Rope
May 4, 2007 at 3:48 pm | In art | 7 Comments
Wednesday evening, while everyone else in this country watched the presidential debates, I attended the opening of Kasia Ozga’s exhibit at the Fondation des Etats-Unis. The major motifs of the exhibit, as you can see below, were rope and body parts — mostly hands, feet, and fingers.
I highly recommend reading Ozga’s own artist’s statement about her works, because she has a lot of interesting things to say about fractured identities and anti-commodification. But for me, the pieces had an almost fetishistic, horror-movie aesthetic to them that I found pretty compelling.
Rope, for example — of course it can be just an ordinary tool, but in the context of the human body, it’s hard not to think of it as a vehicle for torture, murder, or suicide.
The repeated images of ropes joined to dismembered extremities brought to mind the creepy experiments/fantasies of a serial killer — something like the skin and bone art featured in Texas Chainsaw Massacre.
This one only broke because someone knocked it over. Still, I felt the damaged piece played nicely into my imagined theme — another echo of the torture motif.
More pictures are available here and on Ozga’s website.
Exhibit open until May 10th
Fondation des Etas-Unis
Cite Universitaire
Paris, 14eme
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amy! the photos look great! the first one really shows off the great shadows that the mobiles make.
good to hear from you. keep in touch!
Comment by adelyn — May 4, 2007 #
You have a very, very interesting blog! What a fun read! (((((HUGS))))) sandi
Comment by titus2woman — May 6, 2007 #
The coil of rope with the feet totally skeeve me out. Awesome.
Comment by JChevais — May 7, 2007 #
Jenn, you should go to this exhibit. I think you might really like it.
Comment by lapetiteamericaine — May 7, 2007 #
ew! having a very powerful response to the rope with the extremities glued on. I guess disgust is better than no reaction at all, huh?
btw– just finished reading On Beauty and loved it. did you read it yet? highly recommend.
Comment by maitresse — May 7, 2007 #
That picture of the hand is amazing indeed…
Comment by LPC — May 11, 2007 #
[...] you missed Kasia Ozga’s unsettling rope sculptures back in May, you’ve got another chance now. Her exhibit, “Attractions et [...]
Pingback by Ozga « une nouvelle vie de boheme — October 2, 2007 #