In 2020, artist and designer Constance Tenvik was approached by a theater in Norway with an inquiry to design the set and costumes for a production of Amadeus, the play by Peter Shaffer, which is a fictional history of the lives of rival composers Mozart and Salieri. After countless hours of research, obsession, and dedication to uncover the truths of Mozart’s life, Tenvik did not get the job. 

In lieu of the artist’s disappointment, she created art of several mediums (paintings, fabrics, installations, sculptures) into an exhibition, Aloof Periwigs,  which is being shown at Anat Ebgi Gallery in Los Angeles from Nov.12-Dec.17. Tenvik brings a fresh perspective to the Baroque culture in which Mozart lived, applying her knowledge of his life and exploring our mischaracterizations of him and in celebrity in general. Aloof Periwigs consists of clothing designs and welded steel sculptures that look similar to props and mannequins. She’s built a “fan girl bedroom” which is parallel to her “fangirling” over Mozart, bringing modern ideas of creation and fame to a classical icon. Her paintings blur the lines between real life subjects, art, and performance, by painting her friends in portraits that embellish the plays narrative. 

Tenvik says that this exhibition is the fourth in a series, in which she reinvents moments from the past with a modern perspective: a one woman show of Tristan and Isolde, a reenactment of the Eglinton Tournament of…