Yael Balaban / Amy Winehouse and Marie Antoinette
Yael Balaban
Born in Moscow, Russia, 1958
Lives and works in Haifa
Yael Balaban creates a tribute to Marie Antoinette and Amy Winehouse - a queen who became a symbol of hedonism and detachment from the people, and a famous singer whose short, turbulent life conformed to the clich×™ of a rock star who destroys herself. The lives of both women ended tragically, and they expressed themselves (also) through their dress and hairstyle. Marie Antoinette's interest in fashion was criticized as an aspect of her extravagant wastefulness, while Amy Winehouse inspired both designers and contemporary women. Yael Balaban's drawings center on the unique and eccentric hairdos of both women, while alluding to the range of hypocritical approaches to beauty and to women as ornamental objects. Her drawings extend between the blood spurting from Marie Antoinette's head and Amy Winehouse's beehive hairstyle.
Amy Winehouse
1983 - 2011
London, England
The British singer Amy Winehouse was known for her unique voice and musical style - a combination of genres including soul, jazz, and rhythm-and-blues. Following the release of her first record, Frank (2003), she was credited with exerting a significant influence on the world of women singers, while giving legitimacy to other white singers to sing black music. Winehouse starred in gossip columns due to her drug and alcohol problems, bouts of depression, eating disorders, and self-destructive tendencies. On July 23, 2011, she was found lifeless in her North London apartment. She was 27 years old - the same age as Janice Joplin, Jimi Hendrix, Jim Morrison, and Kurt Cobain were when they died.
Marie Antoinette
1755, Vienna, Austria
1793, Paris, France
Marie Antoinette, Queen of France and the wife of Louis XVI, was accused of profligacy, debauchery, and involvement in various court scandals. Her beautiful and refined figure radicalized popular resistance to the royal family, which led to the outbreak of the French Revolution in 1789. With the fall of the monarchy, she was beheaded using a guillotine.