ARTIST STATEMENT
CONTACT | LINKS
- “Bittersweet”
- Descripción
- “Por siempre joven”
- Descripción
- “Hoy he roto tus cartas”
- Descripción
- “Drawing of Man/Drawing of Woman”
- Descripción
- “Historias íntimas”
- Descripción
- “Recuerdo de nuestra boda”
- Descripción
- “120 Minutos de silencio”
- Descripción
- “Días especiales”
- Descripción
- “Preoccupation (Gray Hair)”
- Descripción
- “Dibujo de hombre/Dibujo de mujer”
- Descripción
- “Untitled (Rinse)”
- Descripción
- “In Memoriam”
- Descripción
- Serie “A flor de piel”
- Descripción
- Serie “Flores silvestres”
- “Wildflowers” Series
- “Abuela, madre, hija”
- “Grandmother, Mother, Daughter”
- “Retorno a la pubertad”
- “Return to Puberty”
- “Para verte mejor”
- “The Better to See You With”
- “Ái Spik Ínglish”
- Descripción
- “Para que nos recuerdes mejor”
- “To Remember Us Better”
- “Valentía y coraje”
- “Courage and Bravery”
- “Para besarte mejor”
- “The Better to Kiss You With”
- “Para acariciarte mejor”
- “The Better to Caress You With”
- “Bésame mucho”
- “Kiss Me Plenty”
- “Reddest Red”
- “Escudos”
- “Shields”
- Serie “Instalación en museos de arte”
- “Installation at Art Museums” Series
- “Encierro rosa”
- “Romance Imprisonment”
- “Título de propiedad”
- “Ownership Title”
- “La sombra”
- “The Shadow”
Production stills: Roni Mocán
Para verte mejor
The Better to See You With
New York, 2005
Single-channel digital video
57 minutes 37 seconds
Color, Silent
Video close-up of my eyes in a static single shot, where I apply black mascara continuously for one-hour.
In the name of beauty most women will put on makeup, do their hair, nails, depilate, diet, fix their noses and breasts. Although few women will reach society’s beauty ideals, they will sculpt their bodies as needed. In this video I play along with women’s beauty rituals, performing them in exaggerated ways to reflect the pressures imposed by today’s society. The camera focuses on the part of the body where the action takes place: With repetitive gestures I apply mascara continuously for one hour, questioning our attraction to makeup and its power of seduction.
Its title was inspired by the Red Riding Hood tale.
RELATED ARTWORKS:
“Para
besarte mejor” (“The Better to Kiss You With”)
“Para
acariciarte mejor” (“The Better to Caress You With”)
“Retorno
a la pubertad” (“Return to Puberty”)
RELATED PRESS:
Genocchio, Benjamin. “For Hopeful Artists, the Search to Be Just Themselves.” The New York Times, 2006
Martínez, Neyda Luz. “Beauty is Truth”, New York Post/Tempo, 2006 (Interview)
The New York Sun, On the Town, June 13, 2006
Photos Courtesy of Rollo Contemporary Art
EXHIBITION DETAILS:
“The Body in Women’s Art Now: Part 1: Embodied,”
New Hall Art Collection, Cambridge, UK
January 31—February 28, 2010
Curated by Philippa Found
“Para verte mejor”
“The Better to See You With”
Single-channel video, 57 minutes 37 seconds, no audio
“Para acariciarte mejor”
“The Better to Caress You With”
Single-channel video, 1 hour 49 minutes 36 seconds, no audio
“Para besarte mejor”
“The Better to Kiss You With”
Single-channel video, 57 minutes 48 seconds, no audio
Photos Courtesy of Rollo Contemporary Art
EXHIBITION DETAILS:
“The Body in Women’s Art Now: Part 1: Embodied,”
ROLLO Contemporary Art, London, UK
October 14—November 20, 2009. Extended until January 20, 2010
Curated by Philippa Found
“Para verte mejor”
“The Better to See You With”
Single-channel video, 57 minutes 37 seconds, no audio
“Para acariciarte mejor”
“The Better to Caress You With”
Single-channel video, 1 hour 49 minutes 36 seconds, no audio
“Para besarte mejor”
“The Better to Kiss You With”
Single-channel video, 57 minutes 48 seconds, no audio
“Retorno a la pubertad”
“Return to Puberty”
Single-channel video, 58 minutes, no audio
EXHIBITION DETAILS:
“¡Aquí! (Here),” An Uptown Latino Art Exhibition, NoMAA Gallery, Northern Manhattan Arts Alliance, New York, NY
September 25—December 30, 2009
All three videos were shown in the same monitor:
“Para verte mejor”
“The Better to See You With”
Single-channel video, 57 minutes 37 seconds, no audio
“Para besarte mejor”
“The Better to Kiss You With”
Single-channel video, 57 minutes 48 seconds, no audio
“Para acariciarte mejor”
“The Better to Caress You With”
Single-channel video, 1 hour 49 minutes 36 seconds, no audio
Photo Courtesy of Emiliano Valdés—CCE/G
EXHIBITION DETAILS:
“Pintura: El proyecto incompleto,” espacio ce!, Centro de Formación de la Cooperación Española, La Antigua Guatemala, Guatemala
April 30—June 6, 2009
Curated by Rosina Cazali and Emiliano Valdés
All three videos were shown in the same monitor:
“Para verte mejor”
“The Better to See You With”
Single-channel video, 57 minutes 37 seconds, no audio
“Para besarte mejor”
“The Better to Kiss You With”
Single-channel video, 57 minutes 48 seconds, no audio
“Para acariciarte mejor”
“The Better to Caress You With”
Single-channel video, 1 hour 49 minutes 36 seconds, no audio
Photo Courtesy of Abelino Bautista—Arte Américas
EXHIBITION DETAILS:
“Espada de Dos Filos, Latina Voices: California – New York,”
Arte Américas, Fresno, California
December 16, 2008—February 14, 2009
All four videos were shown in the same monitor:
“Para verte mejor”
“The Better to See You With”
Single-channel video, 57 minutes 37 seconds, no audio
“Para besarte mejor”
“The Better to Kiss You With”
Single-channel video, 57 minutes 48 seconds, no audio
“Para acariciarte mejor”
“The Better to Caress You With”
Single-channel video, 1 hour 49 minutes 36 seconds, no audio
“Retorno a la pubertad”
“Return to Puberty”
Single-channel video, 58 minutes, no audio
EXHIBITION DETAILS:
“IV Encuentro Mundial de Arte Corporal,”
Caracas, Venezuela
September 5—14, 2008
Complejo Cultural Teatro Teresa Carreño
Coordinated by Ana María Zoghbi
All three videos were shown in the same monitor:
“Para verte mejor”
“The Better to See You With”
Single-channel video, 57 minutes 37 seconds, no audio
“Para besarte mejor”
“The Better to Kiss You With”
Single-channel video, 57 minutes 48 seconds, no audio
“Para acariciarte mejor”
“The Better to Caress You With”
Single-channel video, 1 hour 49 minutes 36 seconds, no audio
EXHIBITION DETAILS:
“The
Feminine Mystique: Contemporary Artists Respond,”
Jersey City Museum, New Jersey
September 20, 2007—February 24, 2008
Curated by Rocío Aranda-Alvarado
All three videos were shown in the same monitor:
“Para verte mejor”
“The Better to See You With”
Single-channel video, 57 minutes 37 seconds, no audio
“Para besarte mejor”
“The Better to Kiss You With”
Single-channel video, 57 minutes 48 seconds, no audio
“Para acariciarte mejor”
“The Better to Caress You With”
Single-channel video, 1 hour 49 minutes 36 seconds, no audio
Photo Courtesy of Aron Conaway
EXHIBITION DETAILS:
“T’What?,” Gallery NuLu, Louisville Photo Biennial 2007, Louisville, Kentucky
June 29-July 30, 2007
Co-curated by Aron Conaway
All four videos were shown in the same monitor:
“Para verte mejor”
“The Better to See You With”
Single-channel video, 57 minutes 37 seconds, no audio
“Para besarte mejor”
“The Better to Kiss You With”
Single-channel video, 57 minutes 48 seconds, no audio
“Para acariciarte mejor”
“The Better to Caress You With”
Single-channel video, 1 hour 49 minutes 36 seconds, no audio
“Retorno a la pubertad”
“Return to Puberty”
Single-channel video, 58 minutes, no audio
EXHIBITION DETAILS:
Artist in the Marketplace (AIM) 26, Bronx Museum of the
Arts, Bronx, New York
March 22–July 2, 2006
Curated by Lydia Yee and Erin Salazar
“Para verte mejor”
“The Better to See You With”
Single-channel video, 57 minutes 37 seconds, no audio
“Para besarte mejor”
“The Better to Kiss You With”
Single-channel video, 57 minutes 48 seconds, no audio