It will be a busy night at Gallery 825 on Saturday, and “The Shrine of Stolen Identities,” Stephanie Sydney and Snezana Saraswait Petrovic’s interactive collaborative work is a highlight.
Including a 15-minute performance piece taking place at 6:30 p.m., “The Shrine of Stolen Identities” explores the diversity that exists far beyond our collective obsession with celebrity culture.
As a collaborative team, Sydney and Petrovic, a.k.a. steph ‘n snez, have created a dazzling multi-media presentation that’s an homage to unknown artists who made the trek to Hollywood seeking fame and fortune, and to their unique individualism. While both artists are now based in Southern California, both were born abroad: Sydney in London, Petrovic in Belgrade, giving them perhaps the rudiments of an outsiders perspective when exploring our very American desire for the superficial qualities of glamor and fame. These are qualities which seem so alluring and yet, upon close examination, are transient and illusive, as slippery and vague as mist and just as long lasting. The artists look at the Shrine itself as a space to meditate upon the dreams and hopes of those who came seeking, while celebrating them as individuals, and elevating their differences. It is not perfection, or the illusion thereof, that should be worshipped, but the striving after dreams.
The impermanence of stardom, and the seeking of it, are exemplified in the ruby slippers, mirrored stars, and light boxes that are a strong component of this large scale work. One of the most compelling parts is the vintage luggage that contains video narratives, photographs, and memorabilia of those who came to Hollywoodland on their Don Quixote-like quest for stardom.
These four “Luggage Confessions” are set within suitcases and a backpack owned by one of the subjects. From aspiring director and cinematographer Katz Carter to visual artist Kelly Berg, a former Yugoslavian film star known as Z, and an anonymous actor working on the Hollywood Walk of Fame as Batman, the subjects are rich and varied in their presentations of hope and disillusionment. Crumpled paper in the suitcases represents dreams disregarded, cherished projects incomplete.
Equally provocative and memorable are the alternative Oscars, familiar yet altered symbols. Arrayed along an altar that is the centerpiece of the shrine space, encompassing a full wall, these sculptures are transitioning from male to female, aging, entirely human in their imperfections, rewarded for their diversity. An interactive component here allows viewers to insert notes into a number of these Oscar figures, those revealing their hearts.
The artists assert that in a space created for contemplation, they are challenging “…what is perceived of as ‘reality’ – the Shrine as a ‘real’ location…celebrity body image vs. plastic surgeries, fame vs. obscurity…”
The altar area is bordered by those ruby slippers, a film clapboard, and a guide to succeeding in Hollywood, yoked together by yarn. It features a stained-glass window image of Joyce Howard, Sydney’s mother who was herself a well-known actress in the U.K. in the 40s and 50s, and here appears as a goddess figure.
Other images of Howard are present in Sydney’s light box works. Howard’s admirable shift from acting to literature, both in the U.K. and starting over in the 60s in Los Angeles, where she also worked as a fine arts photographer, make the elegaic nature of the shrine even more poignant.
Additional aspects include imagery of plastic surgery; and a wall where viewers can attach mirrored stars to reflect themselves, stars which they can write upon. When the exhibition ends, these mirrored replicas will be taken to Hollywood Boulevard to be photographed along side Walk of Fame stars.
As to the planned performance piece, it is a re-imagining of a Buddhist sand mandala producing a glittering replication of a Hollywood Walk of Fame star on a mirrored table. The artists will be dressed Oscar-ette costumes: an XL-sized black dress, to hide imperfections, with a 0-size dress attached in front like an apron designed to reveal the difference in scale of a real-world figure vs. an idealized one. When the mandala is complete, viewers are invited to write their own names in the glitter with their fingers. Lastly, the table will be tilted, with glitter sliding to the ground and the mirror revealing the faces of participants. The artists wish the Buddhist ritual of impermanence to speak to the impermanence of the values presented in “The Shrine of Stolen Identities.”
Gallery 825 is located at 825 La Cienega Blvd. The exhibition, opening Saturday October 15th, will run through November 11th.
Great article – I’m excited about seeing this!