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Ilona Szwarc: Virgin Soap

Past exhibition
September 4 - October 16, 2021
  • Overview
  • Works
  • Installation Views
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Overview
Ilona Szwarc, A perfect rose if “odd”, so is an imperfect rose, 2020
Ilona Szwarc, A perfect rose if “odd”, so is an imperfect rose, 2020

Virgin Soap - a solo exhibition of photographs and sculpture by Ilona Szwarc.  In this new body of work, the Polish American artist documents herself casting a model’s torso in silicone and plaster. The model lies prone on a table, her breasts exposed, classically posed against an electric blue backdrop. A perverse tutorial proceeds: Szwarc stands behind the model, a presence at once intimate and coercive. The artist binds her subject’s breasts with laces to measure them, then covers the model’s breasts, shoulders, and mouth in green silicone. 

 

As a female artist with a focus on self-portraiture, Ilona Szwarc explores themes of identity, transformation, and the dopplegänger - an inquiry rooted in her immigrant experience.  Szwarc’s work is concerned with rendering her experience visible in a way impossible in language. Here, the artist plays Pygmalion, unsure where the boundary lies between the real and the fake. 

 

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Works
  • Ilona Szwarc Virgin Soap (Installation), 2021
    Ilona Szwarc
    Virgin Soap (Installation), 2021
  • Ilona Szwarc I am on display, 2021
    Ilona Szwarc
    I am on display, 2021
  • Ilona Szwarc However many may be looking at me, I am really quite as alone as anyone could ever wish to be, 2021
    Ilona Szwarc
    However many may be looking at me, I am really quite as alone as anyone could ever wish to be, 2021
Installation Views
  • Ilona Szwarc Virgin Soap Diane Rosenstein Gallery Installation View 10
  • Ilona Szwarc Virgin Soap Diane Rosenstein Gallery Installation View 12
  • Ilona Szwarc Virgin Soap Diane Rosenstein Gallery Installation View 6 Web
  • Ilona Szwarc Virgin Soap Diane Rosenstein Gallery Installation View 3 Web
  • Ilona Szwarc Virgin Soap Diane Rosenstein Gallery Installation View 7 Web
  • Ilona Szwarc Virgin Soap Diane Rosenstein Gallery Installation View 1 Web
  • Ilona Szwarc Virgin Soap Diane Rosenstein Gallery Installation View 9
  • Ilona Szwarc Virgin Soap Diane Rosenstein Gallery Installation View 2 Web
  • Ilona Szwarc Virgin Soap Diane Rosenstein Gallery Installation View 4 Web
  • Ilona Szwarc Virgin Soap Diane Rosenstein Gallery Installation View 8
  • Ilona Szwarc Virgin Soap Diane Rosenstein Gallery Installation View 5 Web
  • Ilona Szwarc Virgin Soap Diane Rosenstein Gallery Installation View 11
Press
  • Artillery Interviews Ilona Szwarc

    Julie Schulte, Artillery, October 28, 2021
    This link opens in a new tab.
  • FLAUNT Interviews Ilona Szwarc

    NATE RYNASKI, FLAUNT, October 7, 2021
  • CULTURED Interviews Ilona Szwarc

    Cultured Magazine, September 24, 2021
  • KCRW Reviews Ilona Szwarc

    Lindsay Preston Zappas, KCRW Art Insider, September 22, 2021
News
  • Ilona Szwarc installation acquired by DE LA CRUZ Collection, Miami

    Ilona Szwarc installation acquired by DE LA CRUZ Collection, Miami

    "There Is Always One Direction" opens November 30th November 17, 2021
    We are proud to announce that the Rosa and Carlos de la Cruz Collection in Miami has acquired a suite of photographs and sculpture by...
    Read more
  • Ilona Szwarc in FLAUNT

    Ilona Szwarc in FLAUNT

    Interview October 7, 2021
    An interview with artist Ilona Szwarc about her current solo, 'Virgin Soap.' Polish-born, Los Angeles-based artist Ilona Szwa rc ’s Virgin Soap is on view...
    Read more
  • Ilona Szwarc in CULTURED

    Ilona Szwarc in CULTURED

    Interview September 24, 2021
    An interview with artist Ilona Szwarc about her current solo, 'Virgin Soap.' There is a simultaneous nonchalance and sternness on their faces. The subjects—artist Ilona...
    Read more
  • Ilona Szwarc in KCRW Art Insider

    Ilona Szwarc in KCRW Art Insider

    by Lindsay Preston Zappas September 22, 2021
    'At Diane Rosenstein in Hollywood, Ilona Szwarc’s “Virgin Soap” is a mixed media exhibition that aestheticizes and sensualizes the artist’s process while blurring the boundaries...
    Read more
  • Ilona Szwarc in COOL HUNTING

    Ilona Szwarc in COOL HUNTING

    "Virgin Soap" Interview by Julie Wolfson August 19, 2021
    'ARTIST ILONA SZWARC ON HER UPCOMING SHOW: VIRGIN SOAP — REVERSING GENDER ROLES, EXPERIMENTING WITH SILICONE, EXPLORING COLOR AND MORE IN HER NEW EXHIBITION AT...
    Read more

Related artist

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    Ilona Szwarc

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