Obsidian Upset
Des Bains, London, W1W 8QR
Lucia Farrow, Mila Rowyszyn, Elsa Rouy, Chessa Subbiondo and Stolen Besos
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“wearing my obsidian necklace today <3 fuck mercury in retrograde” – L.A. influencer
Obsidian Upset was an exhibition centred around the premiere of the eponymous short film written and directed by artists Lucia Farrow and Mila Rowyszyn. The psycho-sexual neo-noir film explores themes of girlhood, fixing its sarcasti female gaze upon Los Angeles’ apparent infatuation with perfection. In a 2010s Tumblr-esque fever dream, Obsidian Upset captures the moment of 21st century pop culture that, for the first time, sees adolescents contemplate womanhoo through the many filters of a digital world. In the lead role: a blogger, french manicure double-tapping on socials, lounging in her strangely impersonal bedroom until she is disturbed by a mysterious delivery. A matcha latte later, the Californian desert becomes backdrop to her content creation, shooting the freshly unboxed CBD product that promises to reflect back one's innermost self. Wellness tips into horror; trust gives way to deception; phone screen melts, now liquid, obsidian in its reflective blackness, turning vanity into flowers.
Behind the camera, two best friends in the sharp, white light of LA, eyes on the industrial Hollywood complex. The artists-turned-directors set out to capture their vision of the city: sun rising and setting, doors opening and closing, endles reflections of their fragile bodies in the infinity mirrors of online platforms. Somewhere between pretending, performing and becoming, the pair navigates their role as artists and filmmakers; in the blurred lines of being at once author and subjects, both living through the skewed reality of social media and transposing it on movie screen – both approximations of the real. Where cinema has its red curtain parting fact and fiction, there is no “The End” to the illusion of social media.
Obsidian liquid leaked into the exhibition space, escaping the silver screen, the script continued unfolding on the gallery walls. Works by LA photographer Chessa Subbiondo and Stolen Besos introduced more online personas, style-icons or fallen heroins, adding the characteristic liminality of a motel to the mise-en-scene. Elsa Rouy’s work translated film still to painting, LA to London, carrying the same fragility through this game of reflections. Switching seamlessly between hazy on-screen reality and serene Mayfair gallery, exhibition and screening space, Obsidian Upset evoked the very fluidity we anxiously confront navigating the fabrics of our own identities. Between the on and offline, the liquid and the solid, euphoria and paranoia, the obsidian mirror reflected back a fragmented truth.
Watch Obsidian Upset (2024) by Lucia Farrow and Mila Rowyszyn here.
Press release here.
For enquiries, contact us at info@kollektivcollective.com.
Des Bains, London, W1W 8QR
Lucia Farrow, Mila Rowyszyn, Elsa Rouy, Chessa Subbiondo and Stolen Besos
“wearing my obsidian necklace today <3 fuck mercury in retrograde” – L.A. influencer
Obsidian Upset was an exhibition centred around the premiere of the eponymous short film written and directed by artists Lucia Farrow and Mila Rowyszyn. The psycho-sexual neo-noir film explores themes of girlhood, fixing its sarcasti female gaze upon Los Angeles’ apparent infatuation with perfection. In a 2010s Tumblr-esque fever dream, Obsidian Upset captures the moment of 21st century pop culture that, for the first time, sees adolescents contemplate womanhoo through the many filters of a digital world. In the lead role: a blogger, french manicure double-tapping on socials, lounging in her strangely impersonal bedroom until she is disturbed by a mysterious delivery. A matcha latte later, the Californian desert becomes backdrop to her content creation, shooting the freshly unboxed CBD product that promises to reflect back one's innermost self. Wellness tips into horror; trust gives way to deception; phone screen melts, now liquid, obsidian in its reflective blackness, turning vanity into flowers.
Behind the camera, two best friends in the sharp, white light of LA, eyes on the industrial Hollywood complex. The artists-turned-directors set out to capture their vision of the city: sun rising and setting, doors opening and closing, endles reflections of their fragile bodies in the infinity mirrors of online platforms. Somewhere between pretending, performing and becoming, the pair navigates their role as artists and filmmakers; in the blurred lines of being at once author and subjects, both living through the skewed reality of social media and transposing it on movie screen – both approximations of the real. Where cinema has its red curtain parting fact and fiction, there is no “The End” to the illusion of social media.
Obsidian liquid leaked into the exhibition space, escaping the silver screen, the script continued unfolding on the gallery walls. Works by LA photographer Chessa Subbiondo and Stolen Besos introduced more online personas, style-icons or fallen heroins, adding the characteristic liminality of a motel to the mise-en-scene. Elsa Rouy’s work translated film still to painting, LA to London, carrying the same fragility through this game of reflections. Switching seamlessly between hazy on-screen reality and serene Mayfair gallery, exhibition and screening space, Obsidian Upset evoked the very fluidity we anxiously confront navigating the fabrics of our own identities. Between the on and offline, the liquid and the solid, euphoria and paranoia, the obsidian mirror reflected back a fragmented truth.
Watch Obsidian Upset (2024) by Lucia Farrow and Mila Rowyszyn here.
Press release here.
For enquiries, contact us at info@kollektivcollective.com.
25 July –
16 August 2024
16 August 2024
Installation view: Obsidian Upset (25 July – 16 August 2024) at DES BAINS gallery, curated by Kollektiv Collective, courtesy of DES BAINS gallery.
Still from Obsidian Upset (2024) by Lucia Farrow and Mila Rowyszyn. Courtesy of the artists.
Installation view: Obsidian Upset (25 July – 16 August 2024) at DES BAINS gallery, curated by Kollektiv Collective, courtesy of DES BAINS gallery.
Lucia Farrow and Mila Rowyszyn, Obsidian Upset CD (2024). Courtesy of the artists.
Installation view: Obsidian Upset (25 July – 16 August 2024) at DES BAINS gallery, curated by Kollektiv Collective. Courtesy of DES BAINS gallery.
Obsidian Upset (2023) by Lucia Farrow. Courtesy of DES BAINS gallery.
Installation view: Obsidian Upset (25 July – 16 August 2024) at DES BAINS gallery, curated by Kollektiv Collective, courtesy of DES BAINS gallery.
Still from Obsidian Upset (2024) by Lucia Farrow and Mila Rowyszyn. Courtesy of the artists.
Obsidian Upskirt (2024) by Elsa Rouy. Courtesy of DES BAINS gallery. 
Sunday Ruin003 (2024) by Lucia Farrow. Courtesy of DES BAINS gallery.