I love chocolate – doesn’t everyone? I wish I could drown in it! Having said that, my friend Martynka Wawrzyniak subjected herself to (literally) drown in 16 gallons of chocolate syrup for a video she made. It is feminine funny and a little dark. You can view the video by clicking this link: http://www.martynka.com/chocolate/large2.html. Below is my interview with Martynka.
RR: What was the inspiration for your chocolate video-obviously it is more than just chocolate as guilty pleasure or a love drug..…so why chocolate?
MW: The initial seed of inspiration for this piece was the BP oil spill – the chocolate syrup looks like crude oil. The chocolate also represents the greed and gluttony that our consumer society is drowning in, the dangers of excess pleasure…material overload…
RR: Oh yes the dangers of excess pleasure! Well I love chocolate and I love how you use chocolate and your body together, it’s very feminine and sexy.
RR: How did you originally come to use your body as a canvas-so to speak? In the past, when female artists used their bodies in their work, I think it was looked down upon as if their body was their only talent and they used it to get attention, as they had no real talent. But that is such BS. It’s very clear that since our bodies (which are so overtly represented in our society, but not much by us women) need to be represented by us! They are ours! It’s the objectifying aspect and I don’t like that. As celebrated as women’s bodies are and knowing our bodies better than anyone else it only makes sense that we would use to express ourselves. So what was the original impetus to use your body as your canvas?
MW: I have modeled for many artists and it was time for me to represent myself and show the body of a woman from a female perspective, from my own personal perspective. The process has been very empowering. I agree with everything you say: I consider using my body as an empowering and liberating act. I think that a woman objectifying her own body is an act of feminism as we are celebrating the female form. My body is very much my canvas or material. My works are documentations of an experience that I go through to communicate my idea. They are performances (however not performed in front of a live audience but for the camera – therefore I am not sure if you can technically call this performance art?). In the course of the performance I undergo a transformation, a cathartic release – my experience is an integral part of the piece, it basically is the piece. I subject myself to an “experience”, without having rehearsed it and whatever happens, happens – I only shoot one take. In a sense I sacrifice myself to communicate my idea.
RR: I completely get that. I have modeled for many art classes and artists as well and as a dancer I was very comfortable with my body. However, I did a performance once with big fake boobs and I will never forget walking off the stage and having a male dancer from my ballet class say “you look really good like that (meaning my big fake boobs) and nothing about my performance!-so I understand wanting to cut out the middle man (hahaha). It’s so odd, that as far as women have come, we are still plagued by self-image. We are better educated and have achieved so much yet there is more plastic surgery than ever. And then you have people like Kim Kardashian who, simply as the result of a sex tape, become well known household names. And to top it off, she is celebrated not because of anything that would garner respect (like winning the nobel prize!) but for a sex tape and a reality show. Why are we females giving her so much attention? Girls check yourself! It is just one big marketing hype for a lot of people to make a lot of money, why don’t we see that? I don’t want Kim Kardashian as my daughter’s role model, I want Hilary Clinton! I want my daughter to be a leader and I want her to change the world!
MW: I agree. The society we live in is still very sexist. A lot of men only care about women for purely self serving reasons. It is very difficult for us women not be plagued by our self image, when there is so much emphasis on our physical appearance. Women are the flowers and men are the bees. A lot of my work is about destroying and/or dissecting/ transforming this “flower” to reveal its hidden essence – releasing the true uninhibited woman underneath. I guess you could liken it to essential oil extraction.
RR: What are you working on now?
MW: I am currently working on an olfactory self portrait. I have spent the past 7 months working with a research team in a chemistry lab at Hunter College extracting my essence.
RR: I love that idea! Smell is so sensual.
MW: I am also in the process of finishing up an installation / video piece which was commissioned by Neville Wakefield for the new ACME restaurant on Great Jones Street. You will be able to find my piece in one of the doors in the hallway that leads to the downstairs lounge. They will also be showing the Chocolate video in another door. I also just completed a piece for a group show at Envoy Enterprises gallery (“F.G.Ft” opening March 1st). The show is a tribute to the legendary, avant-garde new wave musician Fad Gadget / Frank Tovey.
To find out more info on Martynka’s upcoming show, go to this link: http://www.envoyenterprises.com/#future
*Photo above taken as a screen capture from “Chocolate”
