Drizzling (im)perfection
Maria Gvardeitseva
Pink sea salt, mechanical sprinkler, metal medical couch
London, UK
2023
Healing sea salt, which is an ancient means of restoring human strength and health, commercial advertising images of the female body and at the same time the sculptural form of Ancient Goddesses, what is the root cause? The image of eternal beauty, behind which there is pain and tears, conflicts and internecine strife, and the narcissistic image of the imposed "ideal" that was imposed on women with a narrow palette of authorized emotions, tacitly subordinating them to the conventions of "do not do too much".
Drizzling (im)perfection is the artist’s research into profound social crises that individuals can experience at various levels and stages. In her artistic practice, Maria Gvardeitseva relives parting, pain and through the "personal" speaks about the socio-public.
The painful pink salt color of the skin also reveals the issue of standardized Eurocentricity skin tone, referring to the Renaissance and images of the flesh. Female flesh dissolves in the flow of... modern life.
Meticulously crafted from pink sea salt, it is displayed on a 120 cm metal medical stand. Every five minutes, water cascades from the ceiling, causing the salt to progressively dissolve until it completely vanishes at the end of the cycle. Both the body sculpture and the water share a mineral composition identical to human beliefs, shamanism, and just tears, which we are so afraid of in an unemotional or overemotional society.
In her practice, Maria Gvardeitseva reflects on the fragility of social behavior and individual feelings, on the turbulence and instability of universal values that are devalued and dissolved.
