Polish-Thai artist Oh de Laval explores human behaviour - its impulses, contradictions, and consequences - using painting as a stage upon which desire, power, sexuality and the uncanny unfold. De Laval’s figurative compositions, characterised by her signature Venetian pink, are often infused with a cinematic sensibility drawn from Film Noir and French New Wave. The artist creates psychologically charged scenes that hover between intimacy and performance; at once seductive and unsettling, her works invite the viewer into moments where pleasure and discomfort coexist.

‘Foreplay Starts at the End of the Previous Orgasm and Not Five Minutes Before Sex’, draws directly on ideas articulated by American psychotherapist Esther Perel, who reframes foreplay as an ongoing condition rather than a preparatory act. As she notes, foreplay is “not five minutes before the real thing” but unfolds across time as a continuous exchange of attention and longing. It foregrounds a model of female sexuality that is responsive and accumulative, shaped by anticipation and the gradual layering of emotional and psychological cues. Within this framework, eroticism is not confined to a singular moment, but embedded within the fabric of everyday life. The domestic setting of the work is thus reimagined as a site of possibility, where intimacy is carried through gesture and atmosphere, and the ordinary becomes quietly charged with desire.

The painting stages a sexual encounter unfolding on a staircase - an in-between space that heightens the sense of tension and exposure. The figures are locked in an intimate act, yet the composition resists romanticisation. Instead, the scene feels performative, almost theatrical, charged with an undercurrent that is as ambiguous as it is visceral. Sexuality here is not idealised but observed in its raw, instinctive form - closer to ritual than romance. The reference to mating behaviours, as suggested by the artist, reinforces this reading: intimacy is positioned within a broader continuum of human and animal instinct, where roles, expectations, and power dynamics remain in flux rather than fixed. Underlying the work is a broader reflection on the negotiation of desire within contemporary life, especially in relation to the female experience.

Artist Signature reads 'Forplay' 97 x 92 cm