"Mirror, Mirror…"
By Morgan Schulman
"Mirror, Mirror…"
My first aesthetic impression of Yuliya Lanina’s current show was how the bold colors of her drawings, rich reds, oranges, yellows and blues, seemed to further illuminate the corporal forms attached to the utilitarian walls of the Williamsburg Art Nexus Gallery. The industrial space provided a striking contrast to the particularity of the pieces and allowed the works to vividly present themselves; naked bodies of all shapes, sizes and positions pronounced different realities and states of being. Some of the female nudes were curled up, denying the viewer access to the more vulnerable elements of a woman’s body and body language. Others were facing forward, with legs spread, daring the viewer to gaze at vaginas, breasts and faces. Some of the figures have been covered by a colored shadow, to further hide the figure from disclosure. These works represent the multifaceted nature of the self, and ones connection to their physical body.
Behind the vibrant display, there is a collage of photographic images, showing large eyes and shining limbs juxtaposed, in a cut and paste style, with knifes, fruits and butterfly wings. These collages present parts of every kind of human, young, old, black, white and brown, thrown in with ordinary objects to further Lanina’s idea of what the body is, and what we have let it become. Some parts are everyday, every woman. Others are ripe with cosmetics, glossed lips and nails bridging the gap between the natural form and the man-made object enmeshed to create a bionic super-body. Here, even the natural and sweet is sinister. Cherry Monster presents a cherry devouring two giggling pre-adolescent girls in bikinis, reveling the parasitic element of sexualization. No displays a feminine mouth, half open, with the word "NO" implanted between the lips where the chalice of the mouth should be. The word is unable to escape her jaws and the viewer can only assume she is choking on her own refusal. The most striking work, Closet, involves an elegantly groomed white woman gazing at an image of a naked dark body, clothed only in heels and bobby sox, with a racially characterized head impaled upon the form. Whether the white woman sees this body as an aesthetic embodiment of an Other to look upon for her own enjoyment, or recognizes the form as a part of her own self to be hidden away is unclear; the viewer may suppose both at once, as embodiment and voyeurism are as ambiguous to the viewer of Lanina’s display as they are to the woman/viewer in the collage.
Yuliya Lanina is a working artist in Williamsburg, Brooklyn. Her work explores the relationship between the superficial fa�ade of the body and the internal human reality. She wishes to present a humanized commonality of gender, race and age within her work.
Williamsburg Art Nexus Gallery, located at 205 North 7th Street in Williamsburg. More information may be found at www.yuliyalanina.com.
