BLISS at LAR at Escuela de la Paz

Artists: Cajsa von Zeipel, Leilah Weinraub, Casey Jane Ellison, Kandis Williams, Frieda Toranzo Jaeger, Bárbara Sánchez-Kane, Lorena Vega, Eunice Adorno, Emilia García

Exhibition title: Bliss

Curated by: LAR

Venue: LAR at Escuela de la Paz, Mexico City, Mexico

Date: February 4 – March 30, 2019

Photography: all images copyright and courtesy of the artists and LAR

B L I S S is a state and a space of grace. It is a haven for female relaxation and indulgence, a place for self-care and communion. B L I S S is a sanctuary for the convoluted and contradictory nature of female self-discovery, radicalism, freedom, power, and an endless number of other values she may choose to mobilize through her image.

B L I S S unites a series of aesthetic investigations into female artifice. Its artists embrace media culture as a resource for inquiry into the systems of psychological, emotional, technological, and economic control that continue to root female identity in masculine fantasies and patriarchal cultural history.

B L I S S takes its cues from the beauty salon as a laboratory of aesthetic innovation founded on informal discourse, affective relationships, and the idea of self-improvement as luxury. It probes the cultural terrain of female beauty through practices that hijack the psychological space of female stereotypes to find moments of agency and resistance. At B L I S S,the body is the platform for creation, and its marketable representation the aspirational result.

Curation // Nika Chilewich / Eva Posas / Chloé Wilcox
Production // Gerardo Delgado / Thania Millán

B L I S S is the second curatorial project produced by LAR, an emerging platform dedicated to supporting female-identifying artists and to promoting gender equity in the contemporary arts. LAR promotes innovative curatorial and educational programming that offers international female-identifying artists an unprecedented platform for creating, exhibiting, and thinking about their work.

Bliss, 2019, exhibition view, LAR at Escuela de la Paz, Mexico City

Frieda Toranzo Jaeger, Triptych, 2019, Oil on canvas with hand embroidery

Frieda Toranzo Jaeger, Dreamliner I , 2019, Oil on canvas with hand embroidery, 150 x 100 cm

Frieda Toranzo Jaeger, Dreamliner II , 2019, Oil on canvas with hand embroidery, 150 x 100 cm

Frieda Toranzo Jaeger, Water Lily , 2019, Oil on canvas, 100 x 170 cm

Cajsa Von Zeipel, About Last Night, 2019, Aqua-resin, 63.50 x 48.26 x 27.94 cm

Cajsa Von Zeipel, The Deputant, 2019, Silicone dragon skin, aqua-resin, glass beads, epoxy resin, hoodie, fake nails, 73.66 x 43.18 x 27.94 cm

Casey Jane Ellison, Together I , 2019, Seragraphic print on mirror, 100 x 75 cm

Casey Jane Ellison, Apart , 2019, Seragraphic print on mirror, 75 x 100 cm

Casey Jane Ellison, Together II , 2019, Seragraphic print on mirror, 75 x 100 cm

Emilia García, Giving Me Life , 2019, Foundation and eyeliner on paper

Kandis Williams, they glance, you stare, 2017, Vinyl adhesive on plexiglass, 109.22 x 78.74 cm

Kandis Williams, Viola , 2017, Sublimated prints on cotton paper, copper wire, plastic, glass and organic potting soil, 25.4 x 33 x 27.9 cm

Kandis Williams, Nathan, 2017, Sublimated prints on cotton paper, copper wire, plastic, glass and organic potting soil, 38.1 x 30.5 x 22.9 cm

Kandis Williams, Passing Lilies, 2017, Floraform, inkjet printed 12.55 mm chiffon, wire, india ink in vase, 61 x 12.8 x 7.6 cm

Lorena Vega, B L I S S , 2019, Black nylon cape with vinyl print

Eunice Adorno, Desandar , 2019, Artist book, mixed media, 9 x 14 cm

Leilah Weinraub, Zodiac Party, December 18, 2003, 2019, Color photographic print on Tecco Fine Art Rag, 49.5 x 75 cm

Leilah Weinraub, Egypt Dancing at 360’s Come Take a Walk in My Forest Party, 2019, Black and white photographic print on Tecco Fine Art Rag, 60 x 90 cm.