Mounted on a white, marble-finish 3D-printed base and designed to hang on the wall like a devotional object or ironic icon, this sculptural piece features a hyperrealistic silicone mouth with a pierced tongue. The sparkling red balls of the barbell glisten like candy or kitsch jewelry, heightening the erotic charge while hinting at pop aesthetics and teenage rebellion. Below the mouth, the phrase “True love waits” is inscribed in gold lettering — evoking purity pledges and moral restraint, now rendered hollow or absurd in the presence of the openly sensual, adorned mouth.
The work thrives on this tension: between repression and display, innocence and desire, discipline and decoration. True love waits parodies the language of abstinence while seducing the viewer into doubt. It questions not only the sincerity of such slogans, but also the cultural mechanisms that shape our relationship with the body, love, and pleasure.