One Hundred Reasons

Mike Kelley’s video work One Hundred Reasons was created in collaboration with the writer and performance artist Bob Flanagan and the photographer Sheree Rose. Starting in the 1980s, the two began to intensively explore sadomasochistic sex practices in their art. One Hundred Reasons reflects this trend. Kelley reads a passage from his book Plato's Cave, Rothko's Chapel, Lincoln's Profile (1986), in which a hundred synonyms of the word ‘paddle’ are listed. With this object, which is characteristic of the SM scene, Sheree Rose spanks Bob Flanagan’s bottom one hundred times during the reading. The action was originally created as part of the ten-year anniversary celebration of Rose and Flanagan’s relationship and was then recreated for the video work.