Ring for Service
(tag 100)
2019
Private Collection
Assemblage (35.25” x 20” x 5.25”)
- circa 1920s hotel room annunciator
- copper wire
- red light bulb
- seductive photographs of males and females
Exhibition History:
California Heritage Museum, April 27-November 8, 2019
Artist description:
Prostitution has been called the world’s oldest profession…and there is a reason why it is still thriving. This artwork is a commentary on prostitution, sexuality, sexual desire, fetishism and the human need for feeling loved and/or feeling cared for (even if in a fantasy situation).
Here we see a circa 1920s hotel room annunciator. An annunciator is an announcement device that was found behind the front desk of better hotels in the late 19th and early 20th century. When a hotel guest wanted room service (such as more towels, a change of bed linens, some water, etc), they would flip a switch in their room that would activate the “annunciator” downstairs, flipping their room number up on the annunciator panel so that the front desk would know to send a staff person to that room to take care of the request. With D’Elia’s annunciator we get to see what actually goes on in most hotel rooms around the world. We see photographic depictions representing sexual fantasies and desires….male and female.
