Eau de Whatever
Adriana Maar
Year: 2024
Method: Painting
Medium: Acrylic on canvas
Dimensions: 11.8 x 11.8 in / 30 x 30 cm
Weight 1.3 lb / 0.66 kg
Exhibitions: ArtFest Querétaro 2025
This artwork is available for sale on Saatchi Art.
- Original piece
- Certificate of authenticity included
- Ships worldwide
- Frame not included
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More about the artwork
Eau de Whatever is a piece born from my need to reflect on the expectations placed on women and the subtle ways they shape how we are seen — and how we learn to see ourselves. I chose a perfume bottle as the central image because it is an object historically loaded with ideas of femininity, desirability, and approval. Perfume is often sold as a promise: to be liked, to be remembered, to be chosen.
Throughout my life, I have felt how often women are told who they should be, how they should behave, and what version of themselves is most acceptable. These messages can be loud or almost invisible, but they are persistent. They suggest that our value is tied to how well we meet certain expectations — how we look, how we smell, how we present ourselves to the world.
With this work, I wanted to question that narrative. The word whatever is not about apathy or disengagement; it is about reclaiming agency. It is the moment when you decide that external approval no longer dictates your choices. It is a refusal to perform femininity according to someone else’s script.
In this piece, the perfume does not exist to seduce or to please. Instead, it becomes a symbol of autonomy — a fragrance that belongs to no one’s expectations. It is not designed to fit into a predefined idea of what a woman should be, but to exist on its own terms, unapologetically.
The playful colors and graphic style contrast with the seriousness of the message. I intentionally use humor and visual softness as a way to disarm the viewer, inviting reflection without confrontation. This balance allows the work to feel light while still carrying a clear and firm stance.
Eau de Whatever speaks to the quiet rebellion of choosing yourself. It is about letting go of the pressure to constantly explain, justify, or adapt. It is about understanding that freedom can exist in small, everyday decisions — including the decision to stop caring about expectations that were never yours to carry.
This piece is an invitation to embrace self-definition. To wear your identity — like a fragrance — for yourself, not for others. To understand that whatever can be a powerful declaration of independence, clarity, and self-love.
Caring less is not a lack of feeling, this is not indifference, it’s discernment. It’s choosing where your energy actually belongs, some things don’t deserve a reaction.”
Adriana Maar