FLAWLESS
02.12.-14.12.2015
Opening: Wednesday, December 2 2015
Edi Danartono
Inga Danysz
Ryan Karlsson
Natalia Rolón
Group show curated by Elena Frickmann
"The Skin I Live In" (La piel que habito) is the title of a Spanish film by Pedro Almodóvar from 2011. In this thriller, a plastic surgeon cultivates an artificial skin resistant to burns after his wife was badly burnt in a car crash and commits suicide, because she can’t stand her own appearance. He is testing his invention on a young woman named Vera, who he keeps in his house and has a sexual relationship with. Vera was once a man transformed into a woman by the surgeon, with the face of his former wife. The thriller’s plot is built around the skin as a metaphor for human vulnerability and identity highlighting the importance of skin in relation to our image.
The skin is our shield. When we get injured, its fragility becomes visible. At the same time it can be a prison that we are trapped in; especially when we don’t feel comfortable inside it. This may be because of it’s color, it’s gender, it’s age or because of blemishes. For decades the industry has recognized it’s importance, which seems to grow everyday, when looking at digital and social media.
The web is not only full of commercials for products, promising a flawless look, it is also replete with Make-up and Beauty tutorials: How to contour and highlight your face like Kim Kardashian, female-to-male make-up transformation (or the other way around) and even race change make-up transformation. Make-up has become the most powerful tool when it comes to creating our superficial persona.
In highly glossed videos (mostly) women from all over the world reveal their beauty-secrets, talk about their skincare routine and teach us how to enhance our natural beauty. It is the natural look, that rules. Flawless, glowing, dewy skin is a must have. In many campaigns ‚imperfect‘ is claimed to be the new perfect. Winnie Harlow became an icon of this movement. The model suffers from vitiligo, a chronic skin condition characterized by parts of the skin losing it's pigment. Despite having what would traditionally have been considered a flaw Harlow has experienced much praise and success as a model.
One highly utilized substance in cosmetic products is silicone. Cyclomethicone, Dimethicone or Amodimethicones as it appears in shampoo, body lotion or foundation; making hair shiny and skin smooth. Silicone is a synthetic material that is often used to imitate skin, thus is it used in the production of sex toys and dolls.
The exhibition FLAWLESS is taking a look at the skin as a projection of capitalistic and medial ideas of beauty, gender and ethnology.
