Beauty and the Beast
by Luisa Manea
Nicolette Ceccoli, who was born in 1973 and lives in northern Italy has been able to bridge a void in what she calls the "Beauty and the Beast".
The artist describes it as the space between childhood and adulthood.
This state of ‘in-between-ness’ creates tension in her work, as in life, often seen in teenage girls, where they explore the transition from a sweet child to the awakening of sexual expression/exploitation of an adult woman.
This phase can lead to the experimentation of how far young females can take their attraction (beauty) and what they can do with it—juxtaposed with the element of taking it too far (beast) and dealing with an adult situation with an almost childlike mind.
By examining three figurative works by Ceccoli alongside similarly posed historical and contemporary versions, we discover that these childlike renderings of the female form are targeted towards an adult audience.
As a child, Ceccoli helped her father make handmade wooden toys in his workshop, often creating her designs for toys, while living in one of the most beautiful, enchanting hilltop towns. Occupied by 33000 people, in only 24 square kilometres, it is the perfect setting for the development for her surreal paintings.
Currently, the artist lives in a modern world surrounded by ancient buildings. It is the perfect contrast for her subject matter. A true Surrealist painter, she takes inspiration from artists like Mark Ryden and Hieronymus Bosch.
She has exhibited widely, including at the Venice Biennale in 2022.
Ceccoli’s paintings have proven to be as crucial as any of Botticelli, Manet, Titian or Freud's, painting with the same detail as the masters in oils. Most importantly, she has excellent knowledge and education in the arts, using composition and symbols to tell her story.
In Titian and Manet's paintings, the nude looks directly out at an unknown viewer, for the male gaze. Venus in a reclining pose, has red flowers from a lover and seductively holds your gaze, implying she’s waiting for love. Her body is soft, relaxed and yearning. Her neck is exposed ready to receive kisses.
In Octopussy girl, we also see a reclining nude, but her gaze is directed to a mirror. The mirror might symbolise social media and how young pre-teens and teenagers cannot see who is looking at them in the same way the male gazes upon paintings from historical periods. The mirror might also be a symbol of self-love and a narcissistic way of looking at one's beauty.
The symbolic fly has a 24-hour life cycle, the same life span as a social media 'story 'post. The budding breast, the multi-legs and the child-like proportion of the head symbolise a body morphing into baby-making mode, with so many changes that the mind can’t keep up. All the while the female looks at herself in the mirror, the change so quick that the mirror becomes a motion picture movie of the change occurring.
The title using the incorrect spelling of Octopus and using Pussy (a sexualised pun) acts as a pop culture reference to a James Bond movie. This is another juxtaposing moment, where even though women are seen as sex objects, whilst still having independent jobs/careers (scientist, researchers, lawyers, spy, inventors…) they are experienced lovers. Additionally, Bond girls are usually much younger. Ian Fleming, the author of Bond, understands women, and these are the women Nicoletta struggles to find today.
Octopussy girl
Olympia in oil
Edouard Manet 1856
Venus of Urbino in oil
1538
Titian
In Toyland (2010), the young female’s legs are spread, and she has no intention of standing up; she waits for the impact. The train is steaming right towards her while her thoughts are elsewhere. She anticipates the sexual experience, without emotion, a vague look on her face, suggesting ‘here we go again’.
Toyland
Seated Nude by L Freud
nude, oil, 1991, 45 x 50 cm
Seated Nude has a very similar composition, with the adult female placed in a corner. It's again using juxtaposition, the same message old and new, the same pose, the same look.
In Lucian Freud's work, we don't need the puffing train. The woman's age writes the story through her sad face and body. With an extended tummy from having children and breasts no longer defying gravity, and areolas extended over each breast from the past enlargement of breastfeeding, the ‘food train’ is no longer in motion.
While the feme-fatale has no other playthings except for a pink ball, a symbol the size of a pregnant tummy, she's going to have a baby girl, and the baby train will again be in motion for every baby girl born. Here we see the hidden beauty in Freud’s work (composition, colour harmony, lighting, acceptance) and in Ceccoli’s work the hidden beast, the anticipation of what is going to happen next is not good, creating anxiety and tension.
The magician's assistant
The Story of Nastadio Degli Onesti Botticelli
1483
The Story of Nastadio Degli Onesti I, 1483
Botticelli, known for painting beautiful women, also painted lesser-known scenes of murder, rape, and warmongering. On show for social media and the toll it takes, aim and fire the painting screams. Trolls are just as murderess as the scene above. A reference to gaslighting and cruel words that can kill.
It's a never-ending story for women spanning centuries. For all our education, why are women still experiencing repression in many forms (sexual, work, home) in doing so we cut “… them off from the creative energy they need to be independent and self-fulfilled” (Encyclopaedia Brittanica, 2024).
Cupid has turned into the roll of the dice! Everyone is aiming.
Butterflies don't live long. She has matured and lost her childhood. She is now an adult and a vessel, a baby-making android. Or has she expired, a symbol of menopause and the loss of being able to have children?
Both women are placed in the centre of the painting, and each painting is about injustice to women who are hunted down. Why? For being a woman. Such idiotic beliefs, though I need to correct my statement, they aren't just beliefs. They are employed worldwide in every century we have lived in so far.
There's a constant use of juxtaposition in all her paintings. The more one looks at these sugar and spice femme fatales, the more one realises they want to be in control of a process they can't control.
Showing the hidden journey from child to the sexual exploitation of females, these paintings expose the hidden anxiety females face during this transition period. They are a fantasy, a fairy tale, this control is unachievable, and all women will, at some stage, experience this vulnerability.
Ceccoli has realised that these are paintings for adults, not children, and I agree. On a superficial level, they are so sweet, but on closer inspection, the beast comes to the forefront of the beauty presented to us.
Bibliography
Ceccoli, N. (2024, August 25). Nicoletta Ceccoli. Retrieved from http://nicolettaceccoli.weebly.com/about-her.html
Encyclopaedia Brittanica. (2024, August 25). Feminism: Dissension and debate. Retrieved from Encyclopaedia Brittanica: https://www.britannica.com/topic/feminism/The-second-wave-of-feminism#ref722014
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