
The work consists of a grouping of 18 replicas of cosmetic containers, made of porcelain and screen-printed with fragmented images of the artist's eyes. Including these images, metaphorically, alludes to the idea of closing the eyes to stop seeing problems around.

Out of sight, out of mind

These pieces challenge the idea of perfection. What is perfect and what is not depends on established standards of beauty. Nevertheless, this criterion is constantly fluctuating and often leads to frustration and even disorders such as Body Dysmorphic Disorder (BDD). The work invites the public to reflect on the superficiality of the concern in the physical aspect and, at the same time, encourage appreciating the characteristics, which deviate from the canons of beauty.

Having nothing wrong

This work is part of the long-term project "Shaped as porcelain", inspired by routines related to care and beauty. From an ironic point of view, it exposes the confusion to choose the most suitable product to achieve the so desired “porcelain skin”, also reflects on the ideological implications that this entails. This piece refers to mechanical acts, such as facial care or using a specific software to pixelate the image. In both cases, the necessary requirements are patience and perseverance.

Guayaba mask

This piece was inspired by devices that were used in the s. XVIII to transport water, preventing the buckets from hitting the knees. Water is the main element of all cosmetics, and in this case it is absent. It gives way to another mystical and magical element, very present in our day to day, and the one that gives meaning to the way in which we perceive the surrounding environment- the light. Making holes on the surfaces of the pieces to fill them with light, symbolically, alludes to the hope that each container houses, that hope generated and maintained by the consumer. At the same time, a list with the actions recommended by the manufacturers of these specific ointments is incorporated on the satin ribbon, that keeps the piece suspended in the air. Actions that indicate how the products should be used, but very often they are part of a tiny size text that complicates understanding and turns into stippling similar to Morse code. A kind of encryption that requires prior knowledge, instead of read only.

Recommended actions

This work consists of the grouping of 300 replicas of cosmetic containers and an automatic poem, generated from the ingredients of the same products and recited by the automatic voice of Google Translate. These are items whose usefulness has been suppressed (hermetic containers and a cryptic text). This idea of dysfunction refers to the eternal promises to erase the passage of time that are directed, above all, to the female public, trying to convince them that there is a better future, through the physical appearance adapted to the imposed guidelines, before accept the signs of ageing and dismiss them as imperfections.

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Mariya Alipieva