Alchemy

Press Release

Historically, alchemy is a practice using chemistry and philosophy to convert base metals, like lead, into gold. However, the Guggenheim's Gallery's first exhibition of the Fall 2022 semester, presents a different form of alchemy: one that metamorphizes several traditional and influential works of art into something new. Chelsea Farinaro and Eugene Kim present Alchemy, two bodies of work that draw inspiration from other art and alchemizing it into a more personal perspective.

Chelsea Farinaro's pushes forth the idea that art imitates other art. Her scultpure, installation, and 2D work dances between the lines of inspiration and forgery, while blurring it in the process. Her art takes new form from important artwork like the Leonardo da Vinci's Mona Lisa and Louise Bourgeois's Ex Libris. Farinaro's body of work alters the corresponding aesthetic and medium, but leaves the original concepts untouched, riding in that borderless grey area. She unreservedly challenges the idea that life imitates art and the opposite, to yield to the idea that a concept is not limited to one medium or artist. In time, the same art that inspired Farinaro's pieces will be used as an inspiration elsewhere, continuing its lineage of art imitating art.

Eugene Kim continues his study and work in the realm of magical girls, a subgenre of Japanese fantasy media where young girls transform to save the world from evil forces, and pulls direct influence from the children's franchise: Pretty Cure. Included, are 16 digital collages for every season of Pretty Cure from 2004 to 2021, and a silent video showcasing every piece of official merchandise released for the franchise in the same timeframe. Kim not only touches on the reality that this children's show solely made as a source of merchandising, but also how the life of a magical girl may be more difficult than what is shown on screen. The deconstruction of the genre is a prominent theme in his work and this colorfully-explosive body of work is no different. because behind the image that magical girls uphold, is still a normal young girl.

Alchemy will be on view at the Guggenheim Gallery from August 29, 2022 - September 2, 2022

Artist Statement

I love magical girls. For the past year and a half, I have focused my art on the life of a magical girl and a deconstruction of the subgenre. For those who aren't familiar with my work or the genre, magical girl (mahou shoujo in japanese) is a subgenre of Japanese fantasy media where young girls transform to fight evil and save the world. This idea was fascinating to me for several reasons. The first being that, there is a separate life that these girls live, as normal girls. They carry an unfathomable responsiblity and task, but still care about everything else that a normal teenager cares about. I also see a powerful connection to human nature and the idea of living a double life, which is something I have seen happen in my life.But as I have matured like these girls, in the end (we) will always find harmony when living a singular, true life. And finally, I am interested in the way these shows are designed for the eyes of children. This final reason, is what this body of work is about.

One of the most well-known and longest running magical girl franchise in Japan is Pretty Cure. It started airing in 2004 and has seen an episode a week and two movies a year to this day. With episode 898 airing the day the exhibition is up and over 32 movies, Pretty Cure has captivated the eyes of so many children. And with all the content that has been pumped out from Toei Animation, it is apparent that there is a lot of opportunity for merchandise sales, especially among parents for their little magical girl enthusiasts. What I have seen over the years, is that Toei Animation sees Pretty Cure as a franchise for sales and nothing else. The characters I fall in love with and the stories I follow for years is nothing more than a way to generate money - and that's what I view as an unfortunate reality.

In my 16 digital collages, I overlap images directly on top of the posters. Anything that is in the frame and purchasable has been overlapped by an image of its own piece of merchandise. Especially for Pretty Cure, anything you see on the screen probably has been sold at Japanese Toys-R-Us location at one point. These pieces of merchandise range from dolls, to plushies, to keychains, to toys, to utensils, to clothing, and everything in between. Because the Pretty Cure series is not popular in the west, it is difficult finding high-resolution images. To honor this, the images have been pixelated and printed on small 4x6 prints. There is one collage for each Pretty Cure entry excluding two sequel entries covering 2004, 2006, 2008, and 2009 - 2021. The long consecutive row of these pieces speaks for its chronology.

The silent video, I wonder if the largest precure collection has this one, is a glitched looped slideshow of every single piece of official merchandise released from the Pretty Cure franchise. The nature of glitch and the duality of a magical girl work so perfectly together. The merging and separation of pixels tell its own story while a narrative of magical girls is woven together by them. From on screen fictional characters, to real life wearable costumes and playable toys and dolls, the double life of a magical girl is everywhere. It's created by datamoshing (deleting, repeating, and overlapping pixels and frames). The only sound coming from the TV is the high pitched humming from the screen. Paired with the mundane slideshow hypnotizes the same way a child would see a toy section at a store: one piece of merch after another. The old television is reminiscent of viewing Pretty Cure in its early season, but this specific form of databending is one that has become popular in recent years in the same way Pretty Cure has spanned nearly two decades worth of content. The TV on the floor is not only reminiscent of how I watched TV at my house as a child but also the action of lowering oneself to search the bottom shelf at the toy aisle ensuring nothing was missed.