Skin Deep: An Interview With Lesley Bodzy
Courtesy of Lesley Bodzy.
“I'm tired of all this nonsense about beauty being skin deep. That's deep enough. What do you want, an adorable pancreas?”
— Jean Kerr
The sculptural works of Lesley Bodzy are visceral, pensive, and glorious, marked by organic geometries and daring material experimentations. Ten years ago, after retiring from her legal career, Bodzy started taking classes at the Art Students League and subsequently at Hunter College. Influenced by these courses’ pedagogical rigor, what initially started as a hobby turned into a more serious pursuit. Bodzy soon joined the School of the Art Institute of Chicago for a low-residency MFA program, began participating in exhibitions, and learned how to market herself as a professional artist. She calls her artistic trajectory a “natural progression,” spontaneous and self-evolving like everything else in life.
Lesley Bodzy, WIP (2024). Balloon, foam, and acrylic, 36 × 36 inches. Courtesy of the artist.
Since the moment I met her, Bodzy has been incredibly candid about her reckoning with femininity and beauty standards that oftentimes operate for the eyes of the patriarchy—consuming yet somehow marketed as identity-giving. With a salient autobiographical tenor, Bodzy’s work grapples with the social and mediatic conditioning that indoctrinate women into prioritizing the maintenance of a “feminine, golden facade.” Sharp and always elegantly dressed, she mentions growing up normalizing and accustomed to this hyperfixation on looking pretty. “I wish I could be gray-haired with no makeup and just be myself,” she says.
“I resent the time that it takes. I get my hair colored every three weeks, get my nails done every week, and get a pedicure every two weeks. You have to exercise and put all the outfits together. Three years ago, I started having trouble with my feet and can’t wear those really high heels anymore, so I'm constantly looking for shoes that'll work. When Sephora discontinues the eyeliner I use, I’d have to spend time finding a new product.”
As many can relate to, the reality of this upkeep is one of mundaneness. To look like the feminine ideal means not only to keep a mental log for a multitude of cosmetic errands but also to appear effortless while doing so. Bodzy’s 2022 series With Every Single Breath, previously on view as part of The Soft Embrace, embodies this experience. Crumpled paper bags are scanned and 3D-printed, resulting in an abstract series of sculptures rooted in formal repetition and the suspension of use value. These pieces touch on the feeling of exhaustion that stems from, for instance, the minor labor of doing makeup every day, removing it at night, only to re-do everything the next day, and the day after, and the day after. In a way, Bodzy’s work is brutally honest, communicating the multifaceted expenditures tied to the construction of the beautiful.
Lesley Bodzy’s Chelsea studio. Courtesy of the artist.
Her most recent balloon series carries on with this inquiry. Taking inspiration from Eva Hesse’s early works, Bodzy experiments with balloons, pantyhose, resin, polyurethane foam, and acrylic paint. Injected with liquid foam, the otherwise fragile balloons expand, contract, become permanent and archival. They are as if human skin trodding the inevitable path of aging and wrinkling. They succumb to gravity but still appear animated and colorful. Touched by this thematic pivot towards the vivacious exit of beauty, I ask her if addressing aging and femininity through art has changed her relationship with beauty standards. She responds, still candidly, “No, not at all. I'm criticizing the beauty industry, yet I totally buy into it. I cannot stop it. But I think it’s a real tyranny, an oppression.”
Bodzy gauges not only her personal experience but also anecdotal accounts from people of all ages. When asked about what’s driving society’s expectation for women to be beautiful, she bounces the question right back at me: “I don’t know. Do you think these standards are still relevant for your generation?” My answer is a firm “yes,” although I feel guilty for saying so, given the amount of effort contemporary feminists have put into promoting body positivity/neutrality and unveiling these beauty standards’ economic implications (e.g., financial interests of the cosmetic industry, disproportionate educational and economic turnouts for different demographics sexualized and subjected to these standards, and so on). She nods, unsurprised by my answer: “I used to think it was just my generation, but the more women I talk with who are under 40, the more I realized it’s still the case. They said exactly what you just said.” Citing social media, filters, and the “pink tax,” Bodzy is still grappling with the “why”: Suppose society has progressed to embrace more individual freedom. Why is so much anxiety, aspiration, focus, and favor still attached to idea(l)s of beauty? Why is the pursuit of beauty so emotion-laden?
Lesley Bodzy, WIP (2024). Plaster and deflated balloon, 20 x 15 x 7 inches. Courtesy of the artist.
Then, is the dissolution of beauty standards an authentic reflection of feminism and self-empowerment? The answer may not be that simple. Bodzy speaks fondly of her 96-year-old mother, who has spent decades navigating expectations of beauty. She now sits in a wheelchair and is still meticulous when it comes to grooming and dressing up. Her hairdresser and manicurist visit her house on a regular basis for appointments, and a caretaker helps her put together stylish outfits. Bodzy says: “These outfits match, and I think it really cheers her up. It helps us as women—if we were raised that way—to feel good when we are all dressed up.” But she immediately questions: “Is it innate to human nature for women to feel good when we have all our stuff on? Probably not, because there are many women who don't need to do it and still feel good.” To move forward, how do we see our happiness and the authenticity thereof in relation to beauty?
Bodzy’s work opens up a series of unresolved questions for many. I appreciate her openness and agree that it’s perhaps best to sit in the discomfort of this dilemma, whereby conforming to beauty standards is hard work, but resisting them after all the socialization and internalization is also hard work. Beauty might be skin-deep, but it is precisely this “skin-deep” that has beckoned a plethora of joy, admiration, and tribulation.
Courtesy of Lesley Bodzy.
Off-Kilter, an exhibition featuring works by Lesley Bodzy, Ann Marie Auricchio, and Debbi Kenote, will be on view at 5-50 Gallery, Long Island City, from January 11th to February 23rd, 2025.
This interview has been edited for length and clarity.
