STANDING PINE

Standing Pine Tokyo is pleased to announce Lucas Foletto Celinski's solo exhibition SQUELETTE DE L'AMOUR, opening from Saturday 21st September. Featuring recent works that employ a multidisciplinary approach, the exhibition explores the human body as both a site of constraint and liberation. It delves into queer sexuality, examining the nuances of pleasure and the intense physical sensations of embodied experiences.

In contrast to the proliferation of digital technologies, Foletto Celinski's artistic practice centers on the body as both the primary subject and the core element of his methodology. Employing techniques such as jewelry making, textile sculpture, analog photography, and hand printing, he highlights the tactile pleasures of craftsmanship. His work also delves into sensorial experiences and integrates Fakir Musafar's concept of 'Body-Play,' which uses body modification for personal exploration. The photographs from his collaboration with extreme body artist Luna Duran illustrate these approaches, showcasing experiments with temporary piercings, intentional scars, hook suspension, and Shibari.

On a more intimate scale, the photo-montage series La Petite Mort captures ephemeral states of transcendence and pleasure, reflecting on the inherent melancholy of life, love, and death. It explores moments of grace and the potential for ecstatic breakthroughs through physical experiences. The series employs techniques such as analog photomontage, multiple exposure, silkscreen, and photo transfer to blend images of lovers and friends engaged in BDSM practices with public artistic sculptures of nudity and sensuality, creating a dialogue between private, intimate moments and public representations of the body.

The conceptual and material poetics of Foletto Celinski’s work are articulated through the lens of "queer abstraction." Among the pieces is a wall installation made from elastic straps reminiscent of those used in undergarments traditionally intended for female-bodied individuals. His floor sculptures feature minimalist, biomorphic forms that resemble snakes or phalluses encased in corsets, arranged to evoke sexual gestures. The piece titled Threesome particularly investigates the eroticism of sameness within these phallic forms. Lucas Foletto Celinski introduces a language that merges form and body, creating erotic objects that are both tangible and abstract.

By highlighting the extremes of bodily sensations, the exhibition celebrates the body in its full spectrum of experiences. The artworks serve as memento mori souvenirs, reflecting on the interplay between bodily pleasures and the inevitability of decay. Additionally, the exhibition reexamines traditional perspectives on love and sexuality, offering alternative viewpoints on these realms. Honoring sensory perception and bodily intuition, it reveals how challenging body norms not only confronts oppression but also promotes creative and sensual experiences as part of an ongoing journey toward liberation.

Lucas Foletto Celinski is an interdisciplinary artist born in Brazil. He lives and works in Berlin, Germany. He holds a Master Degree from the Academy of Fine Arts Munich, Germany. Recent projects include: Novel Pleasures (in collaboration with James Richards) at Hamburger Bahnhof, Berlin (2024), Let Life Be Beautiful Like Summer Flower at Wehrmuehle (2023), Body-Modification as Artistic Practice - Lecture, APP, Las Vegas (2023), Archiv-Salon: Queer Pleasure & Pain at Schwules Museum, Berlin (2022), Tender Traces at OR Gallery-Yuan Museum, Chongqing (2021), Intimacy: New Queer Art From Berlin and Beyond at Schwules Museum, Berlin (2021), Libidinal Motion at Galerie Delmes & Zander, Cologne (2018), Suture Pénétrable at Standing Pine Gallery, Nagoya (2017), Passion at Museum Ludwig, Budapest (2016), Slash: In Between the Normative and the Fantasy at Kim? Contemporary Art Centre, Riga (2015), Berlin Artists’ Statements at BWA Contemporary Art Gallery, Katowice (2015) and Bedded-Down Knot at Künstlerhaus Bethanien, Berlin (2015).

La Petite Mort Nr. 7, 2024
Black and white photograph, hand-printed on baryta paper.
11 x 8.2 cm

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