Chez Lucinda

Hello Everybody and Thank You for reading,

Lucinda

NEZ LUCINDA CHEZ LUCINDA

Perfume was an interest that mushroomed for me; from curating my collection of Impulse spray cans at 10, to rationing a 5ml atomiser of Serge Luten's liquid gold Cannibale at 20. For the artist, scent is an element just as imperative as space, visuals, sound, and context. With this Blog, I aim to voyage into the medium of smell- seriously. Will I find art? 

THE VOYAGEUR

The experience of the perfume is heightened by 'setting the stage'. Where are you? Are you sitting? Is it dark? Are you outside? How do you feel already? What can you hear, is there music playing?  Is it loud and bass-y, or distant and echoey? Are you alone? Are you prepared? 

These variables hark back to a formula I made, in how to heighten the artist's experience. It was for a project looking into the Cruelty of Art, the major influence being Artaud's Theatre of Cruelty. To begin the formula, you must find a 'cruelty' that has always been inside you. Spotlight and study this Cruelty. Begin to externalise it through researching relevant provocative topics to contextualise with. This increases spectator relativity to find a Cruelty inside them. It is entirely in your power to choose the medium of release. And why do I like Cruel art? Because Cruelty is just as elusive as Art can be. And as an artist, I am opting to play with the extremes of something, trial present. This is the kind of art that 'cuts' you. 

METHOD ART

I created a process to bring this out back in 2018, and I called it 'Method Art'. It is written for the painter, as I was on trajectory to make a 2D painting. Therefore I looked at 2d images of cruelty. A sculpture should interact with the cruelty differently, in a 3D form for their specific discipline. The Method should be used when intentions are clear and the medium is selected and provided. To encounter any difficulties during the Method could endanger the mind, as the generation of anxious energy is from input curated by the artist's deep-set phobias and disgust.

Environment+Imagery > Position > Create > Display

ENVIRONMENT + IMAGERY
The space of creation is prepared. It is most uncomfortable. The Painter uses a large canvas. Jarring music is playing. Art utensils are ready in reach.
The Painter takes in grotesque images of torture, war, gore, death; concepts extremely unfamiliar. The Painter starts to feel a physical reaction; shakes, nausea, perturbed and paranoid, on the edge.
POSITION
The Painter gets into the position for exuding this Cruel energy (through their designated medium).
CREATE
The Energy is being released. The Painter paints.
DISPLAY
The Cruel Art is then mounted for spectator involvement. How they involve themselves is completely out of the Painter's hands.

This is immersive art performance for both the artist and spectator because the emotional thoroughfare of Cruel art is so powerful. The spectator is situated in the exuded Cruelty that pervades the artwork's space. This isolating confrontation is the immersive experience I want to evoke with perfume. 

THE WHOLE RESPIRATORY SYSTEM 

A cruelty I found inside me was Shame. The prison of shame I built at a very young age became fetishistic as I started to masochistically chase the feeling. It malformed into a confidence crisis, and the inability to speak with truth led to situations involving a power imbalance and a sacrifice of my mental or physical health (and that is cruel). I connect this to Nez Lucinda because it goes beyond perfume; it's the lungs that ingest it, the skin that wears it, the nose that captures it, and the breath it travels through. It travels along the breath of someone who is learning to speak their truth, to be open within themselves to express clearly. Diamanda Galás has been the idol for guiding my growth, because when she sings (and she SINGS) she is working the whole respiratory system. I owe it to the devil in my throat.

The Devil's Head chez Lucinda Throat 

Then there is THE NEZ. An obtrusive feature of my face that I thoroughly disliked for a very long time I now want to highlight. This is the vessel for this ritual to happen. The Nose, the Eyes, the Mouth, the Ears, the Hands, are Artist's tools.

The Nez

✍︎Nez Lucinda