As members of the mobility/globalism generation, we intuitionally choose to `become beautiful` to communicate with others. In our struggle against the monotony that is antagonistic to human nature, fashion leads the changes of our behaviors, habits, attire, make-up, and body. However, contemporary trends that set up the forms of thought, styles, changes and acceptances, create idealized role models.
Curated by Manon Slome, Dangerous Beauty, a selection of various medias – including painting, photography, sculpture, video and installation, explores the ideals of beauty, mass consumerism, and the impact of the glossy media. The group exhibition reveals the anxiety of the present beauty-oriented society.
The viewer has the chance to grasp the ambiance of the exhibition through Jacob Dahlgren's installation "Heaven is a Place on Earth" (2006) at the entrance. In the context of the exhibit, standardization and minimalism are to be mocked by Dahlgren's interactive piece.
Among the works in the exhibition, Nicola Constantino's "Savon de Corps" (2005) plays with the notions of aesthetics and ethics. Having produced soaps from her own body fat – removed through liposuction, Constantino explores the antithesis of beauty and attractiveness of female body through her anthropomorphic soaps. Trapped between disgust and admiration, the viewer hesitates to touch the exhibited soap.
E.V. Day installs two fighting cat skeletons floating in a steel cage. Her new work – "Cat Fight" (2006) reminds the "Bride Fight" (2006) which displays two quarrelling wedding gowns that are suspended in space. Carefully engineered pieces of the artist invite the viewer to make amusing readings rather than to interpret a normative discourse.
Standing against the idea of models, Orlan's photographic documentation of her own plastic surgery, "Omnipresence" (1993) shows the artist's recovery period of 40 days.
Fiction of desirability raises the questions of perfection, fashion industry, bodily manipulation, anorexia, aging phobia and violence related to beauty. In this context, Dangerous Beauty captures the moments when beauty myth meets the harsh realities.
Chelsea Art Museum, 556 West 2nd St. at 11th Avenue, through April 21.
