Nicole Eugene
Houston, TX
Artist's Statement:
To access the ideas behind Nicole Eugene’s use of nontraditional paints one must only be equipped with the Marshall McLuhan’s concept that the medium is the message.
The petite size and sleek enamel finish of each nail polish painting seeks to seduce the viewer by pulling them closer like the allure of cosmetic beauty that men and women succumb to. The variety of ways the nail polish interacts with other shades, brands and types of nail polish gives each painting a profound uniqueness and singularity. Each painting uses the language of movement, interaction, and suspended time.
Applying nail polish onto canvas or wood and displaying it as artwork alludes to the beauty rituals and the presentation of self that are often facilitated by cosmetic means. Eugene was drawn to this medium because the nail polish paintings are compelling testimonies about the frustration and power that cosmetic beauty has created in the artist’s life and in the lives of many other women.
Through further development of her work it became apparent that the suspended flow of nail polish also contributes to larger discourses on the liberation of the feminine subject and the Other. The tight monotonous patterns of wood grain and woven canvas are contrasted by the looseness and self-direction of flowing polish. The pairing of these two rhythms presents nail polish, which is typically restricted to small bottles and tiny nails, as a substance that is stunning and enchanting when it flows freely. It is the liberation of nail polish and its excitement long outlives its wetness.
Artist's Bio:
I am one of the many people that were displaced by Katrina. I had just moved to New Orleans a week before the evacuation. My nail polish paintings and my stockpile of nail polish were spared from Katrina because I serendipitously had these, and a few other possessions in my car when I evacuated to Houston. Some of these survivors are on the enclosed portfolio.
