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The artist, born in Buenos Aires and influenced by the work of her father, a cosmetic surgeon, uses textiles and sewing in works of soft colors that echo the Argentine dictatorship or the animals of Latin America.
Surprisingly light, the stump hangs from the wall, levitating as if by magic. Its pink, purple, pale yellow and sky blue rings are hypnotizing, like the eyes of the snake Kaa… That’s the welcome that Tamara Kostianovsky has in store for you at her exhibition at the Museum of Hunting and Nature. Further, in the main room, logs and parts of trees, scale one, litter the ground. They are also delicate in color, so delicate that they resemble intriguing pastries, mille-feuilles or pieces of fresh meat. A few fungi of black fabric, tiny traces of mold, grow on the logs which – when you get close to them – turn out to be made of fabric. Composed of thin strips sewn together by hand, like a textile epidermis, these logs are made of cotton, pliable like a pillow. “My father was a plastic surgeon, explains Tamara Kostianovsky. He thought it was a good idea to expose me to any job. When I first used the fabric, I had images in mind of my father working with leather in his practice. I didn’t get into sewing through a trade, but through an operation.”
A taste for delicate shades
Born in 1974 in Jerusalem, Tamara Kostianovsky grew up in Buenos Aires, Argentina. At the age of 19, an art student, she moved between her father’s doctor’s office and painting workshops. And he testifies to the secrets of nose surgery, facelift, liposuction