olga cironis

today i am what you want me to be

16 april - 15 may 2010

Olga Cironis has been wrapping and stitching objects for several years, sometimes in velvet and in more recent years she has turned to blankets.

Local art lovers will remember her impressive tree she covered in blanket at the Fremantle Arts Centre in 2007, and her herd of strange creatures based on her young daughter’s drawings of animals held at Turner Galleries in 2008.

Her new exhibition features blankets she has been collecting for many years, each one representing a different period of time by its colour or design. Olga’s work addresses identity and memory and how we link it to notions of place, tradition, culture and customs. She has a personal history as a migrant and this informs her investigations of how people (and in this case women) are defined and labelled by local language and its hidden and double meanings.

In this exhibition of new work Olga has wrapped a lounge chair and footstool that can be sat upon to contemplate the impressive major work in the show: The wrapping of the 8.7meter long and 3 meter high dividing wall of the gallery in embroidered blankets.

Accompanying these works are smaller wall mounted works in which she has framed sections of blankets, sometimes retaining some of the original contents of the second-hand frames. The frames, like the blankets, are infused with memory and the past.

Olga mused that she feels
“as if each blanket hides the past owner’s desires, history and era. Somehow it can represent a culture and society depending on the weave, wool blend, brand or pattern... To cut up blankets into little pieces is like cutting into the flesh of the people who laid beneath the warmth of them… The nature of blankets keeps one warm and at the same time receives bodily fluids and hairs like a lover. Blankets smell of people, they are stained, torn, burned and pierced to reveal holes over time… The process of stitching and stretching the woollen blanket over domestic objects such as furniture is a cathartic experience. I imagine similar to that of embalming. The act of covering, hiding and stitching is like redefining the object’s use, it can be both an act of protection and at the same time an act of suffocation.”

Several of the blanketed objects and framed works have text embroidered onto their surface, words and statements such as ‘bitch’, ‘cougar’, ‘slut’, ‘whore’ or ‘frigid’. Words, in general that are derogatory to women, labelling them in terms of male desire. The words fill the gallery space with voices of loss, fear, humiliation, anger and violation. Phrases, such as ‘today I am what you want me to be” adorning the footstool, could be interpreted as submissive, provocative or even ironic. These blankets no longer comfort but confront. They make the viewer question how we label women, but they are not without a sense of humour and hopefully will allow us to laugh at ourselves.

Olga has work in several local collections including BankWest, Royal Perth Hospital, Bunbury Regional Art Gallery, Central Institute of Technology, Fremantle Hospital and many private collections.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

olga cironis artwork
exhibition installation
olga cironis artwork
today i am what you want me to be
foot stool, cushion, embroidery, blanket
35 x 68 x 36cm
2010
$2,000
olga cironis artwork
wife beater [bitch]
hand beater, blanket, embroidery
25 x 14 x 8cm
2010
$550
olga cironis artwork
don't close your eyes
lounge chair, embroidery, blankets
95 x 78 x 82cm
2010
$3,000
olga cironis artwork
frigid
footstool, embroidery, blanket
29.5 x 42 x 31cm
2010
$990
olga cironis artwork
framia 181
frame, blankets
20 x 27cm
2010
$160
olga cironis artwork
framia 8
frame, blankets
23 x 28cm
2010
$160
olga cironis artwork
framia 211
frame, blanket found image
20 x 11cm
2010
$99 sold
olga cironis artwork
framia 142
frame, blanket
16 x 12cm
2010
$99
olga cironis artwork
framia
frame, blankets
18.5 x 18.5cm
2010
$99 sold
olga cironis artwork
framia 59
frame, lace, found image, blanket
27 x 22cm
2010
$160 sold
olga cironis artwork
that's one way to show your love
blankets
870 x 300 x 60cm
2010
$10,000
olga cironis artwork
framia [babe]
frame, embroidery, blanket
9 x 12.5cm
2010
$55 sold
olga cironis artwork
framia [cougar]
frame, embroidery, blanket
19 x 24cm
2010
$160
olga cironis artwork
framia 125
frame, found image, blanket
22 x 27cm
2010
$160 sold
olga cironis artwork
framia 75 [passive]
frame, embroidery, blanket
14 x 14cm
2010
$99
olga cironis artwork
framia 32 [pussy]
frame, embroidery, blanket
13 x 18cm
2010
$99 sold
olga cironis artwork
framia 177 [slag]
frame, embroidery, blanket
19 x 14cm
2010
$99
olga cironis artwork
framia 139 + framia 138 [tired]
frame, embroidery, blanket
21 x 14cm each
2010
$99 each sold
olga cironis artwork
framia 10 [vixen]
frame, embroidery, blanket
14.5 x 19.5cm
2010
$99 sold
olga cironis artwork
framia [installation south wall]
frames, blankets
2010
$12,000 set
olga cironis artwork
framia 130 [willing]
frame, embroidery, blanket
16 x 21cm
2010
$99
olga cironis artwork
framia 50 [fill]
frame, embroidery, blanket
7 x 7cm
2010
$55 sold
olga cironis artwork
framia 254 [loose]
frame, embroidery, blanket
29 x 24cm
2010
$220
olga cironis artwork
framia 25
frame, blanket
27 x 22cm
2010
$160 sold
olga cironis artwork
framia 260
marble, photograph, blanket
2010
$440 sold to city of fremantle
olga cironis artwork
framia 194
frame, blanket
32 x 27cm
2010
$220 sold to city of fremantle
olga cironis artwork
framia 4
frame, found image, blanket
46 x 35cm
2010
$380 sold
olga cironis artwork
framia 81 [pray]
frame, embroidery, blanket
47 x 58cm
2010
$440
olga cironis artwork
framia 257 [sex kitten]
frame, embroidery, blanket
29 x 37cm
2010
$160
olga cironis artwork
framia 249 [slut]
frame, embroidery, blanket
32 x 28cm
2010
$220 sold
olga cironis artwork
framia 112 [she]
frame, embroidery, blanket
24 x 24cm
2010
$160
olga cironis artwork
framia 113 [tramp]
frame, embroidery, blanket
26 x 31cm
2010
$220 sold
olga cironis artwork
framia 89 [yours]
frame, embroidery, blanket
24 x 19cm
2010
$99
olga cironis artwork
framia 259 [frivolous]
frame, embroidery, blanket
52 x 39cm
2010
$380
olga cironis artwork
slut
footstool, embroidery, blanket
29.5 x 42 x 31cm
2010
$990
olga cironis artwork
passive aggressive
chair, embroidery, blankets
95 x 50 x 57cm
2010
$2,200
olga cironis artwork
tereza
rolling pin, embroidery, blanket
4.5 x 43.5 x 4.5cm
2010
$440
olga cironis artwork
framia [installation north wall]
frames, blankets
2010
$12,000 set