coquettish couple. In glossy photographs that appear one-part soft-core porn and one-part innocent romp, PIMO brings us into their private theater through scenes that are equally sultry and silly. In get a firm grasp of your man (2010), for example, a clothed Liao coyly faces the camera and a naked Morooka while clutching his bare ass cheeks as his back faces us. This provocative moment takes place in a wooded area near a pond, and I imagined what a passing stranger might experience when coming upon the scene. Spit (2014) captures the purely provocative PIMO spirit: In this close-up image, Liao (in a skimpy pink teddy) hovers over Morooka (in a baby blue tank top) as an excessive glob of saliva dangles from her lips on its way to his (one can imagine the next frame as Morooka’s drool-soaked face).
I have all the answers you need (2011) is an unapologetic sight that solicits a blush: the seated couple face each other, Morooka hunched over and buried under Liao’s skirt between her legs, a suspended look on her face. Continuing in this vein of erotica, Kiss Exam (2015) features PIMO in a moment before their mouths meet in front of a spyglass that exaggerates the size of their lips, creating a creature-like vision of their heads. Other works with titles such as Intimacy will improve your relationship (2007) see the couple engaged in foreplay on a bed and read like risque chapters in the PIMO novella.
This show also features three short videos from their “Hello World” series, including Cool Grandma (2018). In this piece, Morooka is dressed as the starring character—silver wig, frumpy dress—and he and Liao experiment with role play as they eat a picnic lunch in the park (this work may deserve more investigation as it relates to their “onto-situational sex-thetics,” but I will not tease out that theoretical dialogue here). Aside from the photos and videos, an amusing sculptural gag is a case containing A Collection of Penises (2013), featuring an assortment of pink handsewn weenies and dildo-shaped stuffies of various sizes and titled to inspire a good giggle, including “Volcano of Love,” “Old Man,” “Short Boy,” and “Hope” (I am still chuckling as I write this).
The perfectly naughty PIMO photographs made we wonder about the outtakes that they do not share, the various PIMO postures and positions that are too clumsy or candid. Admittedly I also yearned to see more recent images by the couple (dates for their artworks seemed to stall around 2023). In the introductory wall didactic for “Relationship Material,” Liao states her with work Mooroka and their collaboration aims to “reach a new equilibrium.” In the same way that heaven and Earth persist as a permanent pair, no matter how it goes for Liao and Mooroka in real-time, the I Ching foretells that PIMO is forever.
This article appears in November 2026.
