ANA LAURA ALÁEZ (Bilbao, 1964). "Lipsticks", 2001. 16... Lot 22

ANA LAURA ALÁEZ (Bilbao, 1964). "Lipsticks", 2001. 16 polyester lipsticks in various colours. Provenance: Important Spanish Collection. Variable measurements. The piece presents 16 lipsticks in different shades, from a more intense shade of pink to a light pink and salmon. The piece shows a great interest in the volumetric study and the incidence of colour on form, thus creating a sculptural image. Ana Laura Aláez defines herself as an "architect of emotions" who transforms her experience into sculpture. She turns everyday products, such as these lipsticks, into art, but admits that she does not know what it is to "be an artist". A staunch defender of feminism, one of her works is a hand-woven wonder woman costume that connects with the traditions followed by those women who were dedicated to sewing. According to the artist herself, "I belong to a generation (the post-punk generation, the "no future" generation) that was very much marked by a frontal rejection of culture. Culture was, in a way, the incarnation of power and oppression. Throughout my artistic career I have come to understand that what we consider to be classics represent in each period a level of subversion equivalent to what we understand as such today and, therefore, to differentiate them from the normalising use made of them by official culture. From the beginnings of my practice, there are two parallel vectors that have always been present in a more or less explicit way: -1, the mode of the female presence in art and -2, the questioning of the plastic elements that have traditionally defined sculpture as an art linked to notions considered basically masculine, such as strength, hardness, the prevalence of the physical, a self-confident subject, etc., and their different re-evaluations at different moments in my trajectory." Undoubtedly, Ana Laura Aláez (is one of the fundamental names on the Spanish art scene. Her career and contribution were awarded by the Basque Government with the Gure Artea 2013. Dance & Disco at the Reina Sofía Museum (Madrid); Beauty Cabinet Prototype (Palais de Tokyo, Paris); Bridge of Light, Towada Art Center (Japan) and Sculpture Pavilion at the Musac (León). And also his participation in the most important international biennials: 5th Istanbul Biennial (1997), the 48th Venice Biennial (1999) or the Spanish Pavilion at the 49th Venice Biennial (2001), among others. His work can be found in different collections of museum spaces and art centres of indisputable relevance such as the Museo Nacional Centro de Arte Reina Sofía, the Moma in New York or the Guggenheim Museum.