OMNIPRÉSENCE
ORLAN (France)
What are the ideals of beauty in art? And why is having cosmetic surgery a social taboo?
Omnipresence was ORLAN’s seventh medical performance in a series of plastic surgery operations in which the artist altered her appearance to reflect the ideals of western art and cultural pressures of beauty. As part of the ongoing series, ‘The Reincarnation of Saint Orlan’, ORLAN underwent surgeries that included forehead changes to reflect Leonardo Da Vinci’s Mona Lisa’s prominent brow, a prosthetic chin to echo Sandro Botticelli's Venus, retouches to the eyelids to suggest a Fontainbleau Diana, and plumped lips to imitate Moreau's Europa. The artist’s intimate surgeries become a public spectacle and her body becomes an art canvas.
ORLAN is a renowned French performance artist who works in the mediums of sculpture, photography and film, and is best known for her work with plastic surgery in the early to mid-1990s. Her performance work often uses scientific and medical techniques like surgery and biogenetics. ORLAN’s artwork Harlequin’s Coat (2007) was a result of her collaboration with the SymbioticA laboratory in Australia.