ALL THE FLOWERS ON THE WAY TO YOUR HOUSE
Michal Makaresco
10 November- 22 December 2018
The Tel-Aviv Artists’ Studios, Tel-Aviv
This is the second solo show for the artist Michal Makaresco (b.1982) and part two of a trilogy that deals with boundaries and risk in relationships, danger, desire, romance and darkness. If to address Makaresco’s 2017 solo show’s title, which took place at Hamidrasha gallery "Would You Walk Me Home?" as an invitation, a flirtatious suggestion or a plea for protection, the romantic act corresponds with the Conceptual art of Sophie Calle.
In ALL THE FLOWERS ON THE WAY TO YOUR HOUSE the artist turns from the one looking for patronage and by doing so is risking of becoming a potential victim, to an obsessive suitor - who demonstrates a grand gesture in a stalker like atmosphere.
She is marking a route in the urban space again, this time by taking flash photography of flower close-ups.
Every frame is accompanied by a word that makes up the full sentence. The sentence reads with intensity and drama out of the use of the specific font and red color and separation to frames gives a feel of a movie title from the horror sub-genre Giallo. Giallo is considered to be full of contradictions and plays on cliches, it is low on budget but highly styled. Makaresco is developing a palate for Bad taste, that bitter, thick, black, dripping, that sticky, slimy toxic goo.
In the current exhibition, the works exhibited are mostly photographs, those are prints made out of iPhone snapshots. Makaresco uses photography yet, is less committed to the photography discourse and more to the term Image. This image that lives within the frame are pieces that are always done in relation to the body and the physical. The technique involved with producing those images includes location, passing events, organic matter, and the human body. The temporality of those are perpetuated by a photo which serves the artist in order to focus and trust the power of the imagery.
Makaresco’s work is in the area of Surrealism, Body and Feminist Art. Makaresco is using her own and other bodies with objects as props to help objectify the body and externalize sexuality.
It is influenced by Sarah Lucas’ gender humor and series of photographic self-portraits (1990-1998). Also, Paul McCarthy's extreme visuals (mainly video) and his absolute embrace of foodstuff ( and cosmetics) as abject signifiers- a vulgar buffet of blood sperm and excrement. If McCarthy creates a metaphor to the gluttony of American consumerism, Makaresco is creating an extreme version of social anxiety and the endless chase after outside self-affirmation from the imaginary online community.
Unlike Selfie Feminism there isn’t nostalgia and regression to to girlhood but to infancy in adulthood. Using the psychosexual model while erasing the stages turning it to a rhizome. Focusing on sexual and violent humor as subjects with a kind of Gore the pornography of explicit violence as it visually depicted in horror films. The way to quantify Gore is by counting the liters and gallons of fake blood, that gooey thick red liquid made out of corn syrup and artificial food coloring. By using the same idea Makaresco potions a translucent liquid that visualize bodily fluids for the sake of a bizarre fashion production, studio photo shoot, or set design for some kind of a fictitious Arthouse/porn/ horror film. The liquid wax or school glue is dripping, hardening, coating, melting. All of these sculptural gestures combine elements such as -the human torso, flowers, candles, knife, seashells, lipstick, sheets, fire, money, mouth, skin, body hair, pumpkin, zucchini, and squash.
Makaresco’s route leads to the domestic sphere (Home/House) that is used as a studio space.
Her sculptural pieces are made in relation to DIY and Arts and Craft movements.
She uploads her work to her Instagram account vanesa_dvd Instagram being a social network that is spatial realm located between the public and the private. The domestic and private sphere- the kitchen, the bathroom, the bedroom and the streets, all are studio extensions of the nomadic studio where Makaresco unifies contemporary visual culture that exist online now with her artistic practice. She succeeds in keeping from her artworks from drowning in Instagram- that is used as a medium and not as a transparent platform. Makaresco uses objects from everyday life in humorous pieces and metaphors for sex, death and gender.
