TORCH Gallery presents The Elusive Self, a one-week-only exhibition by MC de Waal during Amsterdam Dance Event. This collaborative and multidisciplinary project is centered around a leather suit, the result of an extensive search for the right designers and materials. The outfit represents the ideal image of an assertive amazon that the artist has fantasised about since childhood.
Worn by a lifelike wax statue, the suit becomes a desorienting statement piece. The v-shaped silhouette and corresponding photographs of the three basic geometric shapes refer to two kindred spirits of De Waal from a different time: German singer and performer Klaus Nomi and German artist and choreographer Oskar Schlemmer, who regarded his costumes for the mathematical choreography of the Triadisches Ballett (1922) as 'walking architecture'.
Also on view will be documentation of a
performance done by De Waal in the suit, to the new Italo disco song
Creatures of the Night by her alter ego Maxime Duvall. The exhibition
is completed by a new triptych of paintings by the Rotterdam
collective KAMP HORST inspired by the song.
About the
artist
Having always worked on the crossroads between
photography, performance, music, fashion and the club scene, De Waal
is a seamless fit with ADE. Years of modelling taught her how to use
the body as a means of expression. Publicly pushing the boundaries of
self-alteration, she deals with the concepts of human identity and
the constructable man.
Rotterdam artist collective KAMP HORST is known for its intense paintings with comic-like compositions, depicting absurd humour and strange combinations of persons, animals and objects.
Collaborators
KAMP HORST: paintings
Vanderwilt & MC de Waal: leather suit design
Italo Connection: Creaters of the Night remix
Silas Schletterer & Maxime Duvall: soundscape
Wessel Haaxman: performance video
