01 Jul Andra Ursuța
After my first visit at the Venice Biennale of Art, I thought for quite a few days in what ways I should talk about my take on the experience. As much as I wanted to feature the whole Giardini experience grouped as a whole, I feel like there are lots of stories to be told about what inspired me, what artworks I was finally able to see up close and what artists I discovered in the process, so I’m going to take it one step at a time. When I think of the concept of the body and its journey of constant transformation, which is one of the main themes in “The Milk of Dreams” exhibition curated by Cecilia Alemani, Andra Ursuța ‘s sculptures immediately come to mind. In metamorphosing common materials and elements of self-portraiture into astonishing sculptures Andra Ursuţa employs both traditional techniques and new methods. Similar to her working process preferences, the resulted artworks embody both what’s ancient and what’s next to come, referencing natural elements and science fiction contents simultaneously.
The sculptures are on display in the second room of the main exhibition in the Giardini, and it’s actually the venue where we started our Biennale journey. I personally felt they are masterfully placed in this room along Rosemarie Trockel’s knitted pictures, which are themselves testimonies of love and patience for the craft. This room offers three different routes to the next chambers of the exhibition, therefore whenever we finished a trail, we were able to face them again, which only took my admiration for them to new dimensions.
The works exhibited at this year’s Biennale are actually a continuation of the body of work the artist first exhibited at the Venice Biennale in 2019, and the sculptures of her Void Fill solo show at David Zwirner Gallery in Paris.
Andra Ursuţa, Installation view, May You Live In Interesting Times 58th International Art Exhibition La Biennale di Venezia, 2019.
The luminous glass sculptures are created by using both 3-D printing and wax casting in a complex process and they feature casts of the artist’s own body and of cheap props such as Halloween garments, corsets, buckles, plastic tubes and bottles. The first sculptures created for the 2019 Biennale were partially filled with alcohol at the bottom. The addition of color in the new sculptures I was fortunate enough to admire in person complicates the creation process, but actually results in a marbled surface effect which is absolutely captivating. The textures, patterns and the choice of shades creates a vibrant effect, the way the colors intertwine each other made me think of a dystopian sky.
I think what drew me specifically to Andra Ursuța ’s works is the nature of my daily job. Being a doctor has unfortunately taught me, besides the ability of diagnosing and treating a condition, about the indisputable fragility of the human body. There is only so much where medicine and new technology and discoveries can take you, in the end your body is the vessel – it seems the artist is in agreement, as her representations literally offers the option to fill them with liquids – that carries you through life, and it’s vulnerable and it has its limitations. In the artist’s words herself the body is “the thing that is impossible to transcend”, her work thus referencing containment.
One time I was five years-old I had an argument with my cousin who claimed extraterrestrial forms of life were actually real- „they only exist in stories, right?” I cried to my mom. My fear may have stemmed from the unknown, but needless to say, I have never been quite fond of alien movies and stories ever since that event. I do watch and acknowledge them, but I never thought I would be entranced by sci fi, until I was facing Andra Ursuța ’s sculptures. Although their aim might not be to create absolute beauty, when I first saw them, I could not find anything hideous about the fictitious elements, I was just entranced with the opalescent sculptures and their narrative, how they were a perfect merger between natural and artificial, past and future.
Let’s take Impersonal Growth, which starts with a base of soda bottles, topped with a self-portrait of the artist, who appears to wear a crown inspired from the Alien movie, but the allure is majestic, and has been compared to the appearance of Queen Nefertiti. Predators ’R Us is a take on a Roman marble sculpture, yet the artist chose her sculpture to wear some peculiar slippers, a nod to the Predator movie. Yoga Don’t Help serves as a reminder that no matter how many techniques and lifestyles we employ to maintain our well-being, decay is part of our existence and our bodies will inevitably vanish.
Andra Ursuța notes that the Halloween props, which are used to incite fear and which serve as inspiration for many elements of her sculptures are actually cheap and disposable, and she loves finding ways to turn them into something that will stand the test of time.
What first drew me to Andra Ursuța ‘s art, besides noticing the works in which she contemplates on her upbringing in Romania or references Romanian culture, such as the ones featured in her Magical Terrorism exhibition, is her ability to reflect on contemporary issues and create monumental art in the process.
Her Stoner installation remains an eloquent example of tackling on misogyny and the advantage men still have over women. We notice a pitching machine inside a fenced perimeter. What’s different about it is the fact that it throws rocks at a wall which features strands of long black hair, which makes you instantly think there are women trapped inside. It’s visceral just experiencing the filmed version, and I couldn’t help but think whether the stoning is also a reference to women dying because of this punishment in some places of the world (i.e. Iran used this punishment both for men, but women were mainly the ones punished in cases of adultery).
Andra Ursuța, Installation View, The Stoner
Also featured at the 2019 Venice Biennale, Divorce Dump is a series of models of the human torso and spine inverted, with the rib cage serving as a trash can for objects that are actual souvenirs from the artist’s past marriage. The materials list actually cite „marriage trash” and I was absolutely stunned by the power it took to turn these memories into a display for everyone to see. It’s no secret that artists recollect individual memories in many of their works, but here we get to see them in their physical forms, the objects thus becoming artifacts.
Andra Ursuța, Installation View, Divorce Dump
In her work Alps, we notice a rock-climbing wall that is unique, in the aspect that its holds are shaped like male genitalia. The title of the installation alludes to the geographical element that has also served as a symbolical barrier between Western and Eastern Europe. When I see the colorful holds of the installation, I can’t help but think of the moment when asked whether there is any space left for humor by Maurizio Cattelan, Andra Ursuța replied “as long as it’s followed by discomfort. Also, humor is impotence repackaged as entertainment and therefore very important”.
REFERENCES:
https://www.davidzwirner.com/artists/andra-ursuta/survey
https://www.x-traonline.org/article/andra-ursutas-anti-monumental-impulse
http://www.ramikencrucible.com/andra-ursuta-nobodies/
https://www.artforum.com/print/reviews/202002/andra-ursuta-81984
https://purple.fr/magazine/ss-2015-issue-23/andra-ursuta/
https://www.davidzwirner.com/exhibitions/2021/andra-ursuta-void-fill/press-release
Website’s photos taken by © Adrian Cojocaru
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Posted at 22:20h, 16 September[…] having the first real life encounter with Andra Ursuța’s oeuvre (you can read my full impression here) I was already feeling like I have been missing on incredible art my whole life by not being able […]