Weld Queen Exhibition "Choice and Polyethylene"

On the Moscow art scene, one can often see a green-eyed, fair-haired girl in a tunic made of rough fabric, in a helmet with a raised visor. The warrior maiden, Athena-Pallas - this is the image that immediately arises in the mind when meeting with her. Surprisingly, this image is as metaphorical as it is real. Athena-Pallas, in addition to the military sciences, patronizes craftsmanship, crafts, art, Alexandra Weld Queen perfectly mastered her father’s profession - metal welding and began to create her sculptures using this method. The raw material - coarse industrial metal fittings - becomes obedient in the hands of Weld Queen, and the welding mask creates the illusion of a helmet of the Greek goddess.

The Weld Queen project includes 9 “transparent” sculptures, of which only one - the figure of a girl - is static, the rest are able to move. The kinetism of objects is due to the ability of the viewer to manipulate them. The sculptures are based on the principle of a rocking chair. The entire installation is interactive, each viewer can enter the object, sit down and begin to swing. And then a very provocative picture arises. The fact is that sculptures welded from metal rods are semi-reclining human figures that are supported by semicircular runners. The spectator who decided to sway sits down on the stomach of the sculpture, as it were, leaning back on its bent knees. The figures themselves are conditional sculptural portraits of very specific people, specially selected by the author as models for this project. Sculptural portraits are placed one at a time on an object - a girl, a young man, or in pairs - a girl and a young man, two girls, two young men. A total of 8 kinetic sculptures containing 11 characters. For the viewer is the choice of the object. By the will of the visitors, the sculptures pumped, nodded quickly, slowly - as the viewer decides, and the whole system will come to life. And only the figure of the girl in the center of the action remains static.

As conceived by the author, this project is an exhibition-parable, where gender games are presented in allegorical form, the result of which is the search for one’s identity outside of gender relations. The author says: “We are swinging on the swing of our doubts, joining the game of searching for potential partners. This game between the sexes takes place in the format of the planet and stretches for millennia. ” When playing, a person often loses himself, forgets and erases his personality. He transforms his body, face, striving to be like famous people or accepted standards of beauty, masculinity. As a result, many similar human copies are created (we recall only the endless stream of “Marilyn Monroe”), the illusion of a shop window appears, where similar products are located in dense vacuum plastic packaging. When a person who has forgotten his identity surrenders to the lovers of love, then his choice remains only among these plastic toys. The author suggests playing “the games of the physical world consciously. All people are units of energy that have their own power, their own identity. Understanding this, everyone can discover their own freedom. ”

The central static figure reflects the position of the observer outside of bodily games, the position of a person who seeks value in himself. In this context, the artist invites each visitor to consider this sculpture as their self-portrait.

Irina Filatova.