Smell Me: Martynka Wawrzyniak’s Scented Exhibition at Envoy Enterprises

‘In today’s society we do everything we can to mask the natural scent of our bodies, thus forgoing an ancient form of animal communication. I wanted to isolate these primal human essences and deliver them in an environment devoid of other sensual distractions. The piece represents the true essence of a woman – free of visual prejudice.’
– Martynka Wawrzyniak

Martynka Wawrzyniak’s perfume made of her own bodily essences. Photo courtesy Envoy Enterprises, New York.

Envoy Enterprises, a gallery on the fashionable Lower East Side of New York, will open an exhibition of Martynka Wawrzyniak on Saturday, October 20th entitled Smell Me.  Featured will be a scent chamber into which visitors can go to smell synthetically reconstituted essences collected from Wawrzyniak’s body and then made into a scent with the collaboration of Yann Vasnier of Givaudan and scent director Dawn Goldworm of 12.29.

According to the gallery’s press release, a limited edition of the original organic essences will also be displayed in a tear-shaped chemistry vial as well as three candles that are made of paraffin that was scraped off Wawrzyniak’s body then melted into 250 ml chemistry beakers.

Sounds like Wawrzyniak is doing her own version of Jean-Baptiste Grenouille’s obsessive quest in the novel “Perfume,” just without the murder and the misogynistic creepiness.

Martynka Wawyzyniak (b. 1979, Poland) is a mixed-media artist who has worked with photography, video, performance and installations. her solo exhibitions include ‘Kids’ and ‘Ketchup’ (2009) at envoy enterprises, New York. Recent group projects include ‘Chocolate’ (2012) at Jousse Enterprise Gallery, Paris; ‘FG.Ft’ (2012) at envoy enterprises, New York; ‘Mob’, 2011 at Bullet Space, New York; ‘Commercial Break’ (2011), presented at The Garage Center for Contemporary Culture at the 54th Venice Biennale, Italy; ‘4 Sale’ (2011), at Galeria Ego, Poland.

Smell Me runs through November 18.  More information on Envoy’s website:  http://envoyenterprises.com/#future87.

Related article:

Huffington Post: Martynka Wawrzyniak’s ‘Smell Me’: Artist Spends Year Capturing Her Olfactory Self-Portrait

 

Martynka Wawrzyniak. Photo courtesy Huffington Post

Leave a Comment

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.

%d bloggers like this: