Elga Wimmer PCC, in association with curcioprojects, is pleased to present the solo exhibition (February 12 – March 14, 2015), Atmosphere in White, of French-born and NYC-based artist Nicola L. Originally presented at last year’s Biennial of Liverpool, curated by Anthony Huberman, Atmosphere in White spans five decades of functional objects and furniture and conceptual sculptures fully incorporated into Nicola L.’s ideologies of body and spiritual imaginings.

For Nicola L, making bodies necessitates destroying them first - fragments of human shapes are turned and transformed into functional art, "penetrables," painting, and film.  Some of the works include a foot, a head, a torso, which are converted into a sofa, bookcase, and ironing board, respectively.  A large vinyl sofa foot from 1968 and a round plastic eye lamp evoking a planet, represents the Pop era in visual as well as material aspects. The Library Head, 1979-2012, is a bookcase in the shape of a large wooden head, with new and old information moving in, around, out and back in, creating an open dialogue, both private and public. The Woman Ironing Board, 2006, gives a nod to Marcel Duchamp’s, "IL FAUT UTILISER LA JOCONDE COMME UNE PLANCHE A REPASSER" (“We have to use the Joconde like an ironing board”), and also to women's work, while accentuating the sensual side of women by presenting the object as a woman's body.  La Femme Commode, 1969-2014, is a chest of drawers in the shape of a woman's upper body. This work is not a piece of furniture that one would open to put something away, but a body broken into several compartments, signifying a darker side of the artist's thinking on the female form.

The Penetrables are soft pieces that suggest to the viewer to “go inside” and try on the form like a new coat or a borrowed skin.  Atmosphere in White, 2005, suspended from the ceiling is a full body suit with arms, legs, and a head.  Antarctica, 2008-2014, made of white vinyl is a penetrable landscape that is meant to be both a part of Antarctica and its great white sea as the viewer slips their arms and head into it.

The White Cape, performance on Thursday, March 5th at 7pm, was originally staged as one coat for 11 people in 1970 on the Isle of Wight pop festival with the famous Brazilian musicians Caetano Veloso and Gilberto Gil, and featured The Who, Janis Joplin, The Doors and Jimi Hendrix.  The performance with its various numbers of people taking identities from different coats, refers to various places and events: the streets of Paris, Brussels, Cologne, and Barcelona, and the Great Wall of China, as well as the Charlotte Moorman Festival. Pierre Restany, art critic and cultural philosopher, described the performance as “the same skin for everybody.” This performance was presented at the Biennial of Liverpool with an ironic homage to the Beatles with the song “Help!” playing.  The March 5th performance continues to bring back the ghosts of the Beatles and the 60’s as each performer moves through and out of the space holding a mask with the name and portrait of each Beatle.

Nicola L. will be participating this year in the Tate Modern’s The World Goes Pop, curated by Jessica Morgan (former curator at Tate Modern and presently director at the DIA Foundation, NYC).  Currently the artist is included in the EXQUISITE CORPUS curated by Cora Fischer at SECCA, North Carolina. She was included in ARTEVIDA : politica / corpo, Museu de Arte Moderna and Casa Franca in Brazil last summer.  Nicola L. has widely exhibited, had film screenings and performed throughout Europe, Cuba and South America, and the US.   

Elga Wimmer PCC is open Tuesday to Saturday, 11 to 6pm.  For additional information and images contact Robert Curcio, curcioprojects: 646.220.2557, curcioprojects@gmail.com or Elga Wimmer, Elga Wimmer PCC: elgawimmer@gmail.com, 1 212 206 0006.

February 12 – March 14, 2015

Reception: Thursday, February 12; 6-8pm

Performance: March 5; 7pm; RSVP Required