Lea Culetto / Deflowered by Lea

Lea Culetto med umetnicami svoje generacije izstopa zaradi svoje sposobnosti, da kljub obravnavanju občutljivih tematik (od menstruacije do strij) in medijev (kot sta menstrualna kri in dlake), ustvari umetnost, ki ni dramatična, vznemirjujoča in agresivna, temveč je predvsem intimna, delikatna, sveža in jo preveva občutek nedolžnosti in sreče. Culetto se v svojem delu osredotoča na žensko telo in odgovarja na način na katerega ga »moški pogled« oblikuje skozi modo, oglaševanje in medije. S tem sebe in svoje delo postavlja v dolgoletno tradicijo ženske – in feministične – umetnosti. Njen glavni medij sta vezenje in asemblaž iz katerih izdeluje oblačila in objekte, razstavljene v instalacijah in site-specific intervencijah. Obožuje rožnato barvo, delfine in vse, kar se blešči. 1000 in ena noč je instalacija narejena iz stotin modrcev; Tvoja gospodinja II je video instalacija, ki se osredotoča na karakter gospodinje: na prizorišču, napolnjenem z različnimi kičastimi gospodinjskimi drobnarijami, od angelov do trolov, Marij in punčk, poslikanih z rožnato barvo in bleščicami, je zaslon, na katerem je prikazan video ženske, oblečene v cenena fetišistična oblačila, ki v svoji kuhinji pripravlja oskubljenega piščanca. A Room of Her Own je site-specific instalacija, narejena v hotelski sobi, v kateri je umetnica izvezla svoje začetnice (LC) in podobe raznih gospodinjskih predmetov – spodnjih hlač, krtače za lase, britvice, metlice za stepanje – na vsako blazino, odejo in rjuho, v dejanju personaliziranja in apropriacije anonimnih prostorov. V Herbariumu je zbirala svojo menstrualno kri in jo razstavila kot posušene rože v herbariju ter v posebno oblikovanih fotografskih okvirjih, kot da bi bile fotografije sorodnikov in prednikov. Na koncu pa je tu še My Life is a Hairy Tale, serija nosljivih kolažev kožne barve, okrašenih s kitami narejenimi iz človeških las, ki postavlja vprašanje – ali bi ženske dlake postale bolj družbeno sprejemljive, če bi jih urejali kot pričeske?

Lea Culetto v galerijskem okolju predstavila rezultate svojega najnovejšega umetniškega raziskovanja: znamko oblek ulične mode, deflowered by Lea; serijo izvezenih, nosljivih oblačil, zaznamovanih s političnimi, verskimi in feminističnimi temami, združenih v celoto s pomočjo estetike kiča in pretiravanja. Težavne teme – kot so ženske prsne bradavice, menstruacija, strije in telesna poraščenost – so predstavljene na nepričakovan način. O teh temah, ki so pogosto razumljene kot tabu, razpravlja tudi z rabo ironije. V kontrastu z modno industrijo, ki nam vsiljuje model popolnega telesa in v mladih povzroča nizko samozavest in različne psihološke in fizične težave, želi deflowered by Lea razširiti zdravo in pozitivno telesno samopodobo.

Z rabo različnih tehnik, kot so vezenje, šivanje, raba korald, pletenje, spletanje kit idr., Culetto združuje koščke poškodovanih oblačil, oblačil iz druge roke in blaga, njeno ročno delo pa da vsakemu oblačilu svojo zgodbo. Ljudje, ki nosijo njene  obleke– resnična, neretuširana telesa – postanejo živa galerija, ki prenese ideje, vtkane v oblačila, na ulice.

Produkcija: Galerija Miklova hiša in Aksioma – Zavod za sodobne umetnosti, Ljubljana.
Razstavo sta omogočili Občina Ribnica, Mestna občina Ljubljana in Ministrstvo za kulturo RS.

Projekt je nastal v okviru iniciative Zavoda Aksioma za podporo mladih umetnikov U30+.

Lea Culetto se je rodila januarja 1995. Po opravljeni maturi (2013) na Gimnaziji Celje –  Center, umetniška, likovna smer se je vpisala na Akademijo za likovno umetnost in oblikovanje, kjer je leta 2016 diplomirala z delom Ženska in fragmenti modne industrije. Razstavljala je v Sloveniji in tujini. Njena prva skupinska razstava z naslovom V prostor, objekti (2015) je bila javnosti predstavljena v Bežigrajski galeriji I, kuriral jo je Miloš Bašin. Istega leta je z uveljavljenimi umetnicami in umetniki sodelovala na skupinski razstavi DSU ROG (Galerija Zelenica). Novembra 2016 je bilo njeno diplomsko delo izbrano za razstavo Transformation of Image, ki je potekala v Muzeju sodobne umetnosti v Zagrebu. Leta 2017 je nadaljevala z dvema razstavama v tujini, obe sta se odvili v sklopu ROOMS 2017, v Atenah (Kappatos Gallery). Sledile so skupinske razstave v Ljubljani, med drugim razstava Mlada ženska umetnost v Šiški, ki jo je kuriral Žiga Kariž. Leta 2018 je sodelovala na več razstavah po Sloveniji, med drugim na razstavi PopredmeteNJE v galeriji Alkatraz, ki je potekala v okviru festivala Rdeče zore ter na 4. trienalu mladih umetnikov – PREMIERA 2018, z naslovom Kulturno telo, prostor, umestitve, ki je potekal v Galeriji sodobne umetnosti v Celju. Leta 2019 je sodelovala na razstavi Feministična umetnost na UL ALUO, 1. del: Éden, dva … pet (kosmatih) predlogov za boljši jutri (Galerija Alkatraz), katere vodstvo in zatvoritev razstave sta bila uvodni del 20. Mednarodnega feminističnega in kvirovskega festivala Rdeče zore. Prav tako je sodelovala na razstavi Štrene v okviru iniciative ČIPke, ki je bila del 7. Festivala Deuje babe v Cerknem.

Culetto trenutno končuje podiplomski študij na Akademiji za likovno umetnost in oblikovanje v Ljubljani. Je prejemnica priznanja Akademije za likovno umetnost in oblikovanje za izjemne študijske dosežke v študijskem letu 2014/15 pri predmetu Slikarstvo IV, leta 2018 pa je prejela Nagrado ALUO za “izostren izviren pristop k tematizaciji tabujev v povezavi z ženskim telesom skozi raznolik spekter pristopov v polju sodobne umetnosti”.

Born in 1995 and graduated in 2016 from the Academy of Fine Arts and Design, University of Ljubljana, young Slovenian artist Lea Culetto stands out among the female artists of her generation for her ability to address sensitive topics, from menstruation to stretch marks, and to use problematic material, from menstrual blood to body hair, to make art that – far from being dramatic, disturbing and aggressive, is mostly intimate, delicate, fresh and pervaded by a sense of innocence and happiness. Culetto’s work focuses on the feminine body, and responds to the way it is shaped by the “male gaze” through fashion, advertising and the media – thus positioning herself in a long tradition of feminine – and feminist – art; her main media are embroidery and assemblage, used to produce garments and objects displayed in installations or site-specific interventions; she loves pink, dolphins and all that glitters. 1000 and One Nights is a floor installation made out of hundreds of bras; Your Housewife II is a video installation focused on the character of the housewife: in a set filled up with any sort of kitschy domestic knick knacks, from angels to trolls to madonnas to dolls painted in pink and glitter, a monitor shows the video of a woman wearing trashy fetish accessories, while preparing a  plucked hen in her kitchen; A Room of Her Own is a site specific installation done in an hotel room, where Lea Culetto embroidered her initials (LC) and the images of various domestic objects – underpants, a hairbrush, a razor, a whisk – on every pillow, sheet and blanket, in an act of personalisation and appropriation of an anonymous place; in Herbarium, she collects clumps, chunks from her menstrual blood and she displays them as they were dried flowers in an herbarium, or in shaped photo frames as they were pictures of relatives and ancestors; finally, My Life is a Hairy Tale is a series of wearable, skin colored collants decorated with braids made out of human hair: would female body hair become socially acceptable, were it “arranged” as a hairstyle?

Culetto will present in a gallery setup the most recent output of her visual research: the street fashion brand deflowered by Lea: a series of embroidered, wearable garments, marked by political, religious and feminist themes, combined into a whole with the help of kitsch esthetics and exaggeration. Troublesome topics – such as nipples, menstruation, stretch marks and body hair – are presented in unexpected ways, with irony used to discuss topics that are often perceived as taboo. In contrast with the fashion industry, which forces on us a model of the perfect body, causing in young people low self-esteem and various psychological and physical diseases, deflowered by Lea wants to spread a healthy and positive body image.

Using different techniques such as embroidery, ornamental stitching, beading, knitting, braiding etc., Lea combines fragments from damaged clothes, second-hand clothes and fabric, and this manual work gives a story to each garment. The humans wearing her designs – real, unretouched bodies – become a live gallery, bringing the ideas embedded in the clothes out into the streets.

 BIOGRAPHY

Lea Culetto was born January 1995 in Trbovlje. After graduating (2013) from secondary school Gimnazija Celje – Center (art department) she enrolled in the painting study programme of the Academy of Fine Arts and Design, University of Ljubljana (UL ALUO). In September 2016, she graduated with the thesis Woman and fragments of the fashion industry.

She has participated in various group exhibitions in Ljubljana and abroad. Her first group exhibition Into the Space was held in Bežigrad Gallery I (2015), curated by Miloš Bašin. The same year she participated in the group exhibition named DSU ROG (Gallery Zelenica) with various well-known artists. In November 2016, her graduation project was represented at Transformation of Image, held at the Museum of Contemporary Art in Zagreb. In 2017, she had two exhibitions abroad, both in Athens, called ROOMS 2017, represented by Kappatos Gallery, followed by a few group exhibitions in Ljubljana, including Young Female Art in Šiška, curated by Žiga Kariž. In 2018, she participated in several exhibitions throughout Slovenia, among them, ObjectiFication at Gallery Alkatraz, which took place in the frame of the festival Red Dawns, and PREMIERA 2018 – 4th Triennial of Young Artists. Cultural Body, Space, Placements at the Gallery of Contemporary Art in Celje. Already in 2019, her work has been seen in the exhibition Feminist Art at UL ALUO, Part 1: One, Two … Five (Hairy) Proposals for an Éden Better Tomorrow (Gallery Alkatraz), for which a guided tour and its closing were part of the pre-festival activities of the 20th International Feminist and Queer Festival Red Dawns and in the exhibition Strands, created within the initiative ČIPke, which was also part of the 7th Festival Deuje babe in Cerkno.

Lea Culetto is currently finishing her postgraduate studies at UL ALUO. She received the UL ALUO Recognition for exceptional achievements in the academic year 2014/15 in the course Painting IV; in 2018, she received the UL ALUO Award for her “sharp, original approach to the thematisation of taboos in connection with the female body through a diverse range of approaches in the field of contemporary art”.

Production: Galerija Miklova hiša and Aksioma – Institute for Contemporary Art, Ljubljana.
Supported by: Municipality of Ribnica, Municipality of Ljubljana and Ministry of Culture of the Republic of Slovenia.

Part of U30+ Aksioma Institute production programme for supporting young artists.