4/7/2007
Kime Buzzelli
Motel, Portland
Initials in Apples and Other Futile Spells
Initials in Apples and Other Futile Spells
Motel is pleased to present the solo exhibition of Kime
Buzzelli (Los Angeles). In Initials in Apples and Other
Futile Spells, Buzzelli introduces a new series of
paintings featuring dreamy and disturbed portraits of
girls in delicate and exotic fashions. At once haunting
and sublime, these works explore notions of magic,
the occult and the mysteries of the woods. The title of
the exhibition refers to superstitions and magical
spells, like carving initials of the one you love in an
apple to divine true romance. Invested in a vocabulary
of desire, nature, witchcraft and superstition, Buzzelli's
paintings are essentially dark love poems inhabited by
wicked women, wild animals, secret societies, and
places of wonder and fear.
With a fascination with the lives of others, Buzzelli's
narrative vignettes both obscure and reveal. Inserting
brief poetic text into the compositions, Buzzelli creates
juxtapositions which cloud an immediate reading of
the work; it is unclear if the words serve as the
thoughts of her subjects, or an omniscient
proposition. These bits become suggestions or clues
to the fictive lives of her subjects which the viewer is
left to unravel.
Informed and inspired by the cult of fashion, Buzzelli's
paintings invite voyeurism, seducing the viewer with a
fantasy that enchants and unsettles. With a loose,
easy painterly style, Buzzelli captures a womanhood
that is youthful, mischievous, elusive, demure,
alienated and at times, grotesque. Exploring the
ambiguity of fashion in the feminine psyche, Buzzelli
deftly navigates the contradictions and conflicts of an
idealized femininity. In as much as the compositions
indulge in aesthetic decadence, they are tempered by
atrophy, disintegration, and subversion as suggested
by trailing brushstrokes, haunting shadows and use of
negative space.
Ultimately, Buzzelli's world of ghostly women flirts with
the mystical and mysterious powers of femininity,
conveying both its beauty and its contested, conflicted
nature.
Kime Buzzelli lives and works in Los Angeles,
California. Buzzelli studied Fashion Illustration at the
Parson's School of Design before receiving a dual
degree in Painting and Art Education at Ohio State
University. In addition to Buzzelli's fine art pursuits, she
is the proprietress of Show Pony, a performance
space and boutique featuring handmade clothing by
Buzzelli and a roster of independent designers
(opened in 2000). Her fine artwork has been shown at
New Image (LA), Rocket Gallery (Tokyo), and Deitch
Projects (NY), among others. Her fashion illustration
has been published in I-D, Elle, W, Cosmopolitan,
Paper, Italian Fashion News and Fashion Illustration
Next by Laird Borrelli, among others. Her one-of-a-kind
hand-crafted clothing has been featured in photo
shoots, films and music videos and worn by
celebrities including Lindsay Lohan, Shakira, Jane's
Addiction, Maggie Gyllenhaal, Nelly Furtado and
Jennifer Lopez.
Motel
19 Nw 5th av. suite C - Portland