The Holy Mountain Baths and Spa

TARO063
Oil on Canvas
155 x 86cm
 
It is the smell that is talked about most often; a surgical one, cleanliness distilled into a form so concentrated it makes the eyes water. But there is also the sound; the voices that ping and rattle off the tiles, the bodies with their non-stop mouths, voices that overlap until they are smoothed into a wall of noise. These waters, with their steam and heat, were made to be populated by the characters from the city; chattering, splashing and scrubbing. Here is a wet crush of bodies, screeching children, and posers fixing themselves into desirable arrangements. All this until the doors close and quiet falls in The Holy Mountain Baths and Spa, until morning comes and it begins again.