Overview
Initially conceived in 1993, Let's Get Pretty is a body of work that includes performance, installation and sculpture. Utilizing the action of getting dressed, this two-hour performance explores the metaphor of fitting into social and cultural restrictions.
The full body of work induces: Let's Get Pretty Version 01
Initially conceived in 1993, Let's Get Pretty is a body of work that includes performance, installation and sculpture. Utilizing the action of getting dressed, this two-hour performance explores the metaphor of fitting into social and cultural restrictions.
My naked body was placed at the center of the gallery space and slowly, but meticulously forced into a metal wire dress. The audience entered the performance to a soundtrack that was created using "let's get pretty" as a module in a loop-based experimental piece. As they stood around me, two assistants began to fit me with the dress made of metal thread, which were woven to shape and immobilize my body, as well as rearrange my body posture. The metal threads were then fixed to the gallery walls using hammers, screws, and screw drivers giving the performance space an industrial element. At the conclusion of the performance, my body was deformed and imprisoned by the metal web which traversed the center of the gallery, through the audience space, and terminating at the gallery walls. Through this process, the audience found themselves trapped within the web of the performance, both literally and figuratively.
Let's Get Pretty Version 02The first Let's Get Pretty was censored in Italy by various venues; however a new version was created for the Rita Depanis Fashion House in the 1998 "Pret a Porte" event. During the performance my body and hair created an insurmountable barrier between the entrance way and the hall where the fashion show was being held. The strands of my hair, extended by wires, formed a web covering the entire room. In order to reach the cocktail party, the guests each had to cut a strand of my hair. In fashion culture, hair, which has come to define us, has also turned into a fetish. The remains of an art piece or art performance (in LGPII crops of my hair) symbolize the fetish element in art culture. For this reason, I chose to transform the cut strands into a precious material for my jewelry designs.
Let’s Get Pretty Jewelry CollectionDuring the Let's Get Pretty Version 02 my body and hair created an insurmountable barrier between the entrance way and the hall where the fashion show was being held. The strands of my hair, extended by wires, formed a web covering the entire room. In order to reach the cocktail party, the guests each had to cut a strand of my hair.
The remains of an art piece or art performance (in Let's Get Pretty Version 02 crops of my hair) symbolize the fetish element in art culture. For this reason, I chose to transform the cut strands into a precious material for my jewelry designs. The jewelry projects shapes were inspired by blade weapons, a reference to the underlying message behind jewelry: status and power. While to the wearer they are an adornment, to everyone else they are a warning to stay away. I chose the materials carbon fiber, synthetic resin and titanium as the technological expression of contemporary design.
In collaboration with Roberto Baffigo a Jewelry Design in Rome, Italy.
