14 Oct gea* : penetralia
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gea* is a Chilean-born, multidisciplinary, self-taught artist based in New York. Her unique work encompasses drawing, painting, illustration, and digital media. Often focusing on disturbing and explicit subjects, her drawings juxtapose sweetness and repulsion presented in a dreamlike pop surrealism, in which she explores the nether regions of our collective psyche.
An autodidact, she has exhibited solo and in group shows in New York, Los Angeles, Santiago, Zürich, Kyoto, and Toronto. Her works appear in limited-edition art books by international publishers such as Timeless Editions, Le Dernier Cri, and Re:Surgo! which has landed her in the NY Museum of Modern Art’s permanent collection. 2016 saw the release of her first monograph Penetralia, a compendium of full color and line-pencil illustrations (from which several may be purchased below).
She has been a muse to both Trevor Brown and Richard Kern. She has collaborated with Justin Isis, Simon Morris, and Shaun Partridge. She has exhibited with Stu Mead and directed music videos for Momus, J.G. Thirlwell, and Jeffrey Butzer (which received acclaim from the late film critic Roger Ebert). Her original illustrations adorn the cover of a Claus Laufenburg tribute, titled, The Man from Düsseldorf, as well as the keyart for Teruo Ishii’s swansong, Blind Beast vs. Killer Dwarf, and a Smell & Quim album cover. She was profiled alongside Genesis P. Orridge, Kenneth Anger, and Charles Gatewood in Carl Abrahamsson’s documentary, An Art Apart.
Film director Guy Maddin wrote the foreword to her first book.
gea* is at the spearhead of a movement of young female artists who have found empowerment in obscenity. Her focus is on disturbing and explicit subject matter that frequently juxtaposes sweetness and repulsion –sometimes wrapped in dream-like surrealism that explores the nether regions of our collective psyche. This new form of illustrated erotica is a pronounced affront to preconceived notions of femininity and gender roles that adapts elements of Goya and Bosch into a Japanese manga-inspired Psychopathia Sexualis. The work is liberating and grotesque in equal measures; it is infused with a carnal glee that uses bright pastels to camouflage dark concepts.
gea* is also the author and illustrator of The Nurses of Eris Hospital and has contributed to many zines and international art compendiums, including Bleu Abus, DRECK, Estrellita Mia, Honeysuckle, FEECO, La Tranchée Racine, Le Dernier Cri, The Seekers, Tinystar, Talking Heads, and TOC ZINE, among others.
Does a gea* nymphette contribute to male gaze stereotyping or is it all a sort of intellectual honey trap that addresses ideas of subjugation, albeit in a controversial manner? That’s for each observer to decide on their own.
If you are easily offended, we recommend that you DO NOT scroll down. 
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