Event date
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Podsumowanie
The exhibition explores the extended interpretation of ongoing themes in Naalia LL's work, beginning with pieces from the 1970s through the first decade of the 21st Century. Starting with the act of consumption through alternative views on such material forms as fruit or fur, she transforms bawdy excesses into something alluring - and back again...
Content
Natalia LL, "Natalia LL, "Aksamitny terror III"/ "Velvet Terror II", source: press materials
The exhbition explores the extended interpretation of ongoing themes in Naalia LL's work, beginning with pieces from the 1970s through the first decade of the 21st Century
This showcase of the earliest and latest works of one of Poland's most intriguing contemporary artists presents objects from the author's private collections as well as the collection of the National Museum in Wrocław.
One of the most essential concepts in Natalia LL's art is the act of consumption. This theme appeared between 1972-1975 in the Consumer Art and later Post-Consumer Art series - photographs and films depicting women provocatively consuming bananas, hot-dogs and cream.
In 1973 Antoni Dzieduszycki wrote:
The double meaning of the function which changes from the simple act of eating into a refined eroticism and ultimately into almost magical gesture - into a system of signs of seemingly common yet nonetheless striking. It is not only intriguing, but also makes us to reflect upon the symbol, upon codes that we use everyday to communicate. And this reflection which finally becomes a reflection made by art upon art is undoubtedly one of the most precious artistic achievements of Natalia Lach-Lachowicz.
In 2007 Natalia Lach-Lachowicz began to produce a series of works called Futrzasta włochatość" / "Furry Hairiness or Softness of a Touch" / "Miękkość dotyku, compositions made using replicated fragments of her works of 30 years previous entitled Animal Art. These were self-portraits made of the artist photographed covering her naked body with a fur. However, this time she only exposes fur-covered fragments. Yet it seems that this is the way to reach the core of Animal Art. In both versions we see the animal element dominated by the human's control of the environment and the pose. The animal - reduced to a fury attire - appears as a luxurious toy, a source of pleasure, a safe extraction of nature in an artificial man-made environment. On the other hand, the woman's body covered fur can be viewed as a "bestial" mechanism of nature, equally reduced to the function of a gadget subject to the criteria of luxury and pleasure.
In her new works the fragments of fur-covered parts are composed in such a way as to produce some geometrical patterns, yet it is only an imitation of true geometry. The end result is a sort of mandala, in which the shape of the hair and its colourful contrasts create rhythmic and dynamic constructions in which the axis of the composition is clearly visible. It is the form of a cosmological diagram that seems to convey a message that the world is perhaps made of pulsating animal matter, revolving around it in an orderly way. And an domineering woman makes it all go round...
Curator: Adam Sobota. The project comes under the patronage of Culture.pl.
The exhibition runs February 14 - May 3, 2011
The National Museum in Wrocław
pl. Powstańców Warszawy 5, 50-153 Wrocław
tel. (+48 71) 372 51 50,372 51 51
link*www.mnwr.art.pl*http://www.mnwr.art.pl****Source: press release, www.nataliall.com