Unmistakable and personal, the work of Tamara Lempicka condenses a whole aesthetic stream that stood out in the first third of the last century while she managed to define herself and to mark a style of her own that we all recognise today. The motifs and compositions that the artist chose for her pieces fit perfectly with the Art Deco. Her enveloping volumes, her rounded figures and a clear contrast of colours marked her trajectory, far from the floral resources and the more slender vertical development silhouettes that marked this movement.

Tamara Łempicka, “The young girls”, ca. 1930

Precisely, the triumph of Tamara, already in her early years, and the fact that she was a female artist making her way in a sector so far still dominated by men, contains a halo of mystery and glamour that continues to awaken our curiosity. The life of this painter born in Warsaw in 1898 represents the bohemian spirit that is usually attributed to the artists of the turn of the century, with a highly demanded production and a long waiting list to order a portrait.

Her life is the story of a trip without truce that began with her studies in a boarding school in Switzerland and with family vacations in Italy. The Bolshevik Revolution was a change in her life, when, already married, she became a refugee, passing through Copenhagen, London and Paris, where she settled in 1923. In this context of flight and change, Tamara did not abandon painting, in which had begun in adolescence, and let the influence of the artistic streams of the French capital penetrate in her work. That is why, on occasion, her paintings have been described as a "soft cubism", a style widespread among many artists of the time. In 1925 she opened her first major exhibition in Milan, and in 1927 she won her first prize with the work "Kizette on the balcony" at the International Exhibition of Bordeaux. In the following years, she made the leap to New York, where her career reached the top.

Tamara Łempicka, “The sleeping woman”, 1932

Lempicka's work is enigmatic and unique, like herself, when she openly recognised her bisexuality in a context of social prohibitions. Her style has penetrated deep, even beyond the time when the painter reached her greatest recognition in life and has influenced other later creators who admit admiring her. Today, her work visits Madrid at the Gaviria Palace, 86 years after Tamara herself passed through our country on one of her many trips to Europe.

ABIERTO INFINITO. LO QUE EL CUERPO RECUERDA. CICLO DE PERFORMANCE X ART MADRID'26

Art Madrid, committed to creating a discursive platform for artists working within the field of performance and action art, presents Abierto Infinito: lo que el cuerpo recuerda, a proposal inspired by Erving Goffman’s ideas in The Presentation of Self in Everyday Life (Amorrortu Editores, Buenos Aires, 1997).

The project unfolds within a theoretical framework that directly engages with these premises, conceiving social interaction as a stage of carefully modulated performances designed to influence others’ perceptions. Goffman argues that individuals deploy both verbal and involuntary expressions to guide the interpretation of their behavior, sustaining roles and façades that define the situation for those who observe.

The body — the first territory of all representation — precedes both word and learned gesture. Human experience, conscious and unconscious alike, is inscribed within it. Abierto Infinito: lo que el cuerpo recuerda departs from this premise: representation inhabits existence itself, and life, understood as a succession of representations, transforms the body into a space of constant negotiation over who we are. In this passage, boundaries blur; the individual opens toward the collective, and the ephemeral acquires symbolic dimension. By inhabiting this interstice, performance simultaneously reveals the fragility of identity and the strength that emerges from encounter with others.

PERFORMANCE: OFF LINE. JIMENA TERCERO

March 7 | 7:00 p.m. Galería de Cristal of the Palacio de Cibeles.

OFF LINE is a performance piece that reflects on the fragility of the body in the digital age. Our relationship with the outside world is mediated by a screen, which distances us further and further from physical contact and interpersonal relationships. Focusing on creating a digital identity causes the body to distance itself from the physical world and lose its memory.

Hyperconnectivity and fragmented attention lead to a more passive physical existence, characterised by reduced spontaneous movement and less direct sensory interaction. This raises fundamental questions: how is the concept of presence redefined when our relationship with the world relies on technological mediation? What will the experience of the body be like in a future where virtuality predominates over the physical? There is a risk of progressive bodily passivity: bodies that remain still, whose activity is determined by devices and whose memory is stored digitally. The fragmentation of physical experience and the primacy of technological representation create a scenario in which, although the body is visible, it is displaced from its original function as an agent of perception and action.

This conceptual framework invites reflection on the impact of digitisation on corporeality, memory and social relationships, and on the vulnerability and inertia experienced by bodies in environments that are increasingly mediated by technology.

ABOUT JIMENA TERCERO

Jimena Tercero (Madrid, 1998) is a multidisciplinary artist whose work explores the boundaries of the female body, identity, and the subconscious. She uses performance, video, and painting to address concepts such as memory, tangibility, and play. Tercero trained in painting with Lola Albín and in analog photography at Cambridge in 2014. She studied audiovisual direction from 2018 to 2020 with renowned figures such as Víctor Erice and the production company El Deseo. She is currently pursuing a Master's degree in Creative Direction at ELISAVA. She completed her performance training at La Juan Gallery. In 2011, she was part of the children's jury at the Isfahan Film Festival in Iran.

Her directed works include Private (2016) and Paranoid (2021), which were exhibited at the Aspa Contemporary Gallery. She has also worked on projects such as Yo, mi, me, conmigo (2023, Teatros del Canal), Inside Voices (2021, Conde Duque with Itziar Okariz), and La última regla (La Juan Gallery). She has directed fashion films for publishers and brands such as Puma, Dior, and Dockers. She has also provided art direction for artists such as Sen Senra and Jorge Drexler. Additionally, she directed the documentary Also Here for ArtforChange–La Caixa. She presented Out of View (Nebula Gallery), EDEN (White Lab Gallery), and Navel Bite (Sinespacio). She participates in residencies such as Medialab with Niño de Elche and Miguel Álvarez Fernández. In 2025, she will be part of the Special Jury of the Asian Film Fest in Barcelona and the International Cultural Museum of Assilah Art Residency in Morocco).