Melissa Ichiuji / Irvine Contemporary

Irvine Contemporary presents Melissa Ichiuji’s second solo exhibition,
Lesser Madonnas.

Melissa Ichiuji, Lesser Madonna No.1, 2009. Fabric, nylon, wooden chair, mixed materials. Variable dimensions.

Opening reception with the artist, Saturday February 28th, 6-8PM.

In her new body of work, Melissa Ichiuji explores new themes that challenge our cultural messages about motherhood, the mother’s body, domestic space, and sexual identities. Lesser Madonnas exposes age-old tensions and dualisms in our cultural symbols of the feminine—Madonna/Mother versus Aphrodite/Venus, the mystery of procreation versus the power of the erotic, the mother in the limited confines of domestic space versus the unlimited sexuality of woman as agent of desire. Ichiuji also continues her challenges to simplistic demarcations of sexual and gender identity in children, adolescents, and adults, often with wry humor and striking visual puns.