Vanessa Beecroft Sister Project (August 2000)

cm 125 x 215

Right from her debut on the Italian and international art scene during the 1990s, Vanessa Beecroft has mainly used performance, updating it to address problematic issues in contemporary society. Through strictly programmed public performances, in which groups of models pose still for a few hours, often nude, the artistcritically reinterprets the relationship between the female body, sexuality, image and the world of the fashion industry. Photography is another essential element in Beecroft’s artistic practice, and she uses it to both document performance and create independent works. Jennifer, the artist’s sister, fifteen years her junior, is the subject of "Sister Project", a series of 12 large photographic prints in which a model is portrayed lying on a Mies van der Rohe sofa, always in the same position, similar to that of Paolina Borghese by Antonio Canova, and Olympia by Édouard Manet. Each shot differs in the color and light conditions of the month of the year in which she wished to evoke the tone and mood. The model’s body becomes the bright and colorful material of painting, and the changing colors reflect the air and light, arousing feelings of attraction or distance in the viewer. In "Sister Project (August 2000)", the adolescent is illuminated against the light and reflects the blond-beige shades that the artist has chosen to give to the summer months. The work, which was inspired by the intimacy of Beecroft family life, has the character of a private performance with respect to the others.

No

H. Szeemann (ed.), 49. Esposizione Internazionale d’Arte. Platea dell’Umanità, exhibition catalogue (Venice, Venice Biennale, 49th International Art Exhibition), Venice 2001, pp. 240-241. S. Pinto, A. Mattirolo (eds.), Il Premio per la giovane arte italiana del Centro nazionale per le arti contemporanee 2000. Migrazioni e Multiculturalità, exhibition catalogue (Rome, Centro nazionale per le arti contemporanee), Turin 2001, pp. 24-25; 51. M. Beccaria (ed.), Vanessa Beecroft performances 1993-2003, exhibition catalogue (Rivoli, Castello di Rivoli Museo d’Arte Contemporanea), Milan 2003.

Foto Roberto Galasso

Premio per la Giovane Arte Italiana 2000

Photography