Situated in a completely unassuming, industrial building just south of the arts district in downtown LA is Nicodim Gallery. From the street, you’d never know if it was another clothing manufacturer, produce exporter, or a trendy, high-end live/work loft space. Nicodim has two spaces within 1700 S. Santa Fe – one on the first floor and one on the 4th. Sextet was exhibited on the first floor and ran through Oct. 17th, 2020
Isabelle Albuquerque is a Los Angeles based sculptor and performer. This series, Orgy for 10 People in 1 Body, was her first solo show with Nicodim Gallery. Six headless casts created from 3D scans of the artist’s body are displayed across the space. Each sculpture was created from a unique material ranging from resin to bronze to walnut. They dominate the space with their commanding and self-possessed presence.
Orgy for 10 People in One Body: 5
Sculpture #5 is a doe, reclining gingerly on a pillow of grass, yet fully aware of her body. I find that this series is reminiscent of Manet’s Olympia and the traditional reclining nude. Olympia was one of the first times in the canon of art history where a female nude confronted the (male) gaze of the viewer. She went from being a passively consumed object (women were not even allowed into salons) to recognizing the power in her own sexuality.
If you look closely, a thin black chocker around Olympia’s neck and her metal art band are echoed in the small black wedding band on Albuquerque’s doe (Sculpture #5). It’s impossible to escape Olympia’s gaze, but Albuquerque’s sculptures have all had the head removed, so their gaze is not even an option. It gives the viewer a voyeuristic insight into what appears to be a private moment, particularly in sculptures 1, 2 and 3 where the subject is touching herself. They claim their sexuality in their own way, through their actions and materiality, instead of their confronting gaze.
Margaret Atwood famously wrote the following on Manet’s Olympia:
But. Consider the body,
unfragile, defiant, the pale nipples
staring you right in the bull’s eye.
Consider also the black ribbon
around the neck. What’s under it?
A fine red threadline, where the head
was taken off and glued back on.
The body’s on offer,
but the neck’s as afar as it goes…
This is no morsel.
Put clothes on her and you’d have a schoolteacher,
the kind with the brittle whiphand.
There’s someone else in this room.
You, Monsieur Voyeur.
As for that object of yours
she’s seen those before, and better.
I, the head, am the only subject
of this picture.
You, Sir, are furniture.
Get stuffed.
Albuquerque takes Atwood’s interpretation of Olympia one step further by literally removing the head from her subject. The viewer is forced to confront her explicit sexuality without the distractions of narrative. She is focused and intent on communicating that she is the owner of her body and that we, as viewers, are merely voyeurs in an action that is entirely her own; she is not performing for male entertainment as a traditional female nude may have been.
Sculpture #1, shown above, was inspired by Leda from the story “Leda and the Swan”, where Zeus comes down to Earth and rapes/Seduces Leda while he is in the form of a swan. This version is a musical adaptation in a metallic bronze finish.
Sculpture #2 is a birth depiction or motherhood by fire – a life begins with pain. During the opening of the exhibition, this candle was actively burned, now depicted as melted wax.
Orgy for 10 People in One Body: 6 
Orgy for 10 People in One Body: 2
Sculpture #3 is small compared to the rest, yet she fully owns her sexuality and body through her strategic hand placement. Sculpture #4 is perched on all fours, seemingly preparing herself to spring into action or for ‘rear mounting’. (TBH, I was picturing the scene in Mean Girls where Lindsay Lohan is talking about the watering hole at the mall.)
Orgy for 10 People in One Body: 3 
Orgy for 10 People in One Body: 4
Overall, this was an incredible exhibition that was thoughtfully curated and I’m glad to have attended. Looking forward to more from this artist and Nicodim Gallery in the coming year.
