Hundred Years Gallery is very proud to present ‘Salomania’, a joint exhibition by fine artist Julia Colmenares and performance artist Zoe Simon drawing together paintings, print, film and performance.
The title ‘Salomania’ refers to the 20th century stereotype of the Femme Fatale embodied in the film noir classics of early cinema. Both artists are concerned with finding visual narratives – or at least settings – for female characters who – although exerting a deep fascination for the viewer – are most usually seen as objects of pure fantasy, existing as a vessel for the viewer’s own desires and fantasies.
Yet neither artist seeks to offer verdicts or judgements, but to query the gaze, how the image is viewed, and by whom: from a stance of control and power or submission, double identification or voyeurism. This potent subject matter prompting the question whether female representations of women as sexual collude or conform to the masculine objectification of women or exert the other as sexually free, outside essentialism or a socially fabricated gender…
There is a unique collaboration at the heart of the exhibition with Zoe Simon taking on personas such as Lulu Goldman Deceased and Femme Cheval and Julia Colmenares depicting them in paint. Both are drawing inspiration from film noir and female celebrities, bunny girls and female/animal hybrids, acting as temporary escapism from Post Modern Identity seriousness and politics, and defying Peter Pinder’s assertion in his ‘Lyric Odes’ of 1782 that:
‘The woman artist should confine herself to painting “sweet, gracious and delightful representations of women…
As part of the exhibition the artists will be staging the following events:
Private View on Thursday 30th March 6.30 to 9.30
7pm: ‘Lulu Goldman Deceased Performs Live In The Mortuary!’ – Live Performance.
Performance artist Zoe Simon will be raising the ghost of failed bunny girl Lulu Goldman Deceased…
Thursday 6th April (as part of the First Thursdays Open Until Late organized by WhiteChapel Gallery)
6pm ‘Masquerade’: An hour Monoprinting Workshop led by Julia Colmenares, using icons, superheroes, celebrities and artists as source material to explore masquerade and identity and how it topically suits our times. Images and material are supplied. Free entry.
7.45 pm: ‘Lulu Goldman Deceased Performs Live In The Mortuary!’ – Live performance
Another chance to see Zoe Simon raising the ghost of failed bunny girl Lulu Goldman Deceased…
Saturday 8th April at 6.30pm : ‘Lulu Goldman Deceased Performs Live In The Mortuary!’ A final chance to see Zoe Simon raising the ghost of failed bunny girl Lulu Goldman Deceased…
7.30 – 8.30pm ‘Do female representations of women as sexual collude with the masculine objectification of women or do they exert women as sexually liberated and a socially constructed gender?’ A panel of female artists and writers will discuss this fascinating question and the issues it provokes.
9pm – ‘ Femmes On Film’: A series of digital films by performance artist Zoe Simon in which she adopts different personas, exploring the theme of masquerade running through the show, played on a loop.
See an excerpt of Zoe Simon’s Lulu Goldman
https://vimeo.com/201561943/
