illy BAR COLLECTION – Norma Jeane

The collection was inspired by the NJ’s series of large size prints International Flights, realized by scanning very small miniatures of home appliances in very high resolution over a dirty scanner glass. The resulting image was then enlarged to reach the size of the real object.

“Norma Jeane’s washing machines fall from the sky, like splinters from an explosion, consumer icons blown up. This ‘shower’ conjures up a famous Italian film, Zabrinskie Point by Michelangelo Antonioni (1969) in the apocalyptic finale of which a house is blown up: clothes, books, frozen foods, and a television ‘fly’ towards the screen provoking a liberated and at the same time dream-like effect in the viewer. The images created by Norma Jeane are surreal visions which lead us to another time and space, like when we drink a coffee. Bringing the cup closer to our lips, we close our eyes so as to inhale its aroma better, savour its taste, and feel its warmth. It’s a break. Time suspended, a moment we devote to ourselves, a siesta which proves itself to be a truly free moment, belonging only to the one who indulges in it. Long-lasting or short-lived, it’s a moment spent listening to one’s inner self by means of a momentary absence of contact with the outside world. This ephemeral self-withdrawal facilitates the temporary regrouping, the reunification, the reconstitution of our exploded, divided, dispersed personalities. This break plays its part in restoring our integrity, thanks to the rest it guarantees and gives us…”

Item includes: 1 cup, 1 saucer.