aRUDE Magazine - Style Issue by aRUDE Magazine

aRUDE iké udé

the index of elegance

Manolo Blahnik Style Issue

+ 1

TADAO ANDO AFSANE BASSIR-POUR YUE SAI KAN Monica Bellucci MATTIA BONETTI FRANCESCO CLEMENTE MARLENE DUMAS SEBASTIAN HORSLEY YUE SAI KAN SHIRIN NESHAT DIANE PERNET Sook Jin Jo GEORGE PITTS

Iké Udé Editor in Chief, Publisher

Richard Baker Creative Director.

Contributors

Recess CHRISTOPHER WINTER

Beautiful People Debbie Bancroft Somers Farkas Frances Hayward Yue Sai Kan

09 11 13 15

Arbitures Hillary Duff Stefan Sagmeister Sara Rosen

17 21 25

Chic Index

Art & Kulture Robert Couturier Marlene Dumas Malcolm Daniel Bram Dijkstra Ken Lewes

41 43 47 51 185

Feature Monolo Blahnik Afsane Bassir-Pour Mattia Bonnetti

Francesco Clemente George Pitts Sook Jin Jo Elements of Style

83 87 97 105

Style File Diane Von Furstenberg André Leon Telly Ines de la Fressange John Galliano Lapo Elkann Fashion The Allure of Mystery Diane Parnet Monica Bellucci Shirin Neshats Women Without Men Sebastian Horsley Marta Hallett Max Kibarin Timothy Greenfield Sandas Tadao Ando

118 119 121 123 125 127

153 161 167 171 175 179

Style Robin Macy

59 71 77

129 141 145

183

Off the Wall John Hunt

187

Cover Portrait or Manolo Blahnik by Iké Udé Opposite photograph, Monica Bellucci by James White.

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Contributors Amy Fine Collins is a Special Correspondent for Vanity Fair, One of the four editors of “The international Best Dressed List and the author “The God of Driving: How I Overcame Fear and Put Myself in the Driver’s Seat (with the help of a Good and Mysterious Man).

Kóan Jeff Baysa is a physician, curator, designer, writer, Whitney Museum ISP Curatorial Fellow alumnus, and a member of AICA, the association of international art critics. He has curated exhibitions internationally as well as for the Whitney Museum, Canon Corporation, and the United Nations. On the boards of The Vera List Center for Art and Politics at The New School University and the Omi International Arts Center, he has presented lectures at the MoMA, Whitney Museum, NextMed, the Phillips Collection and the Krasnow Institute for Advanced Study. He received a Ford Foundation grant to lecture at the Hanoi University of Culture. Born and raised in Hawaii and completing his medical education as a fellow at UCSF, Dr. Baysa has segued from a clinical practice in allergy and clinical immunology to clinical research investigating neuroplasticity, olfactory stimuli, and memory disorders. His medical and curatorial practices bring the cultures of science, design, technology, and art together.

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Montgomery Frazier currently assumes the position of Fashion Director for MOD Magazine Online and is the resident “Image Guru” for www.HairDesignerTV.com, while also serving as a Contributing Editor for ARUDE Magazine.

Daniella Ohad Smith is a design historian, writer, and a curator. She received her Ph.D. degree from the Bard Graduate Center for Studies in the Decorative Arts, Design and Culture. She has taught design history, theory, and the decorative arts in such institutions as Parsons the New School for Design, Pratt Institute, Bard College, and Bezalel Academy of Art and Design Jerusalem. Dr. Ohad Smith has spoken in international conferences of design, has published in scientific journals and in popular magazines. As an art advisor, she has curated distinctive private collections of twentieth-century furniture and decorative arts. She is a member of acquisition committees of museum collections devoted to design.

Anna Battista After graduating in Foreign Languages and Literature from the Università ‘Gabriele D’Annunzio’, Pescara, Italy, Anna Battista started working as translator and interpreter. In 2004 she gained an MLitt in Journalism Studies from the University of Strathclyde in Glasgow. Since then she has been working as a freelance journalist writing about arts, culture and lifestyle for American, British, French, Italian, Portuguese, Spanish and Swedish publications. She is currently researching a book-length project on Italian style, cinema and fashion. Her latest essay “The Killing Game: Glamorous Masks and Murderous Styles in Elio Petri’s La decima vittima” was published in the book If Looks Could Kill (Koenig Books, London, 2008). Anna is Feature Editor at Portuguese magazine Zoot and currently contributes with the brand new Lisbon-based publication 1210 and with British site Dazed Digital. Anna’s art, fashion and style notes are collected in her blog Irenebrination, inspired by iconic Italian journalist Irene Brin and conceived as a reaction against commercial fashion publications.

George Pitts is a New York based photographer, painter and writer. He is Director of Photographic Practices at Parsons The New School For Design. He was Director of Photography at LIFE Magazine, 2004-2007. From 19932004, he was the Director of Photography at Vibe Magazine. His paintings, drawings, and photography have been shown in numerous exhibitions in the United States, including New York. His writing and art have appeared in The Partisan Review, The Paris Review, The New Tough, Big magazine, One World, Vibe, aRUDE, Juxtapose, Next Level: a critical review of Photography, and other publications. His photography has been published in The New York Times Magazine, S magazine, Werk, New York Magazine, Table Brothers Gallery, Latina, Complex, Bunnie: Is-

Scott Telek is the man responsible for Cinema de Merde, which has funny, insightful movie reviews free of Hollywood bullshit.

sues 1 & 2 (UK), Stereoype, SexTV (Canada), Esquire (Thai edition), Clam, Premiere, Spin, Tinyvices.com, The Washington Post, Karin + Raoul, Louchelink.com, Talk, Raygun, Paper, Nerve.com, Details, Tally Ho, Manhattan File, Voidek, Gotham, Vice, E Design, “Graphis Photo Annual 2000,” “American Photography Annual: Volumes 16, 18, & 19-21, 23-24”; “Masterminds of Mode: International Fashion Festival in Japan” (2000), “Nerve: The New Nude” (Chronicle Books), “Nerve: The First 10 Years” (Chronicle Books), “The New Erotic Photography” (Taschen Books, 2007 and 2009, original and revised editions), “Fetish Dreams” (Edition Skylight, 2008), “Real Vixens” (Edition Skylight, 2009)

Lorenzo Fariello The Italian born Fariello, recently relocated to New York, from Milan is a contrubuting photographer for aRUDE international magazine. He studied design at Politecnico di Milano. His vernacular/realist photography work is inspired by the street and nightlife culture. He’d since collaborated with diedlastnight. com, a nightlife blog based in Milan in addition to numerous publications in Italy and the States. He never had a an exhibition but this is not what is looking for at this moment!

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Recess

Artist’s name:

CHRISTOPHER WINTER Wild Life Acrylic on canvas, 2010 (140 x 140 cm)

Courtesy, Traffic Arts Space, New York

Because: When we are wild we show our true nature -Christopher Winter

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Recess

Untitled ( Ivy) Acrylic on canvas, 2010 (121.5x 121.5cm) Courtesy, Traffic Arts Space, New York

Because: “Winter is an artist whose work asks endless questions” -Asher Edelman

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Beautiful People / Interview by Iké Ddé

Questions for

Debbie Bancroft Education: Finch College Place of residence: New York City

What are your definitions of the term socialite and philanthropist as understood by the public? Socialites can drop the ‘social’, and just use ‘lite’. It has become meaningless. Anyone with enough cash can hire a second rate p.r. agent—who will get them into enough pictures. Then some segment of the population will deem them ‘socialites’. Look at ‘Real Housewives’—the lowest common denominator in current American culture. They call themselves socialites. Even The Times repeated this self appointed title by citing the number of times some of their party pictures have appeared. Philanthropy is the giving of time, money, or spirit for the right reasons and ideally, anonymously. Which term best describes you? I try to duck the first term and aspire to the second. Describe, in your opinion, what makes for a true socialite and Philanthropist? I’ve described this. Where were you born and tell us a little bit about your upbringing? I was born on Long Island, New York to a violin-making Doctor, and a lovely Canadian nurse. I had a conventional suburban upbringing, with glints of culture and creativity from my adored parents. At 16, I fled to (the late) Finch College and never went back, except to see those glorious folks. My parents were independent thinkers, aware, informed, generous, nonjudgemental and loving. They encouraged me to be all of that. Has the term, socialite, been tarnished by unflattering press about the new set of social girls? I think socialties of the 40’s and 50’s had a few things that

“I hate snobbery, intolerance, selfishness, liver and Dick Cheney.”

these girls don’t have, including personal style(not a stylist’s), life-long exposure to a rarified life style, and profound amounts of money. The current crop are coached by professionals, and have thousands of media outlets to keep the spin spinning with more centrifugal force than substance. Could you walk us thru one of your typical days? Today I made breakfast for 3 kids, dropped our house guest at the Hampton Classic to ride, set up my son and his math tutor, took my daughter to tennis clinic, did laundry, went to lunch at Charlotte’s Moss’s to discuss The Parrish Art Museum(whose board we are on), watched the U.S. Open, set up a college tour for my son for next week, bought a friend a present for tonight’s 50th birthday, fixed the girls dinner, preceded by a cocktail at a friend’s. What is the cause that you are most passionate about and committed to? My two charities that I am most committed to are New Yorkers for Children, which serves New York City’s foster children, and The Parrish Art Museum, the East End’s premiere museum. And we revved up for Obama. What would you like to accomplish in your lifetime? I’d like to see my kids happy and productive. I’d like to squeak out a book (my current occupation) and a couple of paintings (my field of study), and to travel much more. And world peace. I think it would be safe to say that most people have the notion that being a cosmopolitan or a New York socialite/ philanthropist is all about parties, beautiful designer wardrobes and endless champagne. What, in your experience, is it really like? I think real philanthropic activity is covered mostly in trade, not-for-profit journals, and in the news section of papers, not the social ones. Real philanthropy takes place in lawyers’ and bankers’ offices, and in the places that they benefit, and as volunteerism. No champagne. Do you have any pet peeves that you can share? I hate snobbery, intolerance, selfishness, liver and Dick Cheney. What inspires you to do the good deeds that you do? Good deeds make me feel good and set a good example for my kids. Can you give any advice for proper young ladies and gentlemen who aspire to your accomplishments? Young ladies and gentlemen should not worry about being ‘proper’, and just follow their hearts.

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Beautiful People: Interview by Efrat Cohen

Questions for

Education: St. Catherine’s School, Richmond, Virginia; BA from University of Virginia, Charlottesville, Virginia. Place of residence: Manhattan.

Do you foresee a time when philanthropy will become the norm rather the exception? That time is now. When young students donate bake sale proceeds to hurricane victims, philanthropy’s place in society is assured. President Kennedy started the Peace Corps in the 1960’s. Perhaps it was he who taught a whole generation that collectively they could better the world. If any, what is the difference between altruism and philanthropy? Though both words concern the betterment of others, altruism is the unselfish concern or devotion to the welfare of others, while philanthropy is the giving of money, property or work to help others. Giving could be motivated purely for self-advancement. Can the average man or woman of modest income be a potential philanthropist candidate? Absolutely! One does not have to give hundreds of millions to be considered a philanthropist; Remember, a philanthropist can also give property or time, which is priceless. Who are your favorite authors, artists, musicians, fashion designers, architect and actors? My favorites, in order: Fellow Virginian Tom Wolfe; John Singer Sargent; Neil Sedaka; Maggie Norris, Ralph Rucci and Nicole Miller; Stanford White, Harvey Keitel and Bob de Niro How do define the term socialite and philanthropist as understood by the public? The American Heritage College Dictionary defines socialite as “one prominent in society” and a philanthropist as “one who is involved in philanthropy, the effort or inclination to increase human well-being.” I agree with those definitions! Which term best describes you? Personally, my husband and I are both philanthropic – donating our time and resources to organizations whose missions and goals resonate with our own. Describe what in your opinion, makes for a true socialite and philanthropist? Like the dictionary, I too define socialite as a prominent memberof society – someone about whom others want to know. Prominence not withstanding, I think the important part of being a socialite, however, is that one should also be a respected member of society – a role model, and an aspiration

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somers farkas for others. I believe that anyone who gives generously (and not necessarily altruistically) to the betterment of others is a philanthropist. Where were you born? And tell us a little bit about your upbringing? I am a Virginian, of an old Tidewater family, who was born on Chesapeake Bay. I remember with fondness a childhood and adolescence spent riding, sailing the Bay and water skiing on the Eastern Shore’s many creeks and inlets. I also recall seated family dinners (where we had to drink milk!), Easter egg hunts on the farm, music lessons and Sunday lunches that served tomato aspic and shucked oysters. (And, sneaking cigarettes at Boarding School!) Has the term socialite been tarnished by unflattering press about the new set of social girls? As an “old-timer”, I hope that anyone who has a social presence will use her visibility to promote charitable causes which she is interested in. Could you walk us thru one of your typical days? I wake with my husband and leave him with newspapers and CNBC while I exercise. Then I “officially” begin my day at 8:30. If the morning does not begin with a breakfast, I go to the office and begin a day of solicitation and business phone calls, conference calls, fundraising and committee meetings, strategic planning sessions, lunch or coffee with girlfriends, writing and research, and perhaps a beauty appointment or a fitting thrown in! Around 6:00, I’ll give my husband a kiss hello, dress for our evening plans, or join

the housekeeper in the kitchen to help her prepare dinner at home! What is the cause that you are most passionate about and committed to? As with many others, it is hard for me to limit my passion to one cause. The organizations to which I am most committed are ASPCA, Alzheimer’s Association, Lighthouse International and The New York Women’s Foundation. What would you like to accomplish in your lifetime? I am proud and blessed that I have been able to raise millions for charitable causes. My lifetime goal? To continue fundraising and one day to alleviate the suffering of Alzheimer patients, find a cure for vision loss and better enable women to succeed. I think it would be safe to say that most people have the notion that being a cosmopolitan or a New York socialite/philanthropist is all about parties, beautiful designer wardrobes and endless champagne. What, in your experience, is it really like? Life is what you make of it. Though there is an abundance of beautiful fabrics, gracious hospitality, and outstanding vintages, a fulfilling “social life” also has to be a life of self control, self-effacing humor, and self-sacrifice; a life without envy, and a life of truly wanting the best for others. Do you have any pet peeves that you can share with us? Lying – and broken promises. What inspires you to do the good deeds you do? Mother, Grandmother and the Trinity. Can you give any advice for proper young ladies and gentlemen who aspire to your accomplishments? Always behave like a lady or a gentleman, check your arrogance, find something good in a situation, and be as generous as you can. More or less, what is your overall philosophy of life? Be true to your self and be kind to others

Beautiful People: Interview by Efrat Cohen

Questions for

Frances hayward Education: Juilliard School of Music, UCLA. Place of residence: New York/ Bahamas.

Do you foresee a world and time when philanthropy will become the norm rather the exception? Hopefully. People are becoming more and more aware of the importance of giving and meaningful lives… If any, what is the difference between altruism and philanthropy? Money. Altruism is a state of mind, whereas philanthropy is the act of giving financial support to causes. Can the average man/woman of modest income possible be a potential philanthropist candidate? Anyone who cares about something can help in many different ways and truly make a difference. Any help, for a good cause, is always needed. “My organziation BeKind (www.bekind.org), which I was inspired to begin after I rescued my beloved Shepherd Amigo, is a foundation that helps animals in need as well as also other national and regional rescue organizations, including the Humane Society of the US, the Animal Rescue Fund of the Hamptons, The Humane Society of New York, The Pet Memorial in New Orleans and The Humane Society of Grand Bahamas. Through BeKind, I am able to get involved in raising awareness for such things as inhumane-trapping, dog fighting, and the actual rescues that we did during Hurricane Frances and Hurricane Katrina. Who are your favorite authors, artists, musicians, fashion designers, architect and actors? I am a complete low brow. My favorite author is Mary Higgens Clark. Any artist OTHER than Damien Hirst, whom I consider a travesty. I love St. Laurent and Armani. Architect? Old Stamford White. Actors? I am out of the loop as far as pop culture is concerned. I enjoy the older stars, and really cannot abide the young trashy set of actors that have popped up.

Where were you born? And tell us a little bit about your upbringing? I was born in New York, but my family is mostly from California. I did a lot of going back and forth in my youth. My background is mostly theatrical and musical, but when I met my ‘other half’ (Sir Jack Hayward) and moved to the Bahamas, that was the beginning of my animal welfare activism – although I had always loved animals. There was such a terrible problem there of feral dogs and cats as well as the need to educate people about their attitudes towards them. Has the term, socialite, been tarnished by unflattering press about the new set of social girls? I think the term now has a more ‘show biz’ connotation rather than an august one. Could you walk us thru one of your typical days? Depends on where I am. It’s probably far more boring and less glamorous than you would think. My favorite place is the Bahamas, where I ‘hang’ with my lovely animals. What is the cause that you are most passionate about and committed to? Hands down, animal welfare. That is my true calling. What would you like to accomplish in your lifetime? To somehow make the world a better place for animals. I think it would be safe to say that most people have the notion that being a cosmopolitan or a New York socialite/philanthropy is all about parties, beautiful designer wardrobes and endless champagne. What, in your experience, is it really like? A bit of that, of course, but a lot of trying to work at things that one cares about.

How do define the term socialite and philanthropist as understood by the public? The term ‘socialite’ has the negative and empty connotations of one whose whole life is defined by parties and social functions devoted to them.

Do you have any pet peeves that you can share with us? People who are insensitive to the tragic plight of so many animals.

Which term best describes you? I would hope philanthropist.

Can you give any advice to proper young ladies and gentlemen who aspire to your accomplishments? Follow your heart (hopefully in a good direction).

Describe, in your opinion, what makes for a true socialite and philanthropist? I don’t really know any people I would describe as pure ‘socialites….’ All of my friends are lovely people who are genuinely devoted to doing some sort of good in the world. So I would describe philanthropy in that way.

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What inspires you to do the good deeds that you do? The passion in my heart.

What is more or less your overall philosophy of life? To follow your heart and try to make some sort of a difference in the areas one cares passionately about. In my life, it is all about animal welfare and how I can possibly help these wonderful creatures that allow us to be part of their lives!

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beautiful People: Interview by Momtgomery Fraizer

Questions for

yue Sai kan

Manna From Heaven Growing up as a little girl in China, what were your dreams and aspirations in life? I grew up in Hong Kong. My first aspiration was to be a concert pianist. I wanted to be a performing artist. I adore music. What values did your parents instill in you from an early age? For me to learn everything I wish to learn. Study hard. Be curious. Be honest. What qualities do you possess that have informed your success? The word success is very relative. I think I am today exactly what my parents taught me to be. I value learning. I am always learning. I work very hard. I am also very curious. When I think I want and should to do something then I go ahead and do it. I am also extremely honest. Who are some of your role models and why? My parents. My dad was a painter, musician, and artist. I admire him for being a perfectionist and a true gentleman. My love for design, beauty in all its forms, the arts—are all from my father. My mother was a very elegant lady and dressed elegantly but simply. She was also a clever investor in real estate and stock market. I learned a lot about money and investing through her. In the field of Philanthropy, there are so many, many examples of inspirations. I really admire Ted Turner, George Soros and Bill Gates. These are great men with great visions. In the case of Ted Turner, he gave a billion dollars before anyone gave such amount! What charities (both in the U.S. and globally) are you currently and passionately involved in and why? I’m involved in AIDS, Children, Women and scholarships for poor children and orphans Do you consider yourself to be a philanthropist or an altruist? Not particularly either, although I think I spend about 20% of my time on charity work. I am not a real philanthropist because I do not spend more than 20%. What is your definition of a socialite and would you consider yourself one? Socialite is one that only loves parties and does nothing else. I really do not think I am one. I work and am a social activist. The Chinese translation of this word is totally wrong. What fashion designers do you currently wear and why? I wear endless number of various designers from all over the

world. I do not necessarily buy clothes because it is by a wellknown designer. I buy them because the designs are so beautiful. Even though I say that, I find that I do buy a lot of famous designers. For example, I wear Kai and Theatre from Thailand, Han Feng from China, Barney Chang from Hong Kong, Ferre, Valentino, Fendi and a lot of Italian designers that are not necessarily even well known. Karl Lagerfeld, Still Yves St. Laurent, Christian Lacroix from France. Yohji Yamomoto and Issey from Japan. Who, in your opinion, do you consider to be one of the “young ones” to watch in terms of philanthropy and social consciousness? If you look at the children of Ted Turner, they are all doing a lot of philanthropic work. Very dedicated. What attributes should one possess to be a great philanthropist or altruist? A really desire to help without selfish agenda. That is real philanthropy. It is the love for your fellow men. What advice would you give to people who aspire to be “good deed doers? Study others who are doing good work. Learn from them. It is from observing that you know what you too can do. But you should have your own vision as well. As one of China’s “living legends”, as you have been referred to, where does Yue Sai Kan go from here? I do not need to go anywhere. I am exactly where I would like

“A really desire to help without selfish agenda. That is real philanthropy.” to be. I’m happy with my life, my position and my independence. I hope I can continue to do good for my family, friends and the societies in which I live, to the best of my capacity. Has Yue Sai Kan accomplished all that she can in her life? I am not looking for accomplishment. I have never looked for such. I am looking to do things that I love, that I know I have special talents for, and I feel are helpful to others; be it charity work or even a book that can help to bring awareness in certain areas. What is the single thing that you cherish the most in this world? My good health that allows me to do most things I wish to do.

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Arbiters/ Interview by Iké Ddé

When was the first time you ever rode a horse by yourself? For my 4th birthday, my present was our (my twin sister Heather and I) first pony, and riding lessons began soon after. It was a year later that my sister and I rode and competed unassisted. At such an early age, did you have any fears, or were you confident and at ease on a horse at once? I can never remember being afraid on the horses, even though, starting as such a small child, perhaps I should have been! As far as I can recall, my sister and I always felt comfortable and right at home riding the horses. We loved it right off the bat. How long did you ride a pony before graduating to riding horses? I had ponies from the start of my riding at 4 years old until I was around 10 or 11. I was always tall for my age and grew out of ponies at an early age for most riders. Do you have names for your horses? Oh yes, I have multiple names for my horses actually. They all have what we call “show names,” the names that their original breeders or owners give them. And then from those we give them “barn names,” or nicknames for short that we use around the barn. Which was and is now your favorite horse? My favorite horse has been and still is VDL Lotus Excel (“Lotus”). He is my longest time partner. I started riding him four years ago in the junior divisions, and we have built a very special relationship over the years. Horses are just like humans in that they get along with some people and not with others—whether it is in the show ring or just around the barn. Lotus and I just click: he pricks his ears and runs over to me when I make a kissing sound. He is happy to see me when I walk in the barn in the morning.

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Hillary Dobbs Full Gallop

Horses will let you know if they like you or not, and Lotus and I are definitely friends. In your estimation, has there ever been a horse or a number of horses that are equally/remotely comparable to Sea Biscuit in performance, skill, charisma and legend, say? “I don’t know enough about racing to make any comparisons to Sea Biscuit, but I do know that there have been a number of tremendous show jumpers with all of the charisma and talent and impressive records that deserve the attention of the general public. Remarkable show jumping superstars --riders and horses--sometimes go unnoticed by the American public. Most recently, McLain Ward and Beezie Madden, along with their 2-time Olympic partners in 2004 and 2008, Sapphire and Authentic, have earned the United States consecutive team gold medals. My hope for the sport is that someday these terrific athletes--riders and horses alike--will have the notice and recognition they deserve.” How do you communicate with your horses? When I am riding and jumping my horses, there are many ways I communicate with them. In showjumping, you use your legs, your hands, your seat (shifting your weight), and even your voice. You would be surprised how responsive horses are to the sounds of your voice. Depending on how you use your voice, you can calm and relax the horses, or you can encourage them. Horses are remarkable in that the slightest movements or noises can send them various signals or commands. Additionally, when I am not jumping my horses, but simply exercising them on the flat, I am still involved in their training and fitness. The better you exercise your horse, the more fit and responsive he or she will become. In showjumping at this top level, the horses are the athletes: they are fit, strong, fast, and competitive. They have the top care that an athlete would as well. At the end of the day, my horses have magnetic blankets that relax and soothe the muscles in their bodies, their legs are wrapped to support their tendons, and they even have a chiropractor! To what degree, are you involved with the training of your horses? As a young rider who is competing on horses less experienced than many of the top international horses, every time my horses and I go into the ring, we are all learning

“we are all learning and gaining experience.”

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Arbiters: Hillory Dobbs

and gaining experience. Essentially, with the instruction of my trainers, I am “training” my horses whenever I compete. Especially since I have started to compete internationally, each top competition is a learning experience.

These days, I suppose that horses are mostly just used for different disciplines of riding, such as my sport of showjumping. However, the retired horses and ponies at my farm in Sussex seem more like pets now than athletes!

What is a thoroughbred horse, and what breed do you favor the most? A “thoroughbred” is an American breed of horse most commonly associated with horse racing. Thoroughbreds are refined, slender, and built for speed. Most top showjumpers, on the other hand, are of European descent and are referred to as “warmbloods.” I favor warmbloods because they are larger, brave and jump more powerfully. Two of my horses are German warmbloods (Holsteiners), and three are Dutch warmbloods.

Do you find that each horse is distinctively different in character and personality? Absolutely. Horses differ in their character and personality! Just as with people, you will find an array of personalities. For example, my two mares are clearly more sensitive and sweet in the ring and out—they require less leg in the competitions and are very sensitive and responsive to your aids. In addition, my girls are very quiet, yet friendly and sweet on the ground. However, I have one gelding (male) that requires more aggressive aids in the ring and loves to go fast. Similarly, on the ground he is cocky and has quite an attitude. He knows exactly how good he is at what he does.

What was your most terrifying experience on a horse? My most terrifying riding experience came last summer when my horse jumped into what we call a combination— two jumps separated by either one or two strides (essentially, steps). When I landed from the first jump, my horse misjudged the distance and thought the two-stride was a one-stride and took off without my asking him to. Since we were too far away, my horse and I flipped over the second jump, and I hit the ground like a missile! Luckily neither of us was injured, but it was still a terrible feeling knowing that upon take-off it would end with us flipping over. What are the most renown competitions you’ve been in, so far? Last year, I was lucky to have been selected to represent the United States as a member of our Nations Cup team that was competing in Buenos Aires, and in Wellington,

“Thoroughbreds are refined, slender, and built for speed.” Florida at the Winter Equestrian Festival. This summer I was a member of our Nations Cups teams competing in Falsterbo, Sweden, Hickstead, England and Dublin. I was thrilled to have the opportunity to ride in such traditional, historic showjumping stadiums. Do you prepare for each competition with varying mental and physical fitness or is there constant? I have a predominantly constant physical and mental preparation for every competition. Physically, I try to work out at least three times a week depending on my travel and riding schedule. Additionally, before I compete in big classes, I have a certain mental preparation routine. I like to walk away by myself, listen to music on my iPod, and visualize in my mind the way I am going to ride the course. Is there ever a mixed-gender competition or is it always an all-female or all-male event? Every competition is mixed-gender, one of the few sports in which men and women compete on even terms. Besides your profession, are there other ways you use horses?

What is it like to have won ten Grand Prix, to have competed and won in Europe your first time there,beaten Olympic Medalists, and represented the United States in competition in your first year at this level? Where do you go from there? I have been very fortunate early in my career to have had the opportunity to compete against and learn from the best riders in the world. Nearly all of the top riders have been so very generous in helping me to improve my skills and understanding of the sport. Getting a taste of international competition has ignited even more of a passion in me to work harder, ride better, and hopefully represent the country again soon in the future. I’m proud of my career so far, but I also realize how much I still have to learn, how much more work I have to do to get where I want to be. International competition has opened my eyes to what will be required of me to push myself to the next level. Of all the venues you have competed in, which is your favorite? My favorite venues have been in Falsterbo, Sweden and Dublin, Ireland. The rings are beautiful grass fields filled with elaborate jumps. But even more than that was the atmosphere of the crowds. When I won the Swedbank Derby in Sweden, the crowds were roaring and the music was blaring as I galloped around the ring. They were cheering me on as if I were a native of Falsterbo. Similarly, 30,000 Irish spectators cheered as I cleared the last jump in the Nations Cup competition, and they didn’t care that I was an American competing against their team. Those were two of the best moments and feelings of my life. Besides horses, you are concurrently studying government at Harvard University. How do you balance your schedule? I have been very lucky to be able to manage a schedule that accommodates both riding and my studies. I schedule the bulk of my class load on Mondays through Wednesdays, during which I stay on campus at Harvard. However, if there are classes that end up on Thursdays, I choose classes whose lectures are video-taped and posted on-line. This works well in that I can watch the lectures on the road at the competitions and miss very little class. I truly do love both college and showjumping, so making my schedule work through long hours and more hard work is worth it at the end of the day.

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Arbiters / Interview by Efrat Cohen

stefan sagmeister Bend it like Sagmeister

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aRUDE: St yle I ss ue 2010

Arbiters / Interview by Efrat Cohen

After growing up in Vienna, Austria, living in Hong Kongand now in New York, how have the different mentalities and cultures affected your ongoing career as a designer? Selling is more important here in New York than it is in Europe, (but less than in Hong Kong). I had clients in Europe whose principal criteria when they commissioned a piece of work was quality and only secondarily, marketability. In the US, my clients first check to see if it works, and only then, see if it’s good or not. In Hong Kong, many of my clients did not care if it was good at all. ➢ In a prior interview, you spoke of a meeting called “Second Tuesday” that occurs every second month with at least 15 people who run their own design firms. How would you describe your interaction during your “Second Tuesday” engagements, and where does it take place? It always took place in the (always different) studio of one of its members, who also had to provide the food as well as the subject we all talked about. This had a good run in New York City for about twenty years, but I think we slowly ran out of subjects. Now the meetings take place very irregularly. You apparently executed OMA’s Casa da Musica brand/logo, in the city of Porto, Portugal, What would you say are the most important elements when designing a corporate identity? In general, branding people (as well as designers) overestimate the power of their work. I showed Jeff Swystun, the head of International Branding at Interbrand show, a slide of a Starbucks coffee cup with a $ 4.00 price underneath, and compared it with a slide of a Dunkin Donuts coffee, (50cents) and triumphantly declared the difference between the two to be branding. Jeff, of course, would have been able to tell the difference between the two different products. One is custom made but the other is not. One is steamed, the other dripped, etc.Branding (or at least the kind of branding International Branding Agencies provide) play a miniscule role in all of this. Nevertheless, I do think that a strong visual identity can be three things: A little joy for everybody to look at (and not visually pollute our world); a memorable experience that saves the client incredible amounts of money by having to promote it less: and effectively communicating the essence of the product/service.

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How did you decide which of twenty slogans to choose from your “Things I have learned so far” project? and what kind of impact were you hoping for? They were the only things I had learned until then. There was no ‘choice’. Initially I was not expecting any feedback since the entire notion seemed too self-indulgent to me. Only when we received feedback after publishing the first couple, did I understand that they actually have an impact. In the meantime, we received many, many calls, mails, faxes, letters and projects that underline this. ”Everybody always thinks they are right” was displayed in several locations around Scotland. This piece consisted of six giant inflatable monkeys that spell out “Everybody always thinks they are right”. What is the connection between the geographic and historical placement of this Installation piece? Every human conflict throughout history, every war and every dispute traces its origin back to this one sentence. I think I am right when I cross the street as the light is changing and when I design a campaign for the reduction of the US military budget. The bus driver blaring his horn thinks that he is right to blow me out of his way, so does the American president, who thinks that the military budget reduction would leave the US weak and vulnerable. We had a chance to run the maxim, ”Everybody always thinks they are right”, during the Six Cities design festival, initiated by the Scottish government to take place in Glasgow, Aberdeen, Edinburgh, Inverness, Dundee and Stirling.Over the past years, I became rather obsessed with white angry monkeys. I had first proposed one that resembled a Mozart - like porcelain bust as a packaging design for the Talking Heads’ boxed set Once in a Lifetime (killed last minute). Then it was a signage system for an exhibit of contemporary art, which was part of the cultural program of the Athens Olympics. Killed again, only when I tried the third time in Scotland, they finally saw the light of day. In the lecture you gave in February 2008 through AIGA, you claimed that you were planning to relocate this installation to Jerusalem. Are you proceeding with this venture? What is your intention in displaying this piece in this location? I am in tight contact with the Israel Museum in Jerusalem. We are planning an installation for 2009, after my client-free year our proposal will include the monkeys. Did you choose monkeys for this piece in order to represent global

ignorance? This piece is talking about any kind of righteousness—my own, those of my friends and family, those of my city as well as the global one. The One Voice Movement ‘s intention is to permanently end the Israel-Palestine conflict. What is your connection to the One Voice Movement? Is it your intention to help them communicate their ideology more through your design, or do you have your own political agenda? I think they are a good group with a noble goal. As they have so many different spokes people, everybody from Muhammad Ali to local clergy, it made sense to create a single icon as a signifier. We were happy to design that icon as well as a number of other materials for them. In your book “20 Things I Have Learned So Far in My Life”, (published by Harry N Abrams and released on February 1st 2008) you present your ideas through photography. Would you say that photography is a means or an end in you work? A means. We also use illustration, flat typography, animation and video. Do you think the use of visual words has more impact then spoken words? Yes. When and why did you start teaching? My first teaching job was in Hong Kong in 1990, - 18 years ago. I have been conducting workshops with students around the world every since. I do teach every year at the Graduate Design Department of the School of Visual Arts. How does teaching affect your design philosophy? Through the joy of travel, the fight against boredom, the appeal of the new, the fact that I am forced to put ideas into words, the desire to work in different cultures, the possibility to compare, the realization that it is easier to come up with a new concept in a foreign land than in the studio. During the 90’s you were involved in many projects with legendarymusicians. What is your visual approach towards contemporary music today? And what are your thoughts about the music industry itself? With a couple of exceptions, we have not designed music packaging in a while. Music does not play the same role in my life as it did when I was in my twenties and thirties. That is true for my design as well. Is it fairly accurate to say that you are nursing some film ambitions? If so what would be the theme or subject of your film debut? No. I used to think that this was something that I wanted to pursue, but I found out that when I did have a chance, I preferred to stay in design. Who are not only your favorite film directors, but those who have inspired or tempted you enough for you to want to give it a try as a film director? My favorite film directors don’t inspire me to give it a try, they achieve exactly the opposite: They scare me away with their brilliance. They include P.T. Anderson and Steven Soderberg, both for their ability to make really big and really small movies. Who are your all time favorite graphic designers who may have influenced and/or inspired you? And what exactly did you learn from them? Tibor Kalman was the single most influential person in my designy life and my one and only design hero. 15 years ago, as a student in New York City,When I wanted to meet him, I called him every week for half a year, I got to know the M&Co receptionist really well. When he finally agreed to see me, it turned out I had a sketch in my portfolio that was

rather similar in concept and execution then an idea that M&Co was working on: He rushed to show me the prototype out of his fear that i’d say later he had stolen it out of my portfolio. I was so flattered. When I finally started working there 5 years later i discovered, more than anything else, it was his incredible salesmanship that set his studio apart from all the others. There were probably a number of people around who were as smart as Tibor (and there were certainly a lot who were better at designing), but nobody else could sell these concepts without any changes, get those ideas out into the hands of the public with almost no alterations. Nobody else was as passionate. As a boss, he had no qualms about upsetting his clients or his employees, I remember his reaction to a logo I had worked on for weeks and was very proud of: “Stefan, this is TERRIBLE, just terrible, I am so disappointed”. His big heart was shining through nevertheless. He had the guts to risk everything, I witnessed a very large architecture project where he and M&Co had collaborated with a famous architect and had spent a years worth of work: He was willing to walk away because of the question of who would it present to the client. Tibor had an uncanny knack for giving advice, for dispersing morsels of wisdom, that was packaged in the rough language later to be known as Tiborisms. “The most difficult thing when running a design company is not to grow,” he told me when I opened my own little studio. “Just don’t go and spend the money they pay you or you are going to be the whore of the ad agencies for the rest of your life”, was his parting sentence to me. when I moved to Hong Kong to open up a design studio for Leo Burnett. These insights were also the reason why M&Co. Got so much press. Journalists could just call him up and he would supply the entire structure for a story, with some fantastic quotes to boot. He was always happy and ready to jump from one field to another, corporate design, products, city planning, music video, documentary movies, children books, magazine editing were all treated under the mantra, “you should do everything twice. The first time you don’t know what you’re doing. The second time you do. The third time its boring”. He did good work containing good ideas for good people. What are your plans for future projects? Many designers whom i respect create non client driven experiments as a regular part of their practice. The key word here is ‘regular’. I found that experiments that are not part of a regular schedule, have a tendency to get pushed out by more ‘urgent’ jobs simply because they have a deadline attached to them. So every seven years I conduct an experimental year. I will start the next one in September 1st, 2008 in Indonesia, and i will be there until the end of August, 2009.

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Arbiters / Interview by Janene Outlaw

iding on the back of my boyfriend’s motorcycle through one of the most beautiful and romantic routes in all of Rome, the Appia Antica. It’s an ancient road the Caesars used to cut through, just as we are now. My man and I are flying. I’m thinking of my friend Sara Rosen and how she might be interested in seeing this beautiful, curved, strangely secluded road that has SO many hidden gems on it. The huge palatial homes that lurk behind the high moss-covered walls on the Appia have a host of interesting details to wonder over—and of all things—graffiti! In some places ancient taggers share wall space with present day writers, none of it really very expert, but they are up all over these epic walls! What Miss Rosen will think of these writers….and I heard somewhere that the Italian government spends about 5 million a year cleaning up graffiti! I don’t know how true that is, but I also didn’t realize that even the word “graffiti” sounds Italian until now. Now that I have looked into it, it seems that the word “graffiti” has its origins in the mid-nineteenth century Italian word “graffito” or “a scratch”! Wow! Italians scratch and tag! Graffiti is also one Italian word Miss Rosen knows better than most, being familiar with the creative urges that drive people to put their names up all over cities, some more beautifully than others. Apparently the drive to write on walls spans the centuries. There are thousand-year-old tags in ruins and museums here. I’m curious about what Miss Rosen will think of these Italian graffiti writers, ancient and otherwise. Hmm…I wonder if the Italian authorities might want to contact her about bringing the Vandal Squad book here…. Miss Rosen has become a special presence in my life in a short time. We met for the first time in the Hermes store on Madison Avenue at the opening reception for Bruce Davidson’s “Subway” exhibition. Sara immediately struck me as what I like to describe most of my friends as “ bad bitches,”

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Sara Rosen Do Your Thing

in the 70’s sense of the word. Sara was focused and straight talking, all this while rocking the perfect eyebrows on a fierce Chanel face. More importantly this woman’s off-the-cuff asides made me roar! Rosen, girl, you are a B-girl, wrapped up in a drag queen, serving Jewish around-the-way girl. Love it! Formerly associate publisher and publicity director of powerHouse Books, Sara sparked my curiosity in the brand. After we met I could see how influential by her personal flavor, edge, and creativity reflected in the people they were working with and in the books they were publishing. Their shows and their magazine always seemed to be something that I was curious about, whether it was an ode to the 1970s or one to hustling. She even has her own imprint, Miss Rosen Editions, which put out Boogie’s Its All Good, Ricky Powell’s Public Access, Martha Cooper’s New York State of Mind—all books I wanted! After nearly a decade, Sara left powerHouse to start her own thing, Miss Rosen, where she does it all—and then some. So girl, what’s good? Janene Outlaw: How did Miss Rosen Editions come

about? Miss Rosen: I first realized that I wanted to be a publisher

when I met Ricky Powell, back in 2001. Only I didn’t quite realize it then. I had been at powerHouse Books for over a year, doing everything from publicity and promotions to trafficking and accounts receivable, basically working on the postproduction end of the business at a company that employed all of three people. When I met Ricky, we started talking about making a book together, though I think he was humoring me. You see, I wanted to do a book and he wanted to do me! Neither of us got what we wanted. Fast forward to 2004, and I hustled myself the role of project manager for Peter Sutherland’s Autograf: New York City’s Graffiti Writers. I rescued the project from the slush

“I’ve never been a joiner; I can’t abide by cliques. I abhor all group mentality”

Kulture & Art: Cinema / Interview by Efrat Cohen

Head Headline This is the deck

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Arbiters / Sara Rosen

pile, got it into production, and collaborated directly with Peter on everything from editorial and art direction to publicity, marketing, and exhibitions. The book took off. We sold out 7,500 copies in five months and placed it everywhere—from Colette and L’Uomo Vogue to The New York Times and “The Apprentice.” It was truly the most spectacular campaign I have ever worked on. At that time, Ricky Powell gave me a call. We hadn’t spoken in years, and I was quite surprised to hear from him, especially when he told me he was now interested in making that book happen. I prepared a proposal, a twenty-year overview of his work I dubbed Public Access as a nod to his inimitable underground cable show, “Rappin’ with the Rickster,” and presented it to the publishers for consideration. Only this time, I told the publishers that I wanted my own publishing credit. They looked aghast. I clarified, “I don’t want your money. I just want credit.” They looked a little more relaxed. They suggested making me an editor. I clarified: I was more than an editor; I was a brand. They asked if I had a name for this brand, Miss Rosen Editions. Of the 15 projects you did for Miss Rosen Editions, which was the most influential book you published? I’d like to think all of my books have made waves in their own way, whether it was Ellen Jong’s Pees on Earth, which Rush Limbaugh decried, or Joseph Rivera’s Vandal Squad: Inside the New York City Police Department, 1984–2004, which set the graffiti community’s teeth on edge. But perhaps the book with the greatest impact was Martha Cooper and Nika Kramer’s We B*Girlz, which we celebrated with the 25th anniversary breakin’ event at Lincoln Center Out of Doors. That was, for me, one of the crowning achievements of my career, and the kind of project that makes me realize that anything is possible. Before We *Girlz had even been printed, Martha and I were having lunch and talking about what we could do to create buzz around the book. I told her this idea, this little pipe dream I had kicking around in the back of my mind: “I remember the 1981 B-boy battle at Lincoln Center; I wasn’t even eight years old, but I remember it was on the news, and that’s when the rest of the world caught on. But it was all guys; it wasn’t even like breakin’ was something that was possible for girls, and I just took it as that. But wouldn’t it be spectacular if we could host an all-girl battle at Lincoln Center? Maybe there’s one seven year old girl out there who would see it...” “You know,” Marty told me, “2006 is the 25th anniversary. And I know some people at Lincoln Center. Let’s put together a proposal and see what happens.” And from that, it happened. We staged an international four-on-four B-girl battle and tribute to the 1981 event in August 2006, which was attended by over 5,000 people! I’ll never forget that day. Crazy thunderstorms threatened to tear up the stage during set up, but then they magically cleared for ninety minutes so that we could do our show, only to resume pouring as soon as the last bows were taken. It was just mind-blowing. That any of it was possible, that it had even happened, still amazes me. Your taste is quite erudite and your projects show a taste for the underground artist. Where does that sensibility come from?

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“There’s something in me that is eternally attracted to stories of glamour, decadence, and transcendence.” I’ve always felt myself to be on the periphery, not quite an outsider but in no way an insider. Any attempts I have ever made to ingratiate myself into a given scene (be it mainstream or underground) have been unsatisfactory at best. I’ve never been a joiner; I can’t abide by cliques. I abhor all group mentality: us vs. them. I am neither one in this dialectic. My dream has always been to inhabit a parallel universe—just me in my own world doing what I do, connecting with whomever I feel akin to, and energized by subjects that inspire me to create something new. I’ve inadvertently placed myself at odds with scenes that I love (publishing the graffiti cop book Vandal Squad wasn’t a good look for the girl who got Donald Trump to say on national television, “I hate graffiti” and to still dedicate an entire episode of “The Apprentice” to it) as well as the people I love, many of whom have no love for each other. I don’t take sides. I share stories, and if those stories expose the contradictions and complexities of our existence, so much the better. What is the most influential book you’ve ever read? There’s no single book that has influenced me above others, but there are some whose cumulative knowledge has helped shape my identity and aspirations: D.V. by Diana Vreeland; The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald; De Profundis by Oscar Wilde; Butterfield 8 by John O’Hara; The House of Mirth by Edith Wharton; Rotten by John Lydon; anything by Raymond Chandler; the short stories of Tennessee Williams; The Art of Living by Epictetus, and The Book of Life by Krishnamurti. There’s something in me that is eternally attracted to stories of glamour, decadence, and transcendence. You have a classic vibe. What’s your favorite era in history, whether it was the fashion, music, or political movement? Right now I am obsessing on all things F. Scott Fitzgerald, but I most actively engage with old Hollywood and NYC in the 1970s. Still, I love history in all its forms. I am always looking backwards, rather than forwards. History is written by the winners, but there’s always a subtext, and it’s the relationship between what happened, how it was recorded, how it played out, and what that means today that I find most exciting. When I was ten years old, I wanted to be an archaeologist. To be surrounded by the ruins and relics of the past makes me feel simultaneously irrelevant and majestic, and I love sharing in the glory of human

achievement while realizing that it is ultimately transitory, if not disposable. It is always shocking and exciting. You just left power House after nearly a decade to start your own media company, Miss Rosen. What is your vision and mission now that you are on your own? Freeeedom! For the first time in my life, I understand the responsibility of being completely independent, on both a personal and professional level. I believe that “action is character,” as Aristotle said, and my primary aim is to synthesize who I am with what I do, so that Life is Good. Good people. Good projects. Good energy. When done right, work isn’t just fun, Work is love. I have seen time and again that the spirit one brings to an initiative affects the entire experience. And now that I truly can say that my Time is Mine, I want to make best use of it. And to that end I am pleased to introduce my company Miss Rosen, which offers all kind of services from publicity, marketing, and video production to representation, exhibition, and event projects. My clients include content packager and publisher Melcher Media, art book publisher Glitterati, photography magazine Focus, photo historian Gail Buckland, memoirist Monica Holloway, photo agency Redux Pictures, photographer Ricky Powell, accessories designer Maripol, and the East Village libertine legend herself Patti Astor. I am quite excited about what the future holds. I find that times of economic instability are the greatest source of cultural creativity, and that triumph glows brighter in the dark. The people with whom I am working are a select few of the exceptional minds I have encountered during my first ten years in publishing, dating back to my first year at Rizzoli where I met Marta Hallett, then publisher of Rizzoli, and now publisher of Glitterati; as well as Bonnie Eldon, then managing editor of Universe, now associate publisher of Melcher Media. Or Ricky Powell, with whom I published Public Access, my first Miss Rosen Edition, in the fall of 2005; and Maripol, who invented the #%$rubber bracelet!!&* What kind of projects catch your eye, and what makes you decide to sign them? I am most attracted to work that I wish I could do myself, to people I hold in great esteem, and to projects that represent a distinctive blend of talent, craftsmanship, and original thinking. My imprint, Miss Rosen Editions, was dedicated to contemporary urban culture, taking the form of books that are primarily about street life and art. I maintained a narrow focus in this capacity, since as it reflected what I could create within that realm. Now that I am providing a much wider array of services, I am most interested in partnering with people whose projects provide a wider representation of life and culture as we experience it. Describe the perfect work day, the perfect client, the perfect project. The perfect work day would be one defined by the ability to conceptualize and execute a creative and dynamic campaign that challenged me to perform beyond my comfort zone. Perfect clients are those who are clear in their aims, realistic in their vision, and personable in their communication. The perfect project would be one that allowed me the space to collaborate in a meaningful way.

What is the future of publicity and marketing for edgy, art books and projects, as the magazine and book publishing industries crumble slowly before our eyes? When I was 16 there was this dancehall song that I loved madly. The main line was, “Life is what you make it.” I’ve always kept that in the back of my mind, understanding that success and happiness were intertwined with my outlook on life. Intellectually, I think the economic crisis is exciting. For far too long culture has been boring, predictable, and unoriginal. Financial security breeds complacency, and with that comes a lack of creativity, a sameness, a lameness. When the old model is rendered ineffective, a space is created for new ideas and energies. We are living at the dawn of a new day, and the possibilities are without limit. Even if media as we know it, in the form of books and magazines rendered obsolete (an idea of great fright to me and any other collector of the printed word and the printed page), I trust in humanity’s commitment to storytelling. Once upon a time, stories were engraved in stone—far more permanent than anything we’ve invented, And yet we no longer use such technology. Change is essential to human development, and those who are

“For far too long culture has been boring, predictable, and unoriginal. Financial security breeds complacency, and with that comes a lack of creativity, a sameness, a lameness”. receptive to the new language of communication will be best equipped to spread their message. Aspiring artists, authors, and storytellers alike must consider the essential questions: who is the audience, and how do you reach them? There are countless ways to connect. What matters most is being clever about your message, your medium, and your means. What magazines/periodicals do you keep up with, no matter what? Hamburger Eyes. Nobody does it better. Nobody even tries. How do you stay inspired? I am truly grateful to be here. Janene Outlaw, graduated with a BFA in Fine Art and Photography from Cornell University, has worked as a photo editor at publications, which include The New York Times Style and Weekend sections, New York magazine, The Village Voice, Entertainment Weekly, and Fortune, among others. Curator of “A World Less Seen” an exhibition of ten African-American photographers at the Time Warner Gallery, NY, in 2004, Outlaw has also edited photography books and record packaging projects for major record labels, as well as taught at The School of Visual Arts, NY. Currently traveling through Europe, Outlaw is pursuing independent photographic projects.

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The Chic

Index P h o t o g r a p h y B y L o r e n z o f a r i e ll o & i k É u d É

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Victoria Lynn Carbore Age/Astrological Sign: Profession: Fulltime student, Pratt Institute, Assistant manager at Sabon. Residence: Brooklyn Favorite color: Lime green Favorite Fashion Designer: Vintage, usually 50s and 40s Favorite Shoe/Accessories Designer: For shoes, Bass; I design my own accessories. Favorite Parfum: Pink Sugar Favorite Stlylish Film: Cry Baby Favorite Hangout: In NYC Ottos Shrunken Head, In Brooklyn usually I will start my day with a coffee and end my night at a local dive bar Favorite Place/s: Chelsea galleries, dirty bars with cheap drinks and my apartment. Favorite Cocktail: I’m not the cocktail kind of girl, give me a shot of Jameson. Who is your style icon: Betty Page. What item of clothing would you rather starve for in order to buy it? What is your overall impression of how people dress in general and what do you recommend that they do? : In a place like NYC there are so many trend setters and trend followers. There are many people who follow the trends closely. I feel we should all understand what kind of clothes flatter our bodies, and what just doesn't work well at all. I find it's more important to wear what works best for us rather than what the new look is. Wear what makes you look good! aRUDE: St yle I ss ue 2010

The Inde Of Style

Sarah Zendejas Age/Astrological Sign: 24/ Cancer Profession: Marketing Residence: New York, NY Favorite color: Navy Blue Favorite Fashion Designer: Prada & Balenciaga Favorite Shoe/Accessories Designer: Marni, Prada, Miu Miu Favorite Parfum: Balenciaga and Philosophy/Amazing Grace Favorite Stlylish Film: Breathless Favorite Hangout: Little Branch Favorite Place/s to Shop: CafĂŠ Gitane Favorite Cocktail: Eastside Fizz (specially served at Little Branch) Who is your style icon?: Jane Birking and Audrey Hepburn What is your overall impression of how people dress in general and what do you recommend that they do?: Overall I like what I see, but I wish people would tailor their clothes accordingly, it would make a great difference in terms of fit.

Chris Chea Age 32 Profession: Creative Producer/fashion Designer Residence: New York City Favorite color: Black Favorite Fashion Designer: Givenchy Favorite Shoe/Accessories Designer: Armando Cabral Favorite Parfum: Dior Favorite Stylish Film: Blue Velvet by David Lynch Favorite Hangout: West Village, New York City Favorite Place/s: New York Favorite Cocktail: None Who is your style icon? My father What item of clothing would rather starve for?: A well tailored, super-120-wool suit. What is your overall impression of how people dress in general and what do you recommend that they do otherwise?: I think women have a lot to choose from, thatâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s why they are always beautiful; men do have a lot to catch-up to.

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...It's Never too late to fiX up some loose edges!

Maelys Boissiere Age /Astrological Sign: 24/Pieces Profession: Marketing, Brand Manager Residence: West Village, New York Favorite color: Poppy Red Favorite Fashion Designer: CĂŠline Favorite Shoe/Accessories Designer: Yves Saint Laurent Favorite Parfum: New York, Issey Miyake Favorite Stlylish Film: The English Patient Favorite Hangout: Epistrophy NY; The Coco, London; La Palette, Paris; Marley and Sons, Williamsburg, New York. Favorite Place/s: The Jane Hotel, New York; the French Alps; Marrakech, Morocco. Favorite Cocktail: Femme Fatale at Apotheke Who is your style icon: Jane Birkin and Lou Doilon What item of clothing would rather starve for?: Tank Louis Cartier watch. What is your overall impression of how people dress in general and what do you recommend that they do?: In general people follow trends without thinking about them but they should dress to reflect their personalities.

Sharpay Dior, 21 Profession: Designer Residence: Astoria, NY Favorite color: Orange Favorite Fashion: Skinny Jeans and Tank tops Favorite Shoe/Accessories Designer: Christian Dior Favorite Parfum: Jardore Dior Favorite Stlylish Film: Devil Wears Prada Favorite Hangout: Soho, New York City Favorite Place/s: 5th Ave Favorite Cocktail: Any Smoothie Who is your style icon: Lady Gaga What is your overall impression of how people dress in general and what do you recommend that they do?: Well, I feel that every person has their own way of dressing and its never too late to fix up some loose edges.

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RASHAAD ANDERSON Age/Astrological Sign: Scorpio Profession: Stylist/Retail Manager Residence: Williamsburg, Brooklyn Favorite color: Black Favorite Fashion Designer: Alexander Wang Favorite Shoe/Accessories Designer: Katie Eary Favorite Parfum: Dolce & Gabana Favorite Stlylish Film: A Single Man, Tom Ford Favorite Hangout: Thompson Hotel Favorite Place/s: Ace Hotel Favorite Cocktail: Wildberry Mojito Who is your style icon?: Victoria Beckman What is your overall impression of how people dress in general and what do you recommend that they do otherwise?: Style lacks effort in todayâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s age.

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The Inde Of Style

Mary-Laura Klesaris Age/Astrological Sign: Hell No/Pisces Profession: Medical Doctor by day/1920’s Soiree Decorator by Night — And a Mother in between. Residence: On the border between Brooklyn Heights and Cobble Hill Favorite color: I lean toward all jewel tones – emerald green, sapphire blue, ruby red, etc. Favorite Fashion Designer: Typically, I could care less about labels and designers because I wear mostly vintage clothing and many of it has no labels, but I recently met Carolina Herrera at a party and found her to be so kind, elegant, gracious, and regal. I was so charmed and impressed by her that I would say my favorite designer is Carolina Herrera for her fashion AND her presence. Favorite Shoe/Accessories Designer: For shoes, I like original 1920’s oxfords with a small heel (don’t care who makes them just as long as I can find them!); For vintage-inspired hats, I order custommade chapeaux from Ellen Christine Millinery in NYC. Favorite Parfum: Lavender Oil because I find it very calming and not overbearing Favorite Stylish Film: Breakfast At Tiffany’s Favorite Hangout: Clover Club on Smith Street in Cobble Hill, Brooklyn Favorite Place/s: Exploring old barns and bridges in rural Pennsylvania Favorite Cocktail: Johnny Walker Red on the rocks and the Moscow Mule Who is your style icon?: My Dad and Michael Arenella (bandleader of Dreamland Orchestra). Both encouraged me to look my best and hone in on my own unique style. Also, Audrey Hepburn for her effortless elegance and my friend Sarah Liston for the way she mixes feminine with masculine. What item of clothing would you rather starve for?: Vintage Stockings and hats (especially original 1920’s cloches) What is your overall impression of how people dress in general and what do you recommend that they do otherwise?: I feel like many people have either given up on trying to be fashionable (i.e. Jeans, T-shirts, flip flops) or that they are slaves to every single fashion trend that comes their way without ever considering what they want or what actually suits them. It took me many years to really find my particular style and I did that by choosing clothing that I like and that flatters my figure – without regard to what style/skirt length/heel height is “in vogue” at the moment.

I recently met Carolina Herrera at a party and found her to be so kind, elegant, gracious, and regal

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The Inde Of Style

In Geneal People Dress, Very, Very Normal

Sara Bender Age 32 /Astrological Sign: Virgo Profession: Wig Designer Residence: Brookyln, NY Favorite color: Pink Favorite Fashion Designer: No comment Favorite Shoe/Accessories Designer: No comment. Favorite Parfum: Chanel No.5 Favorite Stlylish Film: The Women Favorite Hangout: Dances of Vice Favorite Place/s: No comment Favorite Cocktail: French 75 Who is your style icon? No comment What item of clothing would rather starve for?: Hats What is your overall impression of how people dress in general and what do you recommend that they do otherwise?: No comment

Candice Guttmann Age 32 /Astrological Sign: Gemini Profession: Vintage/Clothing Residence: Brookyln, NY Favorite color: Celadon Favorite Fashion Designer: Erte/Galliano Favorite Shoe/Accessories Designer: No comment. Favorite Parfum: Jo Malone Favorite Stlylish Film: City of Lost Children Favorite Hangout: Dances of Vice Favorite Place/s: New York! Favorite Cocktail: Side-car Who is your style icon?: Klaus Nomi, Clara Bow What item of clothing would rather starve for?: Lingerie or 20s beaded dresses What is your overall impression of how people dress in general and what do you recommend that they do otherwise?: I donâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t notice folks in general who do not stand out. Over all I enjoy fashion that steps out of the box.

Parrish Age/Astrological Sign: Leo Profession: Milliner/Stylist Residence: Jersey Boy Favorite color: Dreamscicle Favorite Fashion Designer: Coco before Chanel Favorite Shoe/Accessories Designer: Oneself Favorite Parfum: Natural Oils Favorite Stlylish Film: Camille Favorite Hangout: Ibiza, Spain Favorite Place/s: New York City, All over Favorite Cocktail: Cool water brought to me. Who is your style icon?: Rudolph Valentino What item of clothing would rather starve for?: The coat from someone elseâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s back What is your overall impression of how people dress in general and what do you recommend that they do otherwise?: In general, people dress very, very normal and they should, in particular free their minds.

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The Inde Of Style

Dodo Jin Ming Age/Astrological Sign: No comment Profession: Photography Residence: New York City Favorite color: I collect and love many colors than I wear on my bodyâ&#x20AC;&#x201D;I enjoy them but necessarily on me. Favorite Fashion Designer: Comm des Garcon but not in the last two years, my previous favorite for the longest time was Issey Miyake, but no longer. Favorite Shoe/Accessories Designer: No comment Favorite Parfum: No Perfume Favorite Stlylish Film: Pasolini movies, Wild Strawberry by Ingmar Bergman. Favorite Hangout: Ocean, by the sea. Favorite Place/s: Ocean, by the sea Favorite Cocktail: Water Who is your style icon?: No comment. What is your overall impression of how people dress in general and what do you recommend that they do otherwise?: Doesnâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t matter. Dress how you feel.

Shintaro Torii Age 25 /Astrological Sign: No comment Profession: Business Executive Residence: Brooklyn, New York Favorite color: Blue, black, red Favorite Parfum: Giorgio Armani Favorite Stlylish Film: Gus van Sant films Favorite Hangout: Soho, Meat Packing District Favorite Place/s: Tokyo, New York Favorite Cocktail: Absolute Brooklyn (Vodka) Who is your style icon: Orlando Bloom, David Beckham What item of clothing would rather starve for?: Suits and shoes. What is your overall impression of how people dress in general and what do you recommend that they do?: People should pay more attention to your attire and I recommend that they wear suits more often.

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Irene Kontalipos Age 26 /Astrological Sign: Pisces Profession: Burlesque Performer/Actress Residence: Park Slope, Brooklyn Favorite color: Purple Favorite Fashion Designer: Christian Dior Favorite Shoe/ Accessories Designer: Miu Miu, ReMix Vintage Favorite Parfum: Jivago Favorite Stlylish Film: The Women Favorite Hangout: Duane Park in Tribeca, The Bowery Hotel Favorite Place/s: The Woolworth Building, The University Club Favorite Cocktail: Manhattan Who is your style icon?: Dita Von Teese What item of clothing would rather starve for?: Mr. Pearlâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s corset What is your overall impression of how people dress in general and what do you recommend that they do otherwise?: I think that people these days, for the most part are very casual in their appearance. They throw on Ugg Boots and sweat pants and then they consider this a complete put together look. I would recommend getting into the habit of selecting your outfits the night before, instead of in the morning when you are most likely to throw things on.

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The Inde Of Style

Taleen Berberian Age 40 /Astrological Sign: Taurus Profession: Sculptor and Visual Arts Teacher Residence: New York City / Los Angeles Favorite color: deep purple, pacific blue, flamingo pink Favorite Fashion Designer: (costume design) Edith Head, Jean Paul Gaultier, Thierry Mugler, Yves Saint Laurent. Favorite Shoe/Accessories Designer: Peter Fox Favorite Parfum: Serpentine (Cavalli) Le Base du dragon (Cartier) Favorite Stlylish Film: Le Belle et La Bête, Le Sang d’un Poete, (by Jean Cocteau) Favorite Hangout: Venice Beach (CA) Favorite Place/s: San Francisco (CA) Favorite Cocktail: fine (red) wine Who is your style icon? Coco Chanel What item of clothing would rather starve for?: Vintage late 1960s lace up boots (“granny”boots) What is your overall impression of how people dress in general and what do you recommend that they do otherwise?: When dressing one should think and act entirely creatively,

Shahid Hopson Age no comment Astrological Sign: Pieces Profession: Cosmetology student Residence: Brooklyn Favorite color: Golden Yello, Violet, Purple Favorite Fashion Designer: No boundaries, no particular favorites. Favorite Shoe/Accessories Designer: Dolce Gabbana and good quality shoes in general. Favorite Parfum: Chanel No.5 and Dolce&Gabbana Favorite Stlylish Film: Mahogany Favorite Hangout: I’m a free spirit and go wherever my heart leads me. Favorite Place/s: Hawaaii, Australia Favorite Cocktail: Apple Martini Who is your style icon?: Madonna, Grace Jones What item of clothing would rather starve for? G-Star What is your overall impression of how people dress in general and what do you recommend that they do otherwise?: Everything is just so like mass-produced. It is not interesting. People should try to personalized their look or be extremely eccentric or flamboyant.

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Kulture & Art: / Interview by Amy Fine Collins

Robert Couturier House Beautiful

Amy Fine Collins: What about

your background most defined who you are? Robert Couturier: So difficult to say... First comes to mind the fact that I have been raised to love all things French by grand parents whose culture by choice was profoundly French. I read Corneille and Racine, listened to Lully, Faure, Saint Saens and Rameau, read Proust, Mauriac, Pascal, La Fontaine and Claudel as well as Gide, La Rochefoucauld and Saint Simon. I was convinced of the superiority and the deep value of French culture and French style over all others. Therefore I had a profound reverence for all things cultural, intellectual and beautiful. Second, a deep-seated love for all things luxurious or elegant, whether custom made shoes and cloths, or perfumes and stylish interiors. This is a realization that came when it was too late for me to be reformed. I knew that there was something other than the front of the plane when I was 18... Third, and probably as a consequence of the above, a great fear of poverty, not so much in a material way much but as a dispossessed wa,y if that makes sense... Also having had parents and grand parents who traveled constantly and, even though I have been raised in this very French way, I have never developed any great loyalty to any particular national idea. I guess I have become loyal to a system of moral and cultural beliefs that are more historical than clearly factual or contemporary. What would you say distinguishes your work from that of your colleagues? I am really not sure. We all work differently, neither better or worse. We all have our own specific clientele and try to do the best possible work for the specific needs of those whom we work for... Who has been your most important client, and why? Maybe there are two kinds of important clients. The first kind makes you famous for no other reason than that they themselves are fabulously rich and famous. The second kind, are the ones who make your aesthetic vision richer and therefore become a factor of growth professionally and personally. It is obvious that Sir James Goldsmith belongs to the first kind and to some extent the second as well. But to the second kind Amy Fine Collins, Beatrice Stern, Cecile David Weill truly belong, as well as a few others, ladies of extremely refined personal tastes with whom I was able to have aesthetic conversations, through which I, we, could elaborate into something purely their own, something new to me and very specifically fashioned for them. The result was original, different from my own personal vision and ultimately quite enriching to me.

How essential is a decorator for a client with developed taste? Again it all depends on how one works. I always listen, try to understand, discover and ultimately help them make choices. A brilliant idea is only brilliant if it works in the particular space a person lives in. One can have perfect taste in loving all things French of the 18th century, but if one lives in an American country house or a Mexican villa, rigidly applying that particular refined and elevated taste will only give atrocious results. My job is to make things work so that it gives substance to the aesthetic dreams of the person I am working for. I am not sure that a decorator is essential. Maybe it is only useful. Maybe we all become enablers of our clients... What would be your fantasy project? Luckily I have had almost only fantasy projects. I hope to be able to continue that. At a certain level though, fantasy projects can be incredibly nefarious not unlike an acid trip: great while it lasts, but frightful when it ends and with painful left-over visions of what could have been and never was or should never be! They make the nearly impossible common... Of course it all depends on what one's fantasies are. My own are far too dreamy. What would be your nightmare project? Working for someone who has no curiosity, who thinks he/ she is right no matter what, who is possessed with social ambition... Maybe working for someone with limited intelligence and ferocious drive. Which of these elements most interests you and why: color, volume, texture, scale? All four. Not using one would be like cooking without one vital ingredient, like butter!! All four have to be used in order to create a successful room in perfect proportion. Trendiness and conformity seem ubiquitous in decorating. What is the antidote? It is frightfully difficult not to be influenced by what the French call "L'Air du Temps"—actually at one time a very delicious perfume. I am extremely leery of trends and fash-

“I abhor any one who places fanaticism before open-mindedness” ions. And yet by the simple fact that we live, we often unconsciously obey them. The antidote is to stay true to oneself or maybe recognizing them for what they are, the antidote might also be, as in all things, to keep one's eyes open and not be fooled by what is merely entertaining. What kind of woman would you like to live in your ideal environment? What kind of man? Someone—a man or a woman—who is curious, open, intelligent, with great self-knowledge, a discriminating taste and a great inclination for luxury, as well, of course, with vast culture but who is also kind, patient and has a sense of humor... Maybe the most important is great sense of humor. If you were forced into solitary confinement, what room would you want to spend the rest of your life in? Well, the Hall of Mirrors at the Palace of Versailles. At least it is large... aRUDE: St yle I ss ue 2010

Kulture & Art: Painting/ Interview by Odili Donald Odita

Marlene Dumas South African born artist Marlene Dumas has been called “one of the hottest names in contemporary art.” Working in a style that has been called “neo-expressionist” and “conceptualist,” Dumas creates lush, often disturbing and unnerving images of racial, sexual, and cultural subjectivity. Her work has been featured in the Venice Biennale and is currently on display at the Saatchi Gallery in London.

Can you speak a bit about how you started out as an artist and painter? As a child, I drew all the time, so my family thought that I was an artist. We had never met an artist in real life before. We had read of van Gogh and Picasso and other male artists in the books. Women mostly got married and then did not draw anymore, so I did not call myself an artist ‘til long after my fine arts studies at the University of Cape Town. Drawings, one can make while driving in the back seat of a car, in bed, anywhere; oil painting is something else. That came much later. How long have you been painting? Thirty years. Do you have artists in your family? Not in my field, but my oldest brother is a very good traditional wine maker. When [Nelson] Mandela and [former South African President] De Klerk shared the Nobel Peace Prize, his wine was served in Sweden. My other brother is a very good unconventional preacher. He won a lawsuit against the Dutch Reformed Church in the apartheid days. What was it like growing up a young artist in South Africa? I wasn’t an artist in South Africa in the professional sense of the word - only an art student feeling guilty studying art, in the early ‘70’s. When did you leave South Africa, and why? I did not mean to leave South Africa. I only came with a bursary for a two-year period to study art in Europe. I was 23 years

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old and it was wonderful to be in Amsterdam where nothing was censored. Do you go back to South Africa often? Do you have a studio there, and do you exhibit there often? Once every year to visit my family. And, no, and no. How does sex and sexuality function in your work? As a person, I am interested in death, so I’m also interested in sex. Without sex: no birth -- no birth, no death. You can have love without sex, and sex without love, but you can’t have death without sex. What place does the human figure take in your painting, philosophically, psychologically, metaphorically? It’s my beast of burden. The poor figure has to carry all the weight. Does a painting of child hold the same, or more, psychological weight when compared to a painting of an adult? What about a painting of a woman versus that of a man? No, not more [weight]. With painting, in general, most people prefer to see a woman instead of a man - in American films, as you know, the naked man is still very much taboo, while the violent man is not. I see that you collect a lot of pictures from magazines and newspapers. How do these materials feed into your work? They are part of our collective unconscious. They picture our collective guilt, our poses, and our prejudices.

Self portrait 1984

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Kulture & Art: Painting

Left, ‘Stripper’ 1999 Oil on Canvas Private Collection. Below, ‘Broken White’, 2006. Courtesy of Gallery Koyanagi Right page, the arist.

Who are your favorite painters in history? I have just seen a beautiful show of Ingres in Paris [Jean-Auguste-Dominique Ingres]. He is so hard, clear and bright, and yet so soft at the same time. And Alice Neel: She is the only psychological portraitist of her generation. She still needs to receive the credit she deserves. She never wasted paint to impress. Whom are you favorite artists working now? Which artists do you consider your peers? David Hammonds, for one, but that’s because he is not a painter and does not take part in the overload of stupid group shows. In Holland, Rene Daniels is still the star of my, and the younger, generation, even though he has not painted since his brain damage several years ago. How does living in Amsterdam affect your work? Could you live and work anywhere else? Amsterdam is small enough for my peace of mind. My studio is my place of reflection. I don’t like to move studios. Your husband is also a painter. In what way does this relationship help your practice as a painter? He makes me laugh. That is what he told me to tell you! Are you your harshest critic? No, my partner is. Can you speak about how your work is different now from the past? I take more time to wait, to only paint something that really moves me -- not to just paint because one likes to paint. To only paint when I’m tensed up enough about my subject matter, to not beat around the bush, and to use less and less paint. And what is your ambition with your future work? I want to paint my own “Guernica.”

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“I am interested in death, so I’m also interested in sex”

Kulture & Art: Cinema / Interview by Efrat Cohen

Kulture & Art: / Interview by Kóan Jeff Baysa

Malcolm Daniel

Looking at Pictures

Curator in Charge of the Department of Photographs at the Metropolitan Museum.

Where did you work prior to the Metropolitan Museum and what prompted your move from that position?

After college, I traveled through Europe and parts of North Africa for a year as a Thomas J. Watson Fellow—the backpack, Eurorail pass, and youth hostel thing—looking at art and architecture and, I think, learning to be independent. When I came back to the U.S., I looked for a job in my hometown, Baltimore, and very happily ended up in the Education Department of the Baltimore Museum of Art, running the school tour program, training the docents, and organizing small educational exhibitions. It was a great experience and a great collection to work with, but after five years I wanted to learn more than I could in that position and decided to pursue a doctorate in art history. Why did you choose the area of photography? I didn’t go to Princeton setting out to pursue photographic history, but a series of circumstances led me in that direction—none more significant than the excitement I felt in the seminars I took with Peter Bunnell, then the McAlpin Professor of the History of Photography and Modern Art. Peter, a protégé of photographer Minor White and a former curator at MoMA, who had established Princeton as the place to study photo history, possessed a deep, first-hand knowledge of the medium and many of its great practitioners, exuded enthusiasm for his subject, and was absolutely dedicated to his students. I was won over. One of the things that made photography so appealing as a subject—indeed, that still makes it so exciting—is that fact that it is such a young discipline and there are artists of the highest caliber about whom virtually nothing has been written. For me, the experience of doing primary research, of figuring out an artist’s life and oeuvre for the first time, was far more exhilarating than studying the work of an artist that was already well documented and much loved. The same holds true for me as a curator now: it’s particularly rewarding to introduce the public to a great artist and prompt the same sense of discovery that I’ve felt.

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What was the first show that you curated at the Met and what were your expectations and the realities of that exhibit? The first major show I curated was in 1994 on the 19th-century French photographer of landscape and architecture, Edouard Baldus, who was the subject of my doctoral dissertation. The reality of the exhibition and accompanying catalogue was far beyond my expectations or even dreams and completely different from the experience that so many people have—struggling on their own to transform a dissertation into a book, often published in very small numbers and with a few halftone illustrations by an academic press. I had the luxury of working with great editors, book and exhibition designers, and a brilliant mentor (Maria Hambourg, who was then head of the department), of having the book printed at one of the world’s great presses, and most of all having the reputation and organization of the Met behind me as I sought to assemble what I considered to be Baldus’s greatest masterpieces. Is it important to you that a museum show be accepted critically by the media and popularly by the public? Sure. Sometimes we like to pretend that it doesn’t matter (usually after a lukewarm review!), but of course you want others to share your enthusiasm for your subject and to feel that you’ve presented it in a beautiful, intelligent, enlightening way. The percentage of the Metropolitan Museum’s overall attendance attributed to the photography exhibits appears to be growing. How do you propose to boost that audience base further? Our attendance is growing, for several reasons: the diversity of our exhibitions sends the signal that the Met is a place to come to for the whole history of photography, from its invention to the present day. I think there’s also a demographic factor, that for people who have grown up in the post–World War II period, and especially in the past twenty-five years, photography is an ever-present element of the world, a language they understand, a central piece of the modern art scene. One way we’re expanding our audience is by increasing our presence and visibility within the Museum; in 2007 we inaugurated a new gallery designed specifically for contemporary photography, the Joyce and Robert Menschel Hall for Modern Photography. That year we also presented a small but exciting exhibition of video and new media, an area that most people didn’t even know we were collecting. What is most unique aspect of the Met as a place for presenting photography exhibits? It’s the fact that the Met is an encyclopedic collection of art from around the world and from the beginning of his-

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Kulture & Art: Cinema / Interview by Efrat Cohen

“I feel right at the Met; I enjoy shaping photography within a broader art context” tory. We’re very conscious that the photographs we exhibit are just down the hall from paintings by Manet or etchings by Rembrandt or wonders of classical antiquity. Sometimes our acquisition or exhibition choices are colored by those relationships, knowing for instance that a misty woodland scene in the Forest of Fontainebleau by Eugène Cuvelier might be seen by the public a few minutes before or after a silvery sylvan painting by Corot; and at other times, we delight in the fact that photography is part of the history of art but also has its own history, and some of our photographs surprise our viewers because they are so unlike anything else in the Museum. In either case, we know that we are working within a broad, rich, inspiring context. That’s true for any curatorial department at the Met, but quite different from many other museums. What have been your greatest challenge and your greatest achievement in organizing a photography show at the Met? Deciding what to focus on, from among all the artists and periods and subjects that interest me and need research and exposure, is always a challenge. But on a practical level, like so many other things, there are the usual constraints of time, space, and money: carving out time for research and writing; space in which to present exhibitions (our special exhibition galleries are shared with other curatorial departments, each with its own needs); and the funding to cover the increasingly expensive costs of organizing an exhibition and publishing a meaningful, authoritative, beautifully printed catalogue. It can be frustrating, but I’m also very aware of the incredible resources—superb collections, and talented staff, dedicated supporters—that we have at the Met. And the stature of the Met counts for a lot, too; securing all the loans for something like our show of Degas’s photographs might have been impossible without the Met’s international reputation for excellence. Greatest achievement in organizing an exhibition? Always the most recent show or maybe the next one seems like the greatest achievement. Fairly recently, the Metropolitan Museum acquired the Gilman Paper Company Collection of more than 8,500 photographs. What are the treasures within this collection and what is the greatest significance of this addition to the museum? The acquisition of the Gilman Collection was a transformative event for us. In a single stroke— albeit a single stroke that took twenty years to happen—the Met’s photography collection went from respectable with some great highlights to the topmost ranks of photography collections worldwide. The Gilman Collection, which covers roughly the first century of photography, was long recognized as the preeminent private collection of photographs anywhere, setting the standards for connoisseurship in our field and providing many of the textbook examples, as it were, for photographic history. Particularly during the second decade of the collection’s formation, roughly 1987 to 1997, we worked closely with Howard Gilman and his curator Pierre Apraxine to shape their collection and ours so that they would fit together like pieces of a jigsaw puzzle. In many areas the Gilman Collection alone was stronger

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than the Met’s collection, and together we now have deep, rich holdings of many of the most important artists of the medium’s first century. As for the specifics, the Gilman Collection is particularly strong in British, French, and American photography of the 1840s, 1850s, and 1860s. There are superb works by the recognized masters of the medium; William Henry Fox Talbot, Roger Fenton, and Julia Margaret Cameron among the British photographers; Gustave Le Gray, Edouard Baldus, Nadar, and Maxime du Camp among the French; Mathew Brady, Timothy O’Sullivan, and Carleton Watkins among the Americans, for instance. But the collection also includes amazing, unknown works by artists who are unfamiliar even to most photo historians. The same is true for the turn-ofthe-century and modernist periods with iconic works by Edward Steichen and Man Ray on the one hand, and wonderful little-known surprises on the other. With this large addition to the collection, how will your acquisitions program be impacted and differ curatorially from those of your peers at other institutions with large photography collections? We now have almost unparalleled strength in the first hundred years of photography from the Gilman Collection, but also from the works donated and bequeathed by Alfred Stieglitz that came to the museum in 1928, 1933, and 1949; from the Ford Motor Company Collection of avant-garde photography from between the World Wars, a 1987 acquisition; from the Rubel Collection of early British photography acquired in 1997; and from our many individual purchases and gifts of the past twenty years. Certainly there will be newly discovered 19th-century masterpieces to bring into the collection (I hope so!), but they will be few and far between that rise to the standard of what we already have and meaningfully enrich the collection. So moving forward, an increasing proportion of our acquisitions will be from the post– World War II period, and particularly contemporary photography. We have a lot more work to do there and fortunately we have talented curators who specialize in these areas and wonderful friends and supporters with an interest in them. As far as how our acquisitions program will differ from those of other institutions, I think it’s just natural that it will. Each institution has its own personality; think how different the Met, MoMA, the Whitney, the Guggenheim, and ICP are from one another, and that naturally inflects the decisions that are made. I also think that as individual curators, each having a different set of interests, different historical perspectives, different tastes, and different passions, we are naturally drawn to the appropriate kind of institution. I feel right at the Met; I enjoy shaping photography within a broader art context and wouldn’t be happy at a museum devoted exclusively to photography or to modern art. So the Gilman acquisition may shape our future acquisitions to a certain extent, but it also fits into an institutional character that was already present, a historical trajectory that was already set. In a prior interview you stated that the Gilman Collection would now be at the core of subsequent exhibitions at the Met; how do you see these additions from the Gilman Collection in conversation with the contemporary photographic works currently in the collection? Much of my love of 19th-century photography and my activity as a curator are rooted in a belief that there are lessons to be learned—not just beauty to be appreciated—from the art of the past, and I suspect that that’s also part of what motivates the millions who visit the Met each year. Many early British and French photographers, for instance, believed that the

close observation of and spiritual connection with nature as intimate as a flower or as sublime as a rushing, rocky torrent could provide an antidote to the modern ills that attended the industrial revolution. Others found their greatest inspiration in familiar surroundings, family, and friends. Still others thought that the examination of foreign cultures or forgotten times could clarify their own cultural perspective. All of these observations are as valid today as they were then, and many of the issues and ideas present in historic photography are also being addressed by contemporary photographers. I vividly remember visits to the Baldus exhibition by Thomas Struth and Sally Mann, and it’s not hard to see links between Baldus’s work and theirs, not influences necessarily, but visual or intellectual connections. In our contemporary photography installations in the Menschel Hall, we’ve sometimes included works from the past that share ideas with the work of present-day artists. At other times, there are connections to be made between what’s in the modern gallery and what’s shown nearby—our visitors might see a cameraless image of a botanical specimen from the earliest days of photography by the medium’s inventor, Henry Talbot, and then walk a few steps and see an Adam Fuss photogram from 2000—that’s the sort of perspective that you’re unlikely to get elsewhere. How has digital culture influenced contemporary photography? In many of the best cases, the influence of digital technology on photography is invisible. It’s a tool, a change in technology like glass plates or roll film. I can’t necessarily tell by looking at a photograph whether it was captured digitally or on film, nor whether it was printed from a negative in an analog darkroom or from a file in a digital lab. But for the photographer, the

“Only the predictable can be predicted, and the predictable is rarely the thing that changes history in a revolutionary way” tools of the computer allow very fine tweaking of the color and contrast, the adjustment of small details and such, and once perfected, it’s exactly repeatable—something that is always hard in the darkroom. In collecting for the Museum, it’s the finished product that we’re most concerned about, not the means of arriving there. We’re not setting out to collect digital photography per se, but it’s obvious that this is where the technology is going, and it’s inevitably becoming a greater and greater part of what enters the collection. On the other hand, I personally tend to steer clear of photographs that scream "digital"—that look like someone playing with a new toy and trying out all the bells and whistles. Mia Fineman, a curator in my department, is organizing a smart, fun, and timely exhibition for fall of 2012: a history of manipulated photography before Photoshop. It’s going to show that so many of the things we associate with digital photography have been around since the 1840s—they’re just easier to do now. I think it’s going to be an eye-opener for

Kulture & Art: Cinema / Interview by Efrat Cohen

many people, and it’s a perfect example of how the Met can cast a new light on contemporary photography by presenting it in the context of a larger history. From your perspective as the Curator in Charge of the Department of Photographs at the Metropolitan Museum, what do you feel is the future of photography? Hah! Wouldn’t it be great if I could predict the future! The most profound changes in photography’s appearance and role will be the ones that are least expected. Only the predictable can be predicted, and the predictable is rarely the thing that changes history in a revolutionary way. Sure, there’s no question that photographic imagery is ubiquitous, that it is now seamlessly entwined in contemporary art more broadly, that digital imagery increasingly shapes and supplants traditional, analog, light-and-chemistry photography, but the future of the art will be charted, as it has been in the past, by individuals with profound ideas and unique vision. We will only know the future when those artists have done their work, and perhaps not until years later, looking back. Finally, tell us what you have in store for this coming fall. From November 10, 2010, through April 10, 2011, we’ll be showing some of the Met’s greatest treasures in an exhibition focusing on three giants of early twentieth-century photography: Alfred Stieglitz, Edward Steichen, and Paul Strand. Stieglitz was a photographer of supreme accomplishment. The exhibition includes work spanning his career but with concentrations on his photographs of New York City, his cloud studies and other pictures made at the family compound in Lake George, and—perhaps his most compelling body of work—his photographs of the painter Georgia O’Keeffe, who he married in 1924 and who he photographed more than 300 times between 1917 and 1937. Stieglitz was also a passionate advocate for the acceptance of photography and modern art, most visibly through his sumptuous journal Camera Work and through a succession of galleries. Steichen and Strand are, in a sense, bookends to that activity. At the turn of the century, Stieglitz held up the work of the young Steichen as the best of artistic photography; he reproduced it in Camera Work and exhibited it in his “Little Galleries of the Photo-Secession”—works like Steichen’s iconic images of the Flatiron Building, his photographs of Rodin’s Balzac by moonlight, and his portrait of J.P. Morgan. By 1917, influenced by the Parisian avant-garde art that he had been showing—Rodin, Cezanne, Picasso, Braque, Brancusi—Stieglitz was rethinking what a modern photograph could be and was less interested in the painterly, fin-de-siècle, symbolist-inflected works (like Steichen’s) that he had earlier championed, and he found in the work of Paul Strand a directness and graphic power that signaled a new, modernist approach to the medium. Stieglitz devoted the final double issue of Camera Work to Strand’s photographs. The Met has extraordinary holdings of work by all three photographers, primarily from gifts made by Stieglitz beginning in 1928 and by Georgia O’Keeffe. Simultaneous with that exhibition, my colleague Doug Eklund has organized a small show of work by other artists from the 1910s—a look back to a century ago. Many of the photographs are of a less aestheticized nature and show both the exhilaration and turmoil of the decade that included the first World War. It’s an exciting counterpoint to Stieglitz, Steichen, Strand. Doug has also organized the current installation of contemporary photographs and video in the Menschel Hall, Between Here and There, Passages in Contemporary Photography, which remains up until the spring, part of our ongoing presentation of the art of our own time. It’s an exciting line-up for anyone who loves photography.

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Kulture & Art: Books / Interview by George Pitts

Bram DijKstra

Naked: The Nude in America

What are your reasons for focusing on the Nude in America? The first--and only other--book on the history of the nude in American art was published more than thirty-five years ago. As a cultural historian I have long admired the many nudes painted by American artists over the past few centuries, and have always been puzzled why their efforts did not seem to merit anything more than an occasional article by an intrepid researcher. Clearly the absence of work dealing with this subject matter attests to the Puritan residues in American scholarship; the subject is still considered “embarrassing” by many of my colleagues in the academy, and tends to raise eyebrows; scholars on their way up the academic ladder therefore avoid it. I am “emeritus” at the University of California, and therefore beyond potential punishment for my indiscretion by censorious colleagues. Does the representation of the Nude in America enable you to arrive at specific conclusions about American culture and its attitudes about nudity, sexuality, and ideals about Beauty? Any artist worth his or her salt needs to study the naked human body-which, at its best, represents the essence of what we perceive as “Beauty.” As such it is the source of all that is best in our capacity to recognize the otherness of others (which is the essence of desire).

We speak of the “naked truth” and not, say, the “nude-truth”? Why is your book entitled “Naked” instead of “Nude”? As I point out in my book, to be naked is to reveal one’s true self. Nudity conforms to convention. A painter or photographer who catches beauty in its sheer nakedness captures truth; those who paint or photograph the nude capture only convention. Magazines like Playboy censor nakedness and concentrate on the nude, because that makes the residues of true desire still stirring among its viewers easier to control and manipulate. “Naked” presents a historical survey of the differing representations of the female and male nude. How did you arrive at the respective catego-

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Above: Kate Moss on a White Horse. 2001. Nan Goldin. Highgate Cemetery, London Left: Naked: The Nude in America Bram Dijkstra

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Kulture & Art: Books / Interview by George Pitts

Indian Maiden at a Spring, William Robinson Leigh. 1940. Oil on canvas Private Collection

ries in which you group the different images? The chapter titles almost wrote themselves, for as I tried to organize the various representations of the naked human body to be found in the history of American art, specific patterns became perfectly obvious. The early nineteenth century representations of super-muscular “Herculean” strugglers almost imperceptibly morphed into “Superman” early in the twentieth century. “The Inexorable Rise of the Breast” became inexorably clear as a topic as I watched the female bosom rise to new heights from the late nineteen thirties onward. In your mix of illustration, comic art, pulp and vernacular/commercial imagery, and fine art depictions, what were your reasons for contrasting these disparate images from both the popular and fine art spheres? In my book I try to make it clear that there is very little distinction between good “high” art and good “pop” art. We make artificial distinctions for marketing purposes, but until a great Matt Baker cover of the 1940s sells for more than a mediocre-to-bad “ironic” John Currin, Baker’s reputation will be that of one of the “vulgar” comic book illustrators whose work led to the institution of the

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comic book code: Baker’s work is good because it represents naked wit--while Currin’s nudes echo the Playboy philosophy of high art. What informed your particular inclusion and/or exclusion of well-known works, such as Manet’s “Olympia? There are deserving artists in the book who are relatively unknown to the masses, such as Jerome Witkin, among others. My book is about American art and artists. Hence no Manet (or Picasso, or Correggio, for that matter). There are hundreds of American artists whose achievements have remained unknown or under-appreciated because of the American collectors’ ridiculous fixation on the big names (mostly manufactured by various dealers). I have tried to include as many unknowns as was warranted by the quality of their work, and I have excluded as many super-well-knowns as was warranted by the inferiority of theirs. Who are among the included names/artists that you feel should be more widely known and appreciated for their work with the Nude, and why? Anyone included in Naked, because they have made a

Seated Nude, 1920s. Arnold Blanch. Oil on canvas, 20 x 16 in. (50.8 x40.6 cm).

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Kulture & Art: Books / Interview by George Pitts

Seated Figure in Landscape, 1965â&#x20AC;&#x201C;66. William Brice. Oil on canvas, 94 x 68 in. (238.8 x 172.7 cm).

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The Bed, The Chair, Jetlag, 2000. Eric Fischl. Oil on canvas, 85 x 105 in. (215.9 x 266.7 cm).

significant contribution to the development of American culture (though there are many more out there whose work I simply don’t know--for, unfortunately, the less artists lust after publicity, the better they tend to be).

Bram Dijkstra

“Any artist worth his or her salt needs to study the naked human body”

Some of your chapter titles are amusing such as “Discovery of the Pubes.” What specific cultural epiphanies do you attribute to such discoveries? And does such acceptance of this sector of the human body represent an advance in tolerance? Today most Americans are still unwilling to recognize the existence of pubic hair. Hence the proliferation of hair removal salons that help to turn the naked human (usually female) body into the nude. When American men stop trying to weed the human body of its supposed flaws, they may also become ready to let the rest of the world live according to whatever happens to be local fashion, instead of attempting to excise all naked reality throughout the rest of the world. What are your thoughts about the increasing emphasis on sexiness in the later images in the book versus the

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Kulture & Art: Cinema / Interview by Efrat Cohen

“IT HAS BECOME DRAMATICALLY CLEAR OVER THE YEARS THAT TO SHOCK THE BOURGEOISIE YOU MUST BE PART OF THE BOURGEOISIE: “

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Kulture & Art: Cinema / Interview by Efrat Cohen

more discreet representations that open the volume? Is the line between softcore, pornographic, and fine art blurred in contemporary culture? Most contemporary artists seem to believe that dragging porn into their work will automatically give it a special edge; they still believe that it is the artist’s role to “shock” the bourgeoisie, although it has become dramatically clear over the years that to shock the bourgeoisie you must be part of the bourgeoisie: the vulgarity of trying to “shock” the world is the vulgarity of the adolescent who has finally dared to confront his own fears about bodily functions and sex--those who transcend the world of middle class horror are those who want to change that world by forcing it to confront the beauty that exists in the body, in sexual pleasure--in what the bourgeoisie considers “sin.” Pornography can be (though rarely aspires to being) fine art, and much of contemporary art is muddleheaded smut. Softcore is nudity all over, almost always for the sake of commerce. Diver, 2003. David Ligare. Oil on canvas 48 x 120 in. (121.9 x 304.8 cm)

Georgette in Giverny Garden, 1900. William de Leftwich Dodge. Oil on canvas, 12 x 52 in. (30.5 x 132.1

Why is the naked body so stigmatized in our society despite evidence of the massive consumption of pornographic images in this country alone? Because most Americans are still taught in childhood that the human body and its desires are “dirty” they are therefore forced to associate pleasure with “dirt,” with violence, and with shame. If sex and mutual pleasuring were to be recognized as a force for good, pornography would disappear and the representation of sexual encounters of all sorts, having lost its power to engender shame, would become a normal part of everyone’s world--and hence incapable of more than usually inartistic exploitation. Those who “consume” imagery of sexual activity for its capacity to make them feel “dirty” would have to find their thrills elsewhere (as many already do while fighting “wars” and other such violent “games” on their computers). What is ultimately the objective of your book? To make people recognize the beauty of the naked human body when not maltreated and the violence that is done to the body when we try to make it conform to standard conceptions of “the nude.” Who are your desired readers and those that already read your work? Anyone still gifted with a modicum of native intelligence and a sense of joy. Is there a pattern, or recurrent set of concerns between the books you’ve written? What weaves together the themes of all of my books is the concern to find ways to counter the destructive follies of racism, sexism and fear of the body in human society by presenting a history of the misuse of social and scientific assumptions.

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In His Shoes

Manolo Blahnik’s gem-like miracles Interview & Portrait by Iké Udé 60

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better than sex; Sarah Jessica Parker, so in love with his shoes, is believed to have worn them the day before she gave birth. Suffice it to say that for a woman not to have ever worn Manolo Blahnik shoes in her lifetime would be the equivalent of her having no feet to stand on.

Imagine Catherine Deneuve, Jeanne Moreau, Uma Thurman, Sharon Stone. Imagine legendary icons of yore, Audrey Hepburn, Jackie Kennedy, Grace Kelly, or the lesser known but equally glamorous Dorothy Dandridge and Anna Mae Wong. Imagine still, all of these women dressed, coiffed, manicured, pedicured, smartly powdered, ever so lightly perfumed, ready to step out wearing hideously clever, cheap designer knock-off shoes? Vanquish the thought! The images of these elegant women would absolutely be compromised without the benefit of an exquisite pair of shoes like Manolo Blahnik’s to set off their respective outfits. In the hands of the maestro, a pair of shoes achieves the status of a Jaguar luxury car, the understated sexiness of precious stones and imbues a woman with the graceful air of a gazelle. The extravagance of his inventions, its suppleness of syntax, is a new vocabulary for shoe fashion, due to Blahnik’s hands-on approach to his own designs. His shoes are variously pointed and spiky, round-toed and flat. He often sketches, paints and intensely studies form, function, materials, color and overall harmony of design. The end results are coveted Manolo gem-like miracles for which most women pine. Consequently, Stephanie Marsh’s The London Times article, “King of the heel,” 2005, was subtitled, “Manolo Blahnik, God’s gift to well-shod women everywhere.” An Ireland based blogger, Ray Senior, claimed, “Women scream at the mere hint of his name and would sell any one of their children to get their hands on his shoes. Seriously. We aint kidding,” he alarmingly intoned. Madonna vows that his shoes are

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In a sketch, Manolo Blahnik is the offspring of a Spanish mother and Czech father. He spent his childhood in the Canary Islands and is conversant in several languages: English, French, Portuguese, Italian, and German. He trained briefly as an architect in Paris and did a stint—in part to assuage his father’s dreams—as an interpreter at the United Nations. After university, he considered a career as a set designer, but the legendary fashion icon Diana Vreedland presciently advised the young man to pursue shoe design. He did, and the rest is history. We don footwear for both quotidian and eventful purposes. Shoes hold a particular sway in women’s psyches to the extent that few men could ever comprehend. Some feel empowered by merely mounting a pair of high heels, others feel a keen erotic stir, and some achieve an unquantifiable completeness that exceeds the benefits of a yoga meditation. In other words, the exceptional luxury of wearing a pair of Manolo Blahniks—and not just any high-heels—bears the weight of meaning beyond fashion. Consider Carrie’s unforgettable one liner in Sex and the City, when she was robbed in the street: “Please don’t take my Manolos,” she pleaded. Pathos aside, the scene is testament to the gravitas attributed to Mr. Blahnik’s shoes. Jackie Kennedy, a huge Blahnik fan, reportedly ordered twelve pairs each month. Audrey Hepburn loved the elegance of his high-heels. The late actress continues to inspire the designer, who beams, “The imprint of Miss Hepburn is absolutely, totally present.” Some women have a mad devotion and passion for his shoes. Not unlike Imelda Marcos and her notorious trove of shoes, a well-to-do lady in California has her own Blahnik shoe gallery-cum-shrine in her home where each pair of the designer’s shoes is on display, encased in glass. The modest sage, Mahatma Ghandhi, observed, “Three-quarters of the miseries and misunderstandings in the world would finish if people were to put on the shoes of their adversaries and understood their points of views.” One could conjecture that had Ghandi known, he would have devised a means to furnish his adversaries with Blahnik shoes, thus, no shortage of their empathy. The purchase of a pair of elegant Manolo Blahnik’s

All drawings by Manolo Blahnik

Form

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Equestrian

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“Each drawing and each shoe is inspired by something in my mind. Whether it is a film, a woman, a smell or a view.” extraordinary shoes is a smart investment in oneself as it engenders joy, love, beauty, self-esteem and confidence. So, if you are blue, and feel like “putting on the Ritz”, Manolo pumps is the perfect tonic! In relation to your shoe-drawings, are your lines more Ingres, Matisse, Picasso or Aubrey Beardsley? Oh, I would love to even come close to one of those geniuses. How can I compare myself to them? Sometimes I can spontaneously get immersed in Ingres and the divine purity of his brushstrokes. Matisse and Picasso always visit my mind as well. What medium do you typically draw in and why? I usually draw in China ink. I love the consistence and feel of the liquid. What other mediums did you experiment drawing with before arriving at your present favorite? I experimented with acrylic and oil paints in the 70s. Later I tried watercolours until I arrived at the ink. I have always also used the Staedtler pencils to sketch. I still use them. 3H Staedtler is my favourite. Why is a preparatory sketch so important to your shoe design process? When I get inspired, I put the idea immediately down on paper. Then I develop it and work on it. Usually I end up with the original, final sketch not long after the initial idea comes to me. I don’t do a separate preparatory sketch. Would you or have you actually designed some pairs of shoes without the benefit of your requisite preparatory drawings? Yes, quite often I do shoes when I am in the factory already. When I get an idea there and then I shape the last there and cut the pattern. Some of the shoes are done without the sketch being done beforehand. Ultimately, do you merely see your shoe-drawings as preparatory studies for the actualization of the real shoes—in much the same way that, for example, Seurat or Ingres had used theirs, as “studies” for their paintings—or do you see these drawings as complete, independent mode of artistic expressions in themselves? Most of the time the drawings are done beforehand and then the actual last and heel are done based on that drawing. So yes, they are a preparation for the actual shoe. However, I guess you can consider them as a separate artistic expression.

Pleats

Are you more deliberate and hesitant or quick and assured when drawing the shoes? I think that when I have something in my mind I am quick and assured in the way I put it down on paper. However, I do look over it later and contemplate and sometimes correct or change. How much of your mood, a place, a moment, or a particular memory—is possibly revealed or concealed in some of your drawings? A lot. Each drawing and each shoe is inspired by something in my mind. Whether it is a film, a woman, a smell or a view. So when I look back on a drawing or a finished shoe, I remember straight away what idea in my mind conceived it. I also hope that people see that in my shoes as well when they see them. I hope they see what my inspiration was. At least a little bit … Is the exquisite eroticism in your shoe drawings partly or totally conscious? Or is it perhaps the opposite? Thank you for labeling my shoes as erotic, though it is totally unconscious.

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Mediterranean colours. I grew up with nature and flowers and beautiful landscapes, so that is always conveyed through my shoes. You use such gorgeous, dainty colors and lines in your drawings. How difficult is it for you to translate all these elements from your drawings to the actual shoes that the women wear about? It is difficult indeed, but we work very hard in the factories to make them look as close as possible to the drawings and the vision in my head. Book cover, Monolo's New Shoes

Your shoes are generally available for purchase but your drawings—as much as legions of your fans love them—are not particularly accessible on the market. Why is that? I never think about seeing my scribbles or sketches in a gallery. Normally I don’t sell them, so the only way for me to allow people to see them is in books. We are now publishing the second book of my drawings with Thames and Hudson. It is coming out in September, this year. Where can one buy these drawings, what sizes do they come in and what is the price range? I don’t sell them, so I can’t really put a price tag on them. Sometimes I donate a drawing to charity. Recently one, which I donated, sold for a large sum. Maybe one day I will do an exhibition of the drawings. Returning to the process of drawing: say, because you had a change of mind, are there instances whereby you’ve revised lines or details—found in some original drawings—during the making of the real shoes in the factory? Of course! After the shoes are made, I compare it to the original drawing and sometimes things have to be adjusted. Also, sometimes what I draw from my imagination cannot be executed exactly identically in real life, so it has to be adjusted to reality. Do you prefer, in your drawing, sharp or broad lines, or a combination of both and what kind of paper do you use? The lines depend on the kind of paper I use. I usually use Cartridge paper. When do you employ colors and what essential role do they play in the overall harmony of your drawings? Colours play a huge role in my design process. By nature I am always inspired by very bright

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How often are you not satisfied with the result of translating your fine drawings into practical shoes? Not very often, but it does happen sometimes. It sounds pedantic, but everything has to be as ideal as possible. Ingres used to tell his students to draw with their eyes when they cannot do so with a pencil. How do you interpret his instruction and do you sometimes draw with your eyes instead of, say, a brush or pencil? The way I interpret Ingres’ instruction is for one to draw with more imagination and independence. Most of the time my brush and ink do the job the way I want them to and guide them. In a certain sense, your shoe drawings are magical, the exact opposite of a painter’s drawing. A painter typically draws a subject in front of him/her. In your own case you draw shoes that have no physical presence. Where do your shoes come from? I am not a painter and the shoes come straight from my vivid imagination and then become physical. Over the years, what are the best lessons that you have learned from your detractors; and conversely the worst lessons, if any, that you’ve learned from your champions? I do not listen to detractors. I am blessed with an absent mind and patience to listen. Conversely, the worst lessons I tend to ignore. The good feedback I listen to and follow the advice of people I admire. Only the true visual lessons are important to me, which are the final product. Most importantly I follow my heart and my own aesthetic convictions. Is your best work yet to come or have we already seen it? You have not seen it yet, but sometimes I think that I am very close to it. Turning away from your shoe drawings, can you possible put your finger on why your shoes are such a phenomenon with women? I was always mystified by this love affair between

Manolo signing his book at Bergdorf Goodman, New York, flanked by George D. Malkemus, III, CEO of Manolo Blahnik

women and footwear. I feel that shoes are independent objects. They are much more autonomous than a dress. They have a still life. You donâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t have to put them on to see what they will do for you, however, with a dress you have to. Being the maestro of shoes and having kept at it for a long, long time, how do you manage to continually keep

it fresh? My curiosity drives my creativity and that is shows in my designs. I see exhibitions, watch films, read books, observe the people on the street and my mind is continually stimulated and always full of ideas, full of inspiration for new shoes! You told me how shocked you were that a young girl or so,

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Africa

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Africa

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Pleats

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I love 19th century authors like Balzac who wrote beautiful stories, crisp with details and sentiment. Also Flaubert. In modern times I have always loved Gore Vidal didn’t know about Audrey Hepburn and another woman misunderstood Capote’s Breakfast At Tiffany’s to mean that now, one can actually take breakfast there. How do you bridge this alarming cultural gap with your shoes? I don’t think that I can bridge the gap. All I can do is try to encourage people to learn and discover or at least send them to the internet or the library! Over the years, have there been periods that you were especially more inspired, more creative than, say, other times? Of course, at certain times I am more inspired than others. However, I cannot think of a particular time in my life. Generally, shoe designers use leather, velvet, suede, silk, satin, what is your favorite material? I love leather, but I have a special weakness for silk brocades and linen. What is the oddest thing that had once or twice inspired you to design a particular collection of shoes? Once I’d hurt my knee. As a result, I was wearing a brace for some time and that inspired me to create a thigh-high boot with round shields and straps. Is there such thing as an ideal height of shoes for a woman of a certain age, for a young elegant woman and for a charming conservative woman? I do not believe in rules and regulations. One should wear what they feel beautiful and comfortable in. However, I must say that I do love a kitten heel on a slightly older woman … I think that is very elegant. But I also love them on younger girls, the way Julie Christie and Jean Shrimpton used to wear them. Should they be a height limit to high heels? Yes, there should be and I believe it to be 115 mm. Do you at all subscribe to the dictum, “form follows function?” Absolutely. Shoes have to have balance and technical know-how for a woman to be able to walk in them beautifully. Considering your love for literature, who are your favorite authors and what do you like about their respective styles? I love 19th century authors like Balzac who wrote beautiful stories, crisp with details and sentiment.

Also Flaubert. In modern times I have always loved Gore Vidal who in the 60’s was very daring and created masterpieces like Myra Breckinridge and in the 40’s he wrote marvelous books like The City and the Pillar and later Julian (my favorite book of all time). What are your favorite books? Il Gattopardo and Madame Bovary. What books are found on your bedside? At the moment I am reading Parker Tyler’s ‘Magic and Myth of the Movies’ and Guillermo Cabrera Infante ‘Three Sad Tigers’. Besides your love for books and literature, you have as much passions for movies. Who are your favorite actors/ actresses of yore and contemporary favorites? The list is endless. I absolutely adore Vivien Leigh and love the All-American style of Gary Cooper. I have also always been a huge fan of the luminosity that one finds in Julie Christie and Charlotte Rampling. What is your favorite scene in a movie or two? I love the scene of family prayer in Il Gattopardo, the family prayer in a palace outside Palermo… the curtains moving and people praying. There isn’t a scene more perfect. You are also reading or rereading Tennessee Williams. Why Tennessee, and why now? I think it is right for me now. I am just on a whim. Which of the three characters—Basil Howard, Lord Henry Wotton and Dorian Grey—in Wilde’s novel, do you most identify with? I don’t really identify with any of them, but if I could be one of them I would choose Dorian Grey at least for the beauty. How do you feel about being, as someone said, the fifth protagonist in Sex and the City? To be honest, I don’t think about it too much, but at the time of the series it was quite entertaining to be featured in the show. It also exposed our brand to every girl who watched the series across the world and I am grateful to Ms. Parker for that. What is your idea of a well-lived life? Have a passion for what you do and help others. That should make your life complete.

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Questions for

Afsane Bassir-Pour

Director, UN Regional Information Centre for Western Europe • Interview by Iké Udé

When we first met, you were the Le Monde Chief-Correspondence at the UN, New York. What led to your departure from Le Monde to the UN? Believe me I did not leave New York willingly! I left kicking and screaming but I was the diplomatic correspondent for 17 years and the paper decided it was time for a change. After New York I was named Le Monde’s correspondent to Geneva and quite honestly

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“What is inexcusable is the level of poverty in the world and the violations of human rights” the only really interesting subject to cover for a correspondent was the World Trade Organization’s negotiations but Le Monde never gave me enough space to cover them. I was therefore searching for something different to do, and along came a new challenge. How did your job at Le Monde prepare you for the UN? Really well since my main job in New York for Le Monde was to cover multilateralism and my office was conveniently located at the UN building on the East river. You are now the Director UNRIC (UN Regional Information Centre for Western Europe). What does your job title say and doesn’t say about what you actually do on a day-to-day basis? What bothers me about the title is the word “information” since my job really entails communication rather than information. Although we provide information on the work of the UN, mainly we communicate the work of the organization and engage European citizens. Another oddity in my title is the term “Western Europe” since the European Union is now of 27 countries, the notion of Western Europe is a quaint term, a vestige of the cold war. What it correctly includes is the term “Regional.” UNRIC is really a pilot project. It is the first and the only Regional information and communication arm of the UN. Created after ten offices in European capitals were closed, it reflects the idea of the European Union itself. How does UNRIC compare and contrast with UN in New York? We have 23 staff members and 25 interns. The UN is the headquarters and huge in numbers compared to our office here. Are there plans to have UNRIC equivalents in other continents, besides Europe? I doubt it only because of distances. Our desk officers in charge of different European countries can hop on the train most of the time or on a short flight to go to their respective countries, I don’t see them doing the same in Africa or Latin America for example, but then you never know since regionalization is the way of the future. My personal opinion, bien sur! Considering other Western European countries, why was Brussels/Belgium the location of choice for such an important office? Paris would have been more fun! Two good reasons: Brussels is the “capital” of Europe and the three EU institutions are in Brussels. Also, did you know that Brussels has the largest press corps in the world? It is even larger than that of Washington. No, I didn’t know that Brussels has the largest press corps in the world. Are their numbers as efficient as they are impressive? As far as UN global affairs coverage is concerned, not really, but then it is not their job because they are here mainly to cover the EU. I have a bone to pick with the EU coverage too: they are so close to their subject, most of the coverage is too insider and not really understandable for the normal European. Most European citizens don’t even know that there are, for example, three institutions that make up the EU. Who are some of the world dignitaries that you’ve met and worked with? I’ve been lucky enough to have seen almost every one, because every one comes through the UN one day or another. But if you really want me to name drop, let’s start way back: Gorbatchev, Mandela, Vaclav Havel, Mother Theresa, Francois Mitterrand, Bill Clinton. I also covered the World Economic Forum in Davos for four years running and there you meet absolutely everyone. 74

So more name dropping: Angelina Jolie, Sharon Stone, Bono… I’ve only named the ones who were quite impressive. Is the UN as effective as it should be in dealing with our world’s myriad problems that abound? The UN is an ideal, an idea -- its time will come! The founding fathers had big and ambitious dreams. We speak of the UN in terms of the UN and the real UN: The UN is what you see that doesn’t always work, the Security Council, with its ten members and its five veto wielding permanent members; and the General Assembly where 192 countries have votes. It is not difficult to understand why it doesn’t always work. Try to get consensus with 5 people in the room let alone 192! But it is a universal organization that gives it its moral weight and legitimacy. Then you have the “real UN” that is the UN in the field where people are fed, clothed, educated and vaccinated on a daily basis. I always say that the UN’s real communication challenge is that it is only loved and understood by the poor whose needs we meet every day, and the celebrities. What do you give a man or woman who has everything? A cause! What are the best and worst arguments against the UN? I might get into trouble for this, but for me the best thing about the UN is the first three words of the charter. “We the peoples …. ” If we all consider this organization as our organization and care for it as such, then we can start really caring about what works and what doesn’t and why. The worst thing: indifference of the people. Since it’s founding, has the UN fulfilled a considerable measure of its goals? I would say yes and no. The main reason for the creation of the UN was to “save succeeding generations from the scourge of war” which by and large it has done. What is inexcusable is the level of poverty in the world and the violations of human rights; on both fronts we have a long way to go. And yet we are the first generation, the richest and the smartest generation in history and the only generation capable of eradicating absolute poverty, so there is no excuse. Regarding big ideas, if you have a few minutes one day and are in need of inspiration read the preamble of both the UN Charter and the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. This document, unanimously adopted in 1948 is, arguably, the most important document of the 20th century. Its adoption today would be unimaginable . . . totally unimaginable!! Those drafters had guts and vision. That said I should mention yet another inspired document adopted not, that long ago, in 2000. It is the Millennium Declaration, adopted by all world leaders and governments, that encompasses the Eight Millennium Development goals. The first one is to halve poverty by 2015 . . . well, we are not there yet, but it gives me hope to see that such an idea can still be dreamed. For these goals to be achieved we should stop looking to our government to achieve them and roll up our sleeves and see what we can do to help. We are in the midst of creating our new public information campaign on the MDGs and want to call it NoExcuse: End Poverty. Hope you’ll join. Artists have an extraordinarily important role to play. “What are MDGs?” And how can artists join? What is expected of them and how would they be compensated for their artistic contributions? The MDGs are the Millenium Development Goals that I talked about in the last question. These are eight goals that humanity set for itself in the year 2000 and the first goal is to reduce poverty in the world by half by 2015. As for compensation, I’m

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“It is about time that there was a woman at the helm of the UN. I really think it would make a difference” afraid it is not to the UN that you look on that front. For a long while, there’ve been only five permanent member seats at the UN. Isn’t it about time to consider the inclusion of a few more to this five? It is indeed. But it ain’t easy. Everyone thinks that the P5, as we call them in UN jargon, do not reflect the political reality of the world. Who should we add to the mix? Germany and Japan seemed the right two then it was thought that, given their status, Brazil, India and a great African nation should also join. But which one? South Africa? Egypt? About 15 years ago they created a working group to study the matter, that we jokingly call the “Never ending working group.” Than came the Coffee Club, a group of mid-sized countries that, knowing that they would never have a permanent seat, didn’t want their neighbors to have one either. It was actually created by Italy. Members include Italy (“Why Germany and not us?”), Pakistan, (Unimaginable to have India with a veto power), Mexico (“Why Brazil rather than Mexico?”) and so on and so forth . . . so not so easy. Everyone is aware that, yes indeed, the P5 don’t cut it any more, and that is one of the reasons that you now have the G20 created outside of the UN. You know as long as they talk and don’t fight, its fine! What are the average education qualifications for a job at the UN? You need a bachelor degree and ideally a master’s degree or 15 years of relevant work experience. I see that there are a lot of parties and special events at the UN. How do your social events differ, from say, other secular events? When I was based at the UN we had an average of five social events to go every single evening. It makes sense: 192 countries, 192 National days plus kings’ and queens’ birthdays! Most of them are boring, to be quite honest, but I tried to at least show my face at most because it is a fantastic opportunity for networking and parties are a really good place to get diplomats to talk. There’s nothing like a few glasses of champagne to get information out of people. But some of these parties were really fun too. What role does fashion play at the UN? Not as much as it should. Since a lot of people wear their national costumes to the UN, it is a very colorful place to be. But for fashion as such, not much. As you know, I love fashion. Therefore at UNRIC we have an umbrella initiative called “Fashion with a Cause” and within that we have different initiatives: some already done, such as the F.U.N (Friend of the UN) bracelets, made by Jean-Paul Knott, the Belgian designer, who has also done NoExcuse t-shirts for us in 2010. And we are now asking other European designers to choose one of the 8 MDGs and create a t-shirt or an accessory for it. These will be produced and distributed by other partners of Fashion with a Cause called 3Suisses. I have also approached Karl Lagerfeld to design a new UN guide’s uniform for the UN. He said that he really liked the idea but has not gotten back to us with concrete ideas, so I’ll probably be looking for some other designer to do that. Any ideas? In the 1950s it was so glamorous to be a UN guide. The uniforms were made by Christian Dior, amongst others, but in the almost 20 years or so now, they look dowdy so it’s time for a new look for the UN guides. Regarding the uniform, I totally agree and shall think of some recommendations. Such a twenty-year old uniform needs to be retired, for a smarter, newer one—not necessarily fashionable but timeless and classic, because, anything fashionable invariably becomes unfashionable. Okay,

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assuming a designer comes and gets the new uniform right. What effect would it have on members of the UN? Effect? I suppose the same effect that a smart stylish person has on you as opposed to a dowdy badly-dressed person. Are they any implicit or explicit dress codes for both the men and women at the UN? For example can a woman wear revealing skirts or a top that reveals more cleavage than is necessary; or, say, a man wears muscle t-shirts and jeans to work there? There are no codes really except codes that are respected in all work places. There are some cleavage-showing women, as there are everywhere, no more no less. Given the amazing cultural diversity at the UN, do you not think that it would make an ideal place for an annual world costume extravaganza that is also tailored to educate as much as entertain? The world indigenous peoples’ conference that takes place every year at the UN comes pretty close to this extravaganza. Who are some of the stylish personages at the UN? Again, I can’t say that I have been struck by style although I must say I was always and still am impressed with Kofi Annan’s style. There was an Italian Marquis at the UN named Simone di Bagno, a film maker; he came to work with leather pants (he rode a bike) and a navy blue blazer with no shirt. He looked very stylish though a bit chilly, I thought! What is the best-kept-secret about the UN that we should know and would pleasantly surprise us? Best kept secret? The Marilyn Room. There is a little room and a shower adjacent to the Secretary-General’s office on the 38th floor of the UN building. The rumour is that it was used by President J.F. Kennedy to rest his weary back during his visits to the General Assembly meetings every September. Journalists called it “the Marilyn room.” Now whether there is any truth to the origin of the room or not, who knows . . . but it’s a good story! You mean, Marilyn as in Marilyn Monroe? Yes! As I said this is pure gossip; what is true is that there is a little room and shower close to the Secretary-General’s room and that it is supposed to have been created for JFK to rest his back. As for the rest . . . pure speculation! There is thus, an implicit implication that President J.F. Kennedy and Marilyn Monroe were some sort of item, hence Marilyn Room, is that a fair reading of it? No comment! So far, there hasn’t been a woman secretary-of-state at the UN. What, in your estimate, accounts for this? And does it really matter as long as the job gets done excellently? Indeed and it is about time that there was a woman at the helm of the UN. I really think it would make a difference, since women project more soft power and a woman would probably concentrate on social issues and human rights. And the good thing is that at this point (because there has never been a woman secretary) if a woman were to be a candidate we could dispense with the regional rotation rule (albeit unwritten but de rigueur rule). So all those women out there who want to change the world, here’s your opportunity. What is your ideal and realistic definition of a perfect world? A world in which we all work to make poverty history.

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Bridging The Cleavage

Between Art

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and DesiÂŹn An interview with Mattia Bonnetti, Miami, December 2, 2009

By Daniella Ohad Smith

Mattia Bonnetti

stands out among the most talented designers of our time. He is known for his exceptionally sculptural furniture, for a unique approach to materials and for his love for superb craftsmanship. His jewel-like furniture of fantasy and exquisite, energetic forms, span the disciplines of high-end furniture design, industrial design, and interiors. He has made his name with such iconic furniture as the Yo Yo table a coffee table modeled after the traditional yo yo, and made of polished aluminum, with one part seeming to float above the other and Abys Table, a modern version of Louis XV grand furniture. Bonnetti was born in the picturesque Swiss town of Lugano in 1952. He had graduated from the local Centro Scolastico per l’Industria Artistica before moving to Paris in 1973, where he has lived and worked since. It was in 1982 that Bonnetti and Elisabeth Garouste had established one of the most intriguing partnerships in the design world. For the next two decades, the two had crafted their names in the limited-edition and one-of-a-kind arena just as this became a serious area in the international art market. Recognition and fame came with the commission of the interiors of the 80’s mega star Christian Lacroix’s showroom in 1987. This commission also came to tag their aesthetic agenda, which combines fantasy with reality, dramatic visual vocabulary of baroque and excess much in the spirit of the legendary couturier who has made the 80s and who has recently showed his grand finale couture collection just before closing down his couture house due to financial woes. For over a quarter of a century, Bonnetti has played a prominent role in the international design community with a new design of a French flavor, inspiring the “stylish,” or “designed” look of the new trend in design. I call him the Émile-Jacques Ruhlmann of our time. The pre-eminent Art Deco Parisian designer who produced fine furniture of 18th-century quality that had rooted in tradition on the one hand and represented progressive taste on the other. Bonetti’s luxurious furniture and dazzling interiors express a clear French identity. While his unique vision has been extensively discussed in the literature, his work cannot be categorized. It demonstrates his fascination with materials, with luxurious appearance, standing on the line between reality and dream, primitivism and sophistication, modernism and surrealism, functionalism and ornamentization, playfulness and extravagance. While his eclectic work is not subjected to one stylistic character, he has established a signature aesthetic of reserved theatrical look. His Barbare Chair, the Nina Ricci perfume containers, the interiors of Christian Lacroix showroom, and the Extroverted Kitchen, a bean-shaped block with integrated oven and sink all covered with gold leaf, which hhe had designed with former partner Elisabeth, have already entered the pantheon of 20th-century design. I have met with him for a conversation at the booth of Paul Kasmin Gallery at Design Miami, which devoted its entire space to his work. The fine art, New York-based gallery has worked with Bonetti for the past two years on pieces that are exclusive to the gallery. As Paul Kasmin has followed the work of Mattia for years, this showcases the project of working together on a series of furniture. The gallery, which has been in business for nearly two decades, which represent only one the Lallains ist envisions this furniture as work of contemporary art in a unique medium.

You were born

in 1952. Was this a good vintage year for an avant-garde, forward-looking designer to be born? Some of the most notable minds of our time

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were born in that same decade, Ron Arad in 1951, Jasper Morrison in 1959, just to name two. History has shown us that some extraordinarily gifted designers or architects didn’t make it only because they were born in the wrong time. To me, working as a designer has always been a constant struggle. It was a struggle for me as a young designer out of school and it is as difficult today with all the success I have achieved in the field. It is a daily struggle, working around the clock whether in creating, thinking or just being critical about my own work, always trying to improve, to do better. Funding your work must be a great challenge. Funding too, but mainly communication. Communication has become so central to the world and to the business of design, so much more than lets say, thirty years ago. It takes a great deal of time and effort to engage with that aspect of the profession. Design is everywhere today. We are all constantly experiencing design in a revolutionary way. This revolution started in the 80s when design became incredibly popular, something a wide portion of the population became conscious of. With this revolution, the role of the designer has changed. Some believe that designers have that responsibility to shape the world; others believe that their job is to help us coping with the change. How has the role of the designer changed since you came out of college? On the one hand, designers ought to take that responsibility to shape our world and by that, I mean to enable the population to achieve a better life. Yet, although many believe that the role of the designer is fundamentally moral, this is not my own agenda. Throughout the twentieth century, there has always been design that reached to the masses, that was reasonably priced. My design doesn’t fall in this category. Would you like to see your products being mass produced? I have designed a variety of products for mass production. I have done the “Deci Dela,” perfume bottles for Nina Ricci. 79

Among the most exciting projects is that project I have done for a beverage produced by Pernod-Ricard Group, the second largest beverage group in the world and the promotional glass I have designed for Chivas Voilà. I find that design for mass production is the best way to become visible, and I love witnessing designes used by so many. The market for contemporary, sensational furniture of interesting, exciting, stimulating forms has flourished thanks for a few art dealers, visionaries who had recognized a shift in the market for design. Gallery Neotu had produced editions of your furniture as well as of objects by Jasper Morrison and others for the upper reaches of the market. The whole idea of a gallery that addresses the top end of the design market is new. David Gill in London, Gallery Kreo in Paris, Gallery Mourmans in the Netherlands, Cristina Grajales in NY, are among the leading forces in the field. In the early 80’s I had worked with Neotu. Its founders of this Parisian gallery and its New York-based branch, Gerard Dalmon and Pierre Staudenmeyer, were the true pioneers. They were the first to recognize the significance of design in our culture and its potential in the art market. They sold furniture and other items by designers, artists, and architects, representing Jasper Morrison, Ron Arad, myself, and many others. The gallery initiated and funded production, and I believe was the first one of its kind to get engage with this type of production and promotion of design. They were instrumental in establishing some of the young, essentially unknown designers of the 1980s and 1990s, bringing them to the mainstream of design. A new book, which will be published in the next month or so traces the history of these two galleries that unfortunately closed their doors several years ago. Your work is being shown here, at Design Miami by the New York-based gallery Paul Kasimin Gallery. You have been here now for several days since the opening night. What do you think of the state of the market? We constantly read about the tremendous effect of the recession on the market. I think that the recession has transformed the field of collecting design, and that the market is being reinventing itself. Furniture for hundreds of thousands of dollars which were present in all the previous fairs are nowhere to be found at Design Miami this year. My pieces are not that expensive, and although all of it is done in by hand, they have never reached those numbers. I have to admit that I haven’t seen any substantial change in the market so far. I am pleased and fortunate to work with Paul Kasmin Gallery, as he is a fine art dealer. Therefore, by representing me, Paul is announcing my work as “art,” rather than functional design, issuing me with a “passport” to the art world. My design is becoming accessible to his clients who are those not typically searching for design, but who perceive my furniture as a work of art. Tell me about your taste in period design, about design that you admire, about what is moving you, what is inspiring you? My taste is highly eclectic. I am moved by so many movements and periods that it is hard to count. I grew up in a family of a great appreciation for the arts, and art has always been central to the shaping of my own identity. My parents had been antique dealers in the Swiss town of Lugano, and they dealt with a wide variety of art ranging from Asian art to furniture of the Renaissance. I went to an art school very early on, at the age of 14. My taste is colorful, its dynamic, and it constantly keeps changing. What I like in a given moment, whether it is material, style, or mode, may not appeal to me at all in other moments. 80

You were educated at the Centro Scolastico per l’Industria Artistica in Lugano. Tell me about the agenda of this institution. What type of school is it? It was founded in the early 60s with a methodology based on that formulated at the Bauhaus. It has a great Swiss identity, and from the its very beginning, the school came to embrace all richness of Swiss tradition and particularly its tremendously rich graphic design. Are you still connected to Switzerland? My parents have passed away but I travel to Switzerland on a regular basis.

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One of the most striking chapters in the history of Swiss design was manifested in the sanatorium, which had been among the earliest and most ambitious manifestations of modernism. With its clarity, rationality, and concept of hygiene, modernism was the perfect fit for that institution. Switzerland has been known for its tradition of sanatoriums since the 19th century, when those unique institutions were established for the treatment of tuberculosis for the privileged. The sanatoriums were a combination of grand hotels and spa, prevailing the culture of the body. They were typically designed in functional aesthetics, with what I believe reflect the progressiveness of the Swiss nation. The Swiss are is super progressive and I feel fortunate to be brought up in such an atmosphere. In 1973 you moved to Paris. Why? In my twenties, upon graduating from the school of design, I was working as a textile designer in Italy. I knew that it was in Paris that I could find some great job opportunities for designing textile for the fashion industry. What do you think about Paris today as a center of contemporary design? There is a lot going on in Paris, but I consider myself both different from other designers as well as isolated in the design arena. Its my choice and there is no suffering here. My approach is different than any of the living designers I know.

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Â If I tell you that to me, you are a kind of Jacque Ruhlman of our time. Am I completely off? In some ways it is a great complement, but in others its not. The use of traditional approach in making objects, the high quality of the decorative arts, Ruhlman had that obsession with quality, with refined finishes, with the most expensive and unique materials. Today, we cannot even dream to achieve that level of quality that he had mastered in the 20s. Although there are craftsmen out there who have the skills, the culture of making objects this way has been lost. I work in the studio, with many techniques of handcraftsmanship, but I am trying to tailor those skills to the world of today. In this respect, I believe, you may compare me to Ruhlman. Yet, I am not looking into going sixty years backwards. It is not about going back to the Art Deco era, to its high style French look, but it is about the approach that I find your work reminiscent of that of Rhulman. You work has not one stylistic character, yet, it has a strong signature. It looks French, which was also a part of Ruhlman agenda, that French identity that he tried to reconstruct, and there is that handcraftsmanship on a level rarely seen today. The work shown here, at Miami is stunning and highly innovative with an unorthodox approach to form and materials. I like the "Quasimodo" cabinet (made of colorful resin, tinted wood, patinated wrought-iron). It looks surrealist and I envision this piece of furniture 81

belong into that extraordinary language of design, Surrealism, like the designs that Dali did. I am glad you are asking me particularly about this piece. I am pleased that you like it because it is too complicated for many people to fall in love with. I wanted to create a piece of art, a sculpture; the function is secondary. The inspiration came from paintings by Miro and Cy Twombly, and I commissioned an artist to cover the resin surface with hand color. Although we will be producing an edition of 8, this is a way to make each piece unique. Lets go back to the early part of your career in Paris. In 1979, you had created a partnership with Elisabeth Garouste and together you achieved an international fame when designing the interior studio of Christian Lacroix. When he first launched his couture house in 1987, Lacroix quickly emerged as the prince of the fashion world. In many ways he had manifested that decade, the 1980s, with all of the excess, the dramatic image, recreating what looked at that time as fashion taken from the Palace of Versailles. He has recently

closed his house. How do you feel about it? I am sad for Christian, who is a super creative man, I am also sad for those who worked for him, for all of those craftsmen who lost their jobs. They created couture in the most traditional way and I look at this as an end of an era, knowledge and skill that may disappear with the closing of Lacroix House. When we designed his maison couture, we had to complete the job within three months. Christian followed our work for years. He admired we have done in interiors and called us the new Jean Michel Frank. He had determined that if would ever open his own studio, he would commission us with the interiors. Working with Christian Lacroix in the 80s was the turning point in your career, and overnight you were crowned as the golden pair of the design world. It is true, but by that time we had already had three shows in New York and were featured on the cover of the New York Times Magazine. In 2002 you parted from Elisabeth and started working on your own. Why? I wanted to start expressing myself in different ways. I was looking for the freedom that one cannot achieve when working in partnership. Working with Elizabeth was about a constant conversations and discussions. I was ready to move on, and now it is about my own desires. It is just me. Your Abyss Table had become one of your most recognizable designs. It looks like a jewel, it is glamorous, dramatic, dazzling, and striking. With its scale and approach, with the precious materials and finish, it is reminding me of the famous desk of Louis XV at the Galerie Versailles. What is Abyss? Abyss was named after the deepest point of the ocean. Indeed, it is the most iconic work of mine and it will be make in an edition of 8. We have made four so far, and you are definitely correct with your observation because it reveals that high luxury of the Louis XV furniture. I have seen the new publication of your work by Reed Krakoff, published by Rizzoli here for the first time. It a beautiful coffee table books with high gloss, fantastic photographs of your work. But there is a very little text. Would you like someone to write an academic critical account on your work? Susan Yelavich wrote about my work and I like to read what she has done, as her work brings to the surface aspects that I have not been aware of. It is something that design historians can do very well, to explore me as a person, as an artist and look deeply into the meanings of my work. There has been a talk about design as art, about the boundaries of these two, or some say one arena. What is the relationship between the two? You show at the Kasmin Gallery stimulates that notion that design is art. It is certainly a long contested issue, the relationship between design and art. The French designer Pierre Paulin, who recently died, said that design is not art. He said that whereas art is almost sacred, a product of enlightenment, design should be functional. What is your stand on that issue? I am not fond of all this talk about design and art. I do not believe that it is necessary to define those boundaries. To me, this is an open field. What is your next project? I am working on a new show with David Gill, my London gallery and on the upcoming show at the New York gallery of Paul Kasmin, scheduled to be open in February.

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Francesco Clemente Impermanence of the Self By John Falkman Entering Clemente’s vast Broadway loft is like opening the gates to an old grave chamber in which time is dissolved; the invisible barriers that normally separate past and present, the feeling of then and now, are pulverized like old newsprint, leaving but a musty scent of decomposition, mixed with the smell of oil mediums, turpentine, and various toxins –cigarette smoke, dust and lacquered wood. This Broadway loft, his studio, is the embodiment of Clemente’s sensitive response to life, to literature, to religion, philosophy and mysticism. This, in turn, echoes his yearning for the harmony created when balancing opposing elements and phenomena that are contained within the human constitution: the physical and the metaphysical intertwined. His latest series of paintings that are attached to the columns supporting the ceiling – huge canvases – deal primarily with physical and metaphysical bonding, received through mental and sexual interventions.

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Clemente’s paintings deal with the self, a self defined by one’s sexual desires and the yearning for harmony, security and “protection,” as Clemente would term it, against the grain of society, and against Satan, as described by Blake: The unprolific and opaque whose realm of obscurity devoid people of their speech. Johan Falkman: In your work from the early eighties one senses a feeling of alienation. There seems to be a dialogue – a silent lovemaking – between the two opposing sides of your inner self: the unhampered warrior and the unborn mystic. How would you describe these two sides of yourself and their relationship? Francesco Clemente: I don’t know if I can describe any aspect of myself, but I can definitely look at the strategy of my own work and describe what that strategy has been. My goal has always been to treat what is harsh with tenderness and what is tender with harshness. JF: Could this be seen as a reversed loverelationship between the two opposites, or is there a silent war going on between the two aspects? FC: The proliferation of the self, the one splitting in two is the very source of any endeavor. It was described in the past by the word Symbolon. The original meaning of Symbolon is a broken coin that is split between two friends at the time of their separation. Thus the word Symbolon evokes a sense of longing. This in turn can be seen as a metaphor for giving and receiving, penetrating and being penetrated, seeing and being seen, underlying themes that you will find in many images of my work. JF: In the painting “Unborn” you have depicted yourself asleep inside the body of a tiger. To me the tiger seems to represent uproar, strength and the offensive side of your personality. I also see it as a challenge to the surrounding world. Could you tell us about the tiger? Who is this creature that seems to protect your slumbering alter ego? FC: You neglect to mention that the tiger is in a cage (longer pause). A painting is always a meeting place of many stories and various emotional registers. Very often the excuse

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“My goal has always been to treat what is harsh with tenderness and what is tender with harshness.” <

Self-Portrait Androg

for a painting will come from something one heard. Like a poem. In this case I happen to remember what the poem was. It is written by Sandro Penna, a tormented and gentle bohemian figure in Rome during the 1950’s. The poem says: I wish I lied asleep In the center of the heart Of the world I wish I had never been born at all. There is also an element of humor, I hope, in what I make. To declare yourself a tiger and then to declare yourself a tiger in a cage and to declare yourself as this urbane creature asleep in the heart of this inexpressible violence is a paradox. And a paradox is always key to sense. JF: Behind us is one of your later self-por-

traits that was exhibited in New York a few years ago; you are depicted inside the vagina – the painting makes one think of Courbet’s the origin of the World – and it appears as though you are finally allowing yourself to be delivered into world, having matured for close to 30 years. Is this a correct interpretation, or are you perhaps still encaged inside the tiger? FC: I don’t believe in maturity. There is always room for the next mistake. The focus of this work should rather be seen as dealing with the “gate” that separates the outside world from the inner-world. Actually, we don’t really know if we are being born or if we are being absorbed anew, in to the inner world. We are standing on a threshold, not sure in which direction the tide is taking us. JF: That’s a wonderful metaphor for life and death. Would you describe your relationship to death? What are your thoughts on death, and I don’t specifically speak of our physical death? FC: Death is really the impulse that has led me to returning, over and over again, to the self-portrait as a reflection on impermanence, the impermanence of the self rather then the continuation of the self. JF: Our impermanence is something most of us find hard to accept. Recognition of the fact seems to contradict our nature. You are not only talking about the imper-

manence of the flesh – our bodies – but you are talking about the impermanence of the self, the seizing of thought, feeling and awareness. To make this a primary issue in one’s work demands an acceptance of the way of nature that many find hard to reconcile with. It demands strength. How would you define strength? FC: Strength to me is the feminine side of the world in terms of adaptability. To be able to adapt to change is a feminine quality. The quality of movement, conferred to the rigidity of the male side. JF: So the male is weaker?

FC: Balance is the outcome of movement not of stillness. JF: You have depicted Purgatory—hell—in

several of your paintings; perhaps the “underworld” is a better term. Wouldn’t you say that hell is a place within you, to which you can retreat? Hell is generally perceived of as a place for the rejected, and according to your perception of Hell, it can offer acceptance to those alienated; it’s a place for the outcasts. Do you see yourself as an advocate for the rejected, for the outcasts, not embraced by society? FC: But who is the outcast? The outcast is a person who has been stripped of his means of expression. In that sense, we are all outcasts. JF: Who then, deprives us of our means of expression? FC: It is Satan, in the sense of the opaque. William Blake talked about Satan as the unprolific and the opaque. The social dynamics of Satan have no heads, no tails, no beginning and no end. They create this obscurity that deprives us of our speech.

JF: You are embraced by the American art scene – viewed by many as an American icon – but also looked upon as the man who turned the development of art in the “wrong” direction. Why? FC: Maybe every new artist is initially rejected when he exposes new aspects of vulnerability, of fragility. This goes against the grain of product, and “product” as you know, is the respectable cipher of our time. Vulnerability and weakness are viewed with suspicion. On the other hand America is not only the

birthplace of consumerism but also the land of great mystic poets from Whitman to Allen Ginsberg via Ezra Pound, all of them prophets of fragility. JF: Wouldn’t you say that your friend and

collaborator Andy Warhol was then in fact an opponent of yours, going, as he did, with the grain of product? FC: For Warhol “product” was just subject matter, certainly not a formal solution. JF: You collaborated on several canvases with both Warhol and Basquiat. Did you grow and develop from this collaboration or did it minimize your true expression – your unique voice? FC: Since I am a believer in the multiplicity of the self I can easily include others in my endeavors without feeling threatened. I am already more than one person when I do what I do. JF: Your visualization of sexuality, an eerie

combination of your physical desires and your inner vision of your sexual desires, creates an underworld fantasy. Would you explain this relationship? FC: There are many traditions that have adopted lovemaking as the metaphor of spiritual quest and spiritual fulfillment. It’s a tradition of image-making that has been there from the very beginning, starting in the East. But you don’t necessarily have to look at the East to find out that the flame of Heaven and flame of Hell are one and the same. It is just the interpretation of our perception that changes it. On a mundane level these images may question timidly the given classification and determination of sexual preferences and attitudes. JF: Are we happy with that? FC: There are countless occasions when we

don’t know who we are and we don’t know what we want. There are countless emotions and feelings that have no name in our vocabulary. Paintings cannot give names to these experiences, but they can remind us that they exist and are legitimate. Maybe what an artist does is to offer a path of expression to those willing to travel on it. Thought is not a weapon. It doesn’t fight. It doesn’t go in a straight line to break against the wall of dogmas defining our age. It just takes an oblique path around it.

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Voluptuous Panic George Pitts’ Women interview by iké udé

A former painter, previously the Photography Director for Vibe magazine, George Pitts was also an acclaimed poet whose poems thrilled the other, George Plimpton, the founder of Paris Review who subsequently published his works in that eponymous literary journal of yore. • Currently the Director of Photographic Practices at Parsons The New School For Design, he is near the completion of his photographic series that lovingly depicts women, north of 35 years of age, with such sensual candor and economy of sexuality. His women stirs as much as Egon Schiele’s female nudes. Besides the sheer delight in experiencing such Dionysian sympathies that Pitts imbues his women with, there is that inescapable voluptuous panic that any viewer invariably experiences . 88

1. How did this project come about? The work in the Eros gallery was done over the last 7 years or so, and represents the different Women that I've photographed, often for more than one shoot. 2. Since its commencement until now, has it followed the exact trajectory that you had anticipated? Not exactly, photo shoots are never fully predictable. Preparation and some research figure into doing certain of the shoots; and I have been consciously working more with available light, complicated shadows, and a mixture of available light with strobe. Probably the work exhibits more refinement, and more daring on the part of the subjects. I'm drawn to making a kind of narrative in the moment, which builds from setup to setup. I deliberately contrast naturalism with differing degrees of Surrealism, often working with flowers as a visual foil with the nude.

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3. What have been some of the unexpected surprises—good or bad—that you’ve so far encountered? Things that aren’t obvious on the surface tend to constitute the “surprises”: a quiet person can often be livelier or sexually bolder than a more extroverted or loquacious individual. I can’t recall anything that I would really characterize as “bad.” 4. Besides the obvious sensuality of this body of work, what other subtexts, signifiers or leitmotivs are you exploring? Your term “other subtexts” leads me to draw attention to the obvious: I’m interested in a woman’s character coming through in the images, and her persona. At times due to the layers of experience visible in a woman, realism overlaps with qualities one could only describe as mythic. Types inevitably surface in one’s aesthetic, as it does with painters; and you can either recognize these recurrent kinds of beauty, or strive to cast more widely. I’m inclined to be more inclusive than build a legacy 89

â&#x20AC;&#x153;Working with and working through insecurities is a facet of the work, daunting for some artists, and a given for others.â&#x20AC;?

based strictly on glamour. Vulnerability, and a reading of universality interests me, without the reductive generalizing gloss that often accompanies such pictorials. I believe Iâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;m drawn to individuals above all. 5. What goes into the preparations for a typical photo-session? Some minimum or maximum of planning, details of clothing or shoes, considerations pertaining to the location or space being used and whether available light is present, choices of music, often change from person to person. Sometimes a subject will want to assume the stance or behavior of figures in works of art, such as those by Schiele, John Singer Sargent, or whoever. Sometimes with younger subjects, Balthus comes to my mind in the quality of pensiveness or the beautiful awkwardness embodied in a person. Certain films by auteur directors can inform certain depictions, and I gravitate to directors such as Fassbinder, Catherine Breillat, and Jacques Rivette. But one must also be prepared to

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abandon any preconceptions and simply improvise, particularly if time allows for it. 6. How do you find the women in your pictures? Often I ask women politely if I can photograph them; or I encounter people in different social contexts: parties, art events, and beyond. Subjects refer other subjects to me with increasing frequency. Nowadays, because my work is visible in books, magazines, and on the Internet, I am fortunate that people often ask to be photographed. 7. There is a candid intimacy in these photographs. How do you and your sitters manage to realize this? On my part, I think it’s a result of being attentive, of paying attention: during our conversations, and through written exchanges prior to a shoot. Obviously, I can’t speak for the sitters; but photo shoots I do for myself often have a different tenor and pace than those done for Editorial purposes. I try to be a good listener. Working with and working through insecurities is a facet of the work, daunting for some artists, and a given for others. Working with the specific person and their specific qualities enables them to relax. One shouldn’t forget that the technical aspects pertaining to lighting, mise en scene, and mood, contribute to the ‘construction’ of intimacy.

Photographer GeorgePitts

8. Returning back to your earlier answer. What instances make it possible for you to shoot a particular woman more than once and what distinguishes one picture from the other? Those shoots that occur after the initial shoot are continuations into different areas of feeling, style, physical behavior, emotional play, and mutual self-discovery. A discussion of clothing or location options often happens; or some vague or specific desire to go further. Going further doesn't necessarily mean a more frank and intimate depiction, but can entail more room to experiment with behavior, tapping into unexplored sectors of the woman's charm or imagination. Clothing, an idiosyncratic prop, or accessories such as a belt, hats, or modes of fashion are explored. There is no formulaic pattern. As for my own desire to continue shoots with an individual, it often lies in the sheer pleasure of the woman's presence, her humor about herself, and a sense that the experience is so rewarding and fun that one wants to prolong the interaction with an engaging individual. A sitting may feel 'unfinished' somehow, and that may impel me to say then and there, that I'd like to photograph them again. It's akin to a painter who chooses to paint subjects they know or enjoy. 9. How much do you art direct your women during the shoot and is your direction verbal or non-verbal? It’s both. Direction is a casual or subtle dialogue with the woman's persona, physical allure, and potential for multiple expressions of her presence. When I'm working, direction entails seeing a potential strand of behavior and sometimes prolonging it, teasing it out into a miniature performance. The process entails witnessing the qualities that a woman shows you, or that she can access within those moments during the shoot. I imagine the process has numerous affinities with working with an actor on a set, yet differs in that my subjects don't have a script to rely on, or maybe there is a kind of interior script that informs any individual's notions of themselves. I saw a documentary on David Lynch during the making of his film "Inland Empire," and his direction of actress Laura Dern reminded me of how intuition, trust, and the vaguest hair of an idea can be expanded into a succession of actions. His procedure very much reminded me of working with a woman toward a possible photograph. 10. Who are some of the iconic women of our time you would love to photograph in your style? I like a range of actors, some of whom continue the legacy of the Femme Fatale, such as: Beatrice Dalle, Charlotte Rampling,

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Hanna Schygulla, Julianne Moore, Marina de Van, Noomi Rapace, Isabelle Huppert, Edwige Fenech, Melissa Leo, Barbara Steele, Juliette Binoche, Jeanne Moreau, Anna Karina, Helen Mirren, Catherine Deneuve, Emmanuelle Beart, Liv Ullmann, Gunnel Lindblom, Delphine Seyrig, Laura Morante, Naomi Campbell, Emmanuelle Seigner, Margit Carstensen, Stephane Audran, Lena Endre; also singers, past and present such as Nina Simone, Eartha Kitt, Billie Holiday, Nico, Betty Davis, Grace Jones, Diamanda Gallas, Kate Bush, Lydia Lunch, Beth Gibbons of Portishead, they all move me. I realize in hindsight when I was a child, that I was profoundly influenced by the scores of actresses who portrayed the Femme Fatale in both Hollywood and World Cinema, and these actors include: Gene Tierney (and her disorienting performance in "Leave Her To Heaven" and her posh more controlled appearance in the manic flashback classic "Laura"), Bette Davis (whose films I often viewed repeatedly with my mother during the 50s-60s, particularly her cruel classic, "The Letter," which is a masterpiece pit-

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ting two Femme Fatales against each other: Davis versus an even more mysterious Asian courtesan who eventually murders her); Garbo and Dietrich, who often crisscrossed in the movie genres they explored; Kim Novak in “Vertigo,” Isabel Sarli (the Argentine sex diva, who inspired Pedro Almodovar as well as 70s adult star Vanessa Del Rio), Pam Grier (whose Blaxploitation films almost look like art films now that Quentin Tarantino has remixed their feverish style and period look in his own work), and Tilda Swinton, whose chameleon capacities are so engaging. I also appreciate the ethereal, cerebral, or kind-hearted temperaments such as the vocalist in The Knife, Karin Dreijer Andersson; also Ingrid Bergman (who like Liv Ullmann, exudes a quality of soulfulness that swells the room). 11. Considering your capacity for making women—even the older ones—most sensuous and desirable, do you have an age limit whereby you would consider a woman too old or young 93

“I’d say that Women are simply more culturally and personally conscious that their presence is resonant and invaluable for Art.”

to be photographed? I rarely photograph women younger than 18, and I have a genuine regard for women who are older, regardless of how old they are. 12. It is ironic that you are a bona fide American photographer doing the kind of work that doesn’t particularly bode well with American puritanical sensibility. How do you reconcile this quagmire, say? I’m not sure you can. But America isn't exclusively puritanical. Then again, some examples of the nude are so mild that they're not likely to offend; but in imbuing the nude with a more open or pronounced sense of sexuality, can be problematic for some tastes. 13. In the context of your work, what painters, photographers or artists do you particularly identify with and why? I'm a fan of audacious articulate women who explore com-

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plex representations of women such as director Catherine Breillat and the painter Jenny Saville. Influences come and go, but I keep returning to the work of: Manet, Vermeer, Degas, Courbet, Sargent, Boucher, Watteau, Balthus, Djuna Barnes, Luis Bunuel, Hans Bellmer, Susan Sontag, Jacques Rivette, Guy Bourdin, Rainer Werner Fassbinder, Russ Meyer, Diane Arbus, Helmut Newton, Araki, Philip-Lorca diCorcia, Virginia Woolf, Helene Cixous, Pedro Costa, Miles Davis. Lists can be futile, but they're fun to do. I've long admired the work of: Wallace Stevens, Proust, Faulkner, John Ashbery, John Kelly, Alain Robbe-Grillet, Leonard Cohen, Roxy Music, Bowie, Scott Walker and the sense of rigor and luxuriousness embodied in his work. Refined or eccentric clothing style interests me. Ascetic and Voluptuous styles are of dual interest. As a photographer I'm drawn to the passionate style of certain singers. Romantic fatalism sounds gorgeous in music. It informs my interest in Frank Sinatra, the idea of dandyism, and how a romantic crooner approaches a complex set of emotions that manifest in a concrete often-beautiful representation. 14. Besides the pictorial result, what other pleasures do you get from your female nudes? I like the sensuality to be grounded in beauty or a sense of surprise, but not shock. 15. Why do you think that the female nude remains such an enduring subject for artist/spectators after all these centuries and presently? It's an enduring theme, that however familiar, can never be exhausted. As women change, historically, culturally, physically, so does the practice and method of capturing them in photographs. 16. Is it at all possible that women are more eager and willing than, say, men, to exhibit their body? If so why, do you think? I'd say that Women are simply more culturally and personally conscious that their presence is resonant and invaluable for ART. 17. What aspects of the female body do you rate your favorite? I canâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t generalize; it's the individuality of the woman that I appreciate. 18. On a minutiae level, how much does each female body differ from another When speaking of individuals, the differences are pretty wide from woman to woman. . 19. In the end, is there an ideal female form? I don't think so; but certainly different female body types are idealized in culture. 20. What are you presently and particularly working on? Iâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;m working on a project for Taschen Books, photographing Mature Women, women 35 years of age and older. It's a body of work that I've been engaged with for over 10 years, but have only done in earnest in the last three years. 96

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Knocking On Wood 10 Questions For Sook Jin jo by Jonathan Goodman

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The artist in her studio

The In Between 2006 Mixed media on wood, 54 x74x10 inches

1. When did you first know that you wanted to make art? There was a turning point for me when an art instructor saw my painting of three apples at a group show in college. He walked up to me said , “You are so talented… but let me tell you…if you do not become an artist, God may punish you.” After that I painted every day for months. 2. How has New York influenced your work? New York definitely challenges me. It makes me feel like a young artist! A poem that I found accidentally while in high school might be a good answer. “A lonely white sail in a fog in a blue sea, What are you looking for in a far away place? What did you lose in your loving country? …. The waves are dancing and wind is screaming… Ah!, Ah! He does not run for his happiness …. He wants a storm frantically. As if there is a calmness in a storm…..” 3. Does your art carry a private or public meaning?

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Both, I think... I hope, in a private, personal way, that it breaks people's prejudices towards the discarded and humble things in life; towards gender, towards regionalism. I also hope it quietly breaks the chains of commercialism in the art world. In regards to its public meaning, I am fascinated by old, abandoned, disappearing things that people usually don’t value; by spaces that have been marginalized. They hold a great attraction for me because of their humble and collective history and humanity. When I discover sites like these, I intuitively envision how people might connect with them. Through my public art projects, I have experienced that art can bring many rich and lasting benefits to the community. People start to see their environment with new eyes and with a new understanding. Art is a way of reclamation and renewal for me, even of redemptive transformation. 4. What kinds of materials do you use for your sculpture? Anything abandoned by people and made of wood that I find from the street, dumpsters, garbage piles etc. Doors, chairs, frames, branches, wooden panels -- really anything. My interest in humble, found materials began early during my studies, originally out of necessity due to financial hardship. I collected abandoned and discarded wooden materials, particularly old plywood on which to paint, because I could not afford to buy canvas. Instead of being discouraged when a professor and leading contemporary,artist dismissed this choice as “not good art material," I saw in his dismissal an undeveloped,land, something to be explored 99

The artist studio

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Sook Jin Jo recently finished a permanent public art project entitled “Wishing Bells/To Protect and to Serve,” at the visitor’s entry plaza in front of the new Metro Detention Center in Downtown Los Angeles, California (commissioned by the Los AngelesDepartment of Cultural Affairs). Her photographic study of common grave sites in Ithaparica, Brazil is the subject of a book entitled “Elegy”, published in 2010. She currently has a solo exhibition at the John Schmid Galerie in Basel, Switzerland (until January)and will have a solo exhibition, “Turning Wood into Art”, as part of the “Walter Gropius Master Artists Project” at the Huntington Museum of Art in Huntington, West Virginia in 2011( March 26 to May 22).

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Crossroads

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ResurrectionII

and developed. Since then -- for the last 25 years -- I have focused on discovering in these waste products, infinite possibilities; finding in them a certain esthetic and transcendent quality. 5. How do you see the connection between your drawings, paintings, sculptures, installations and performances? I have explored the boundaries between painting and sculpture for many years. Over time I have found that it has also become an exploration of the boundaries between space and form, art and architecture, destruction and rebirth, past and present, material and spiritual...all these things. My work is a hybrid. I think my drawing is like sculpture and my sculpture is like painting. My painting is also like sculpture and my installations are like painting as well. My installations are also like architecture. Performance combined with installation becomes theatrical. Also, public art creates an interconnectedness between art and humanity. I transform materials and in turn viewers are transformed. 6. Much of your work touches religious concerns—can you explain your interest in this subject? I would prefer to say “spiritual”. I believe spirituality is the highest form of all.

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In the early years of my artistic career, I had many sad days because of my parents’ strong objection to my being artist There was also financial hardship and people’s superficial values and insincere judgments. It was very hard even though on the outside I looked fine. I would sometimes console myself with reading "Tagore’s Prayer", some lines from the Bible and the teachings of the Tao Te Ching. I also would go to a quiet space like a chapel where I felt comfort, a healing and lifting of my sprit. I remember sometimes holding in my heart a dream to create beautiful works that would uplift people's spirits and hearts. Tagore’s prayer read: “Give me the strength never to disown the poor or bend my knees before insolent might. Give me the strength to raise my mind high above daily trifles.” 7. What are your other favorite arts (music, literature, dance, etc.)? I love them all , although I'm a little lazy when it comes to reading literature.. One of my dreams is to create an interactive/theatrical piece, working with talented musicians, performers, 103

Meditation Space

actors, dancers, lighting designers and writers, etc. I have already done several performances in collaboration with musicians and audiences but it's a dream I'm still reaching for. 8. Recently, you have been spending more time away from New York. Can you explain why? For my spirit...inspiration, renewal...and to be able to focus, away from everyday distractions. To learn about other people’s cultures and lives. These experiences have given me enormous inspiration. There is a saying: "If the water does not flow and stays in one place, it smells..." 9. Stylistically much of your work comes close to American minimalism. Would you call yourself a minimalist? Overall, it looks minimal, but it's very expressive inside. It looks static, regular and symmetrical but it is intensely fluid, irregular and asymmetrical. How about "expressive minimalistic constructionism"? 10. What kind of projects will you do in the future? Unexpected and inspiring works! Works that can connect with people genuinely and lift their spirits. That enhance the industrial urban environment and bring nature back into it. Works that can create har104

mony in collaboration with many diverse people in different fields. I will continue to photograph and document "disappearing architecture", "signs" and "people" which I started in 2006 in India, Brazil, Korea, China and Istanbul. My first photo book of common, decaying grave sites in Brazil has been recently published, entitled "Elegy". I also will continue to create new public art art projects ( also collaborative); and look to discover a series of neglected/ marginalized sites, transforming them into public communal spaces. I will look for the possibility of collaborative art projects as I have learned from my past experiences that collaboration can bring many rich and lasting benefits to the community; that it can actually generate positive energy and offer hope. I will definitely expand my work into more interactive and theatrical collaborations with talented musicians, performers and other artists. Right now I preparing for a show at the John Schmid Galerie in Basel, Switzerland for late 2010, and as a part of the "Walter Gropius Master Artists Project" at the Huntington Museum of Art in Huntington, West Virginia in 2011. The work there will center on new installation and wooden assemblage, drawings, sort of revisiting my earlier work from a different perspective.

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Elements Of Style

Style is the ultimae declaration of an individual's sovereignty By Iké Udé

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This Page

St. Luke’s Episcopal Church: a group of youngsters and the photographer, 1920s. Photography Richard Samuel Roberts Opposite Page

Norell became known for his paired paillette “mermaid” sheaths. Here, surrounded by bevy of svelte models inspired by artist Kees van Dongen paintings

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At the races, May 1914 Photography SĂŠeberger brothers (courtesy of chronicle books, Elegance) Opposite Page

Formal footwear in 1915 ranged from pumps and patent-leather gaiter shoes to high-buttoned shoes and patent-leather oxfords (courtesy of Brooks Brothers, New York)

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Bernice Callahan, 1920s Photography Richard Samuel Roberts Opposite Page

Countess Robert de Montjou, née Alice de la Laurencie, in a gown by Maggy Rouff and a hat by Talbot, in the stands at Chantilly, Prix de Diane, June 6, 1937. Seated behind her, princess Amédée de Broglie

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This Page and Opposite Page

The Prince of Wales is seen here in riding clothes; dressed in for cycling; in golf clothes; in overcoat and flight helmet.

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A poised, “classical” dandy Opposite Page

How to tie a four-in-hand, a Windsor knot, and a bow tie Esquire, June 1943

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"Style File [Editor's note: Great name!] is the well-deserved title for the collection of 55 stylemakers compiled by aRUDE magazine editor and consummate art-world dandy IkĂŠ UdĂŠ." -style.com

See link http://www.harperdesigninternational.com/html/stylefile.htm aRUDE: St yle I ssue 2 0 1 0

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T The Style File

To be looked at, not through, is the awakening of style Interviews by Iké Udé

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Elements of Style + The Style File

Photograph by Roxanne Lowit

“Feel like a woman. Wear a dress.” aRUDE: St yle I ssue 2 0 1 0

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Interview by Iké Udé

Diane Von Furstenberg Occupation Fashion Designer Astrological Sign Capricon Place of Birth Born in Brussels, Belgium. Current Residence I have homes in Connecticut and NYC. Ideal Place of Residence Cloud-walk Farm, my home in Connecticut. Favorite Job Life What makes a person stylish? What makes a person What is the distinction between style and fashion? Fashion is about clothes, style is a way of life. Who’s got the most distinctive style, dead or alive? Machesa Casati, Marlene Dietrich, Iké Udé. When does one become a fashion victim? When it is clearly forced and awkward. Who is your favorite designer? Yves St. Laurent, Vionet, Galliano, Issey Miyake.

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What is your favorite artwork? The Kiss, 1908, by Constantin Brancusi Who is your favorite artist? Matisse, Goya What is your favorite architectural structure? The Parthenon, a temple of the Greek goddess Athena built in the 5th century BC on the Acropolis of Athens. What is your favorite color? All colors What period costume would you most like to wear? Ancient Greece Stylistically, what is your favorite movie? Designing Woman What is your greatest weakness when it comes to clothing? It has to feel soft. What is your most prized possession? My children and grandchildren. Which world leader has the most distinctive style? Mother Teresa What famous person would you most like to do a style makeover, and what would you transform him/her into? I don’t care!

Would you ever shoplift an item of clothing that you just had to have? Never

What attire would you rather be caught dead in? I don’t like uncomfortable clothes.

What is your favorite phrase? Love is Life stylish is the confidence.

What is your style philosophy? Enjoy who you are and go for it the whole way!!

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Photograph by Susan B. Landrau

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Elements of Style + The Style File you just had to have? No. What is your favorite phrase? “Ain’t goin’ let nobody turn me round, turn me round” —from a Negro spiritual.

Interview by Iké Udé

André Leon Talley

What is your favorite artwork? Any portrait of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Who is your favorite artist? David Smith. What is your favorite architectural structure? Versailles. What is your favorite color? Navy blue.

Occupation Editor-at-Large, Vogue. Astrological Sign Libra. Place of Birth Washington, D.C. Current Residence White Plains, New York.

Stylistically, what is your favorite movie? Sofia Coppola’s Marie Antoinette. What is your greatest weakness when it comes to clothing? Constant ordering of Charvet shirts from Paris.

Ideal Place of Residence Paris, France.

What is your most prized possession? My home, a sanctuary.

Favorite Job My current one, Editor-at-Large, Vogue.

Which world leader has the most distinctive style? Oprah Winfrey.

What makes a person stylish? Confidence and impeccable hygiene. What is the distinction between style and fashion? Style is timeless and elegant; fashion is fleeting, fast, fierce, forward. Who’s got the most distinctive style, dead or alive? Manolo Blahnik. When does one become a fashion victim? Inappropriate nudity in the urban landscape. A bikini top with a skirt at work. Who is your favorite designer? Planet Earth. Would you ever shoplift an item of clothing that 122

What period costume would you most like to wear? Russian boyar; nineteenthcentury Russian; eighteenthcentury Russian.

“Style transcends race, class, and time” On which famous person would you most like to do a style makeover, and what would you transform him/her into? Clark Kent, a total makeover by Tom Ford; Superman, a total makeover (no cape!) by Tom Ford. What attire would you rather be caught dead in? An impeccable navy-blue bespoke suit and black elegant shoes, dress shirt. What is your style philosophy? Always dress to please yourself, not others.

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Elements of Style + The Style File

Interview by Iké Udé

Ines de la Fressange Occupation Consultant /ambassador of Roger Vivier brand Astrological Sign Leo Place of birth Saint-Tropez Current Residence Paris, France. Ideal Place of Residence Tarascon, Provence/France Favorite Job Imagining new companies What makes a person stylish? When the person evocates a nice story. What is the distinction between style and fashion? Style can adopt fashion; Fashion doesn’t have time to think about style. Fashion is a teenager who is a rebel; thinks about fun and knows he won’t be a teenager forever. Fashion disappears or becomes an adult, hence a classic. Style doesn’t have an age. Who’s got the most distinctive style, dead or alive? People who mix things from different countries, different time, different sorts of things; people who don’t care to look

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wealthy or not; anti-conformist people: Loulou de la Falaise, Beatrice Rosenthal (Mauboussin A.D), Nan Kempner, Alba Clemente, Farida Khelfa, a muse to J.P Goude & Azzedine Alaïa’s. Sharon Stone also because she has a sense of risk and no conventions.

Dark-navy-blue. It fits everybody. It’s beautiful for table linens.

When does one become a fashion victim? When she is afraid not to be “in fashion” anymore?

What is your greatest weakness when it comes to clothing? I look better with boy’s clothes. I need to look feminine with them.

Who is your favorite designer? After all these years of namedropping I have noticed that the only clothes I keep are Jeanine Cros’s. Don’t worry she is unknown she buys antique clothes and dyed them with gorgeous vegetal colors: dark grey, burgundy, salmon, brown. It’s real masterpieces, her shop is called “les beaux draps de Jeanine Cros” and it’s a tiny shop on rue d’Assas in Paris . I think I am the only customer!

What is your most prized possession? I have a broach in the shape of a car that Andé Citroën gave to my grand –mother. It’s so rare that it doesn’t have a price!

Would you ever shoplift an item of clothing that you just had to have? NO. You feel good when you understand you don’t really need anything. I had a lot of presents from many designers: all what I wanted from Chanel, from Roger Vivier, Tod’s or Hogan; but there is nothing better then something you wanted for a long time and being able to finally buy. What is your favorite phrase? “Don’t worry” What is your favorite artwork? Children’s drawings before they turn six. After that, they learn things, and then loose their talent and freedom. Who is your favorite artist? R.V Ringer. He is totally unknown but each person that comes in my Roger Vivier’s office wants to buy his work; same for Claire Terral. But I like very much Basquiat’s work. For sculptors, Mark Stuart or if you prefer, Donatello, 1383-1466, born in Florence. What is your favorite architectural structure? The Mac building on 5th avenue, New York City. What is your favorite color?

Stylistically, what is you favorite movie? “Jeanne d’Arc” director Luc Besson. With Besson a women can look gorgeous even when sloppy and dirty.

Which world leader has the most distinctive style? Do you really believe there is a “world leader”? What famous person would you most like to do a style makeover, and what would you transform him/her into? Once for a magazine, I transformed Elle McPherson with short hair. Actually she is much better the way she was

“A woman of unerring style and flair, she is undoubtedly the incarnation of Parisian chic.” already. Since then I am very humble.However I would love to see Pamela Anderson with short messy hair like Eddy Sedgwick, very Rock-‘n-Roll I am sure she would look more sexy. What attire would you rather be caught dead in? Thank God I believe when you are dead you realize objects are not important. At the hair-dresser I don’t ask in what basket they are going to put my hair! Frivolity helps to live not to die. What is your style philosophy? Feel good you will look good. 123

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Photograph by Andre Raul

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Photograph by Patrice Stable

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Elements of Style + The Style File

Occupation Fashion Designer and Dreamer

What is your favorite phrase? J’Adore!

Astrological Sign Sagittarius

What is your favorite artwork? Fashion? Fiction or Fine Art? Why have one when there are endless choices

Place of Birth and Current Residence POB Gibraltor

Interview by Iké Udé

John Galliano

Current Residence Paris but a part of my heart will always be in London Ideal Place of Residence Home is where your heart is, your family, your team – home is wherever you are happiest and this can be anywhere as long as they are too.

What is your favorite architectural structure? The Eiffel Tower – especially when it is sparkling

Favorite Job I have the dream job!

What is your favorite color? Some bold, bright and exuberant

What makes a person stylish? Conviction and curiosity – someone that wants to do it there own way

What period costume would you most like to wear? One from the court of the Sun King, Louis XIV

What is the distinction between style and fashion? One you are born with the other you buy… but both must be indulged

Stylistically, what is your favorite movie? Abel Gabel’s Napoleon

Who’s got the most distinctive style, dead or alive? Too many people to name – and as well as the names there are the nameless icons on the street that turn you head and inspire ideas and imitations of a newer look. When does one become a fashion victim? When one lacks originality and opts to blindly follow rather than lead

I always wanted to dress the Queen Mother.

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Who is your favorite artist? Picasso mixed with Fragonard meets Cranach, da Vinci, el Greco and more… I love art and all the different moves and movements past, present and still to come…

Who is your favorite designer? Visionaries and rule breakers and creators – Vionnet, Picasso, Poiret, da Vinci and of course Dior Would you ever shoplift an item of clothing that you just had to have? Never say never – but I love to window shop and to visually plunder the markets and vintage shops and stores for ideas and inspiration, to understand and see new cuts and then go away and try to create an homage or run even further with an idea. I don’t want to encourage people to rob me – but hope that my clothes drive you so crazy with desire you want to steal these! To design objects of desire is the object of the game!

What is your greatest weakness when it comes to clothing? That enough is never enough What is your most prized possession? My friends, my family, my team Which world leader has the most distinctive style? For men JFK, Elvis, The Beatles - a good mix of all of these and a dash of Nelson and Napoleon for good measure. While for the ladies it starts with Cleopatra and has stayed seductively A list ever since... What famous person would you most like to do a style makeover, and what would you transform him/her into? I always wanted to dress the Queen Mother, Marie Antoniette or Aphrodite – but I am lucky I dress modern day counterparts. What attire would you rather be caught dead in?Never say never that is so limiting What is your style philosophy? Dress each day with decadence and discovery and adventure will find and inspire you.

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Elements of Style + The Style File

Occupation Creative entrepreneur and designer. Astrological Sign Libra. Place of Birth New York City, October 7, 1977 Current Residence New York City and Europe

Interview by Iké Udé

Lapo Elkann

Ideal Place of Residence I’m happy as it is. But if life open with wider opportunities and bring me to other different places, I will even be happier. Favorite Job Creative Entrepreneur What makes a person stylish? People who are always truthful to who they are and who never try to be what they are not. People who never forget where they come from. What is the distinction between style and fashion? Fashion is something you can buy in a store; style is something you have. It is not on sale, you cannot buy it. Who’s got the most distinctive style, dead or alive? Mother Teresa and Yasser Arafat. When does one become a fashion victim? W hen you spend too much time following whatothers—media, designers, stores—consider fashionable, instead of following what you consider fashion. Who is your favorite designer? There are too many I like to name. To name a few will be reductive. Would you ever shoplift an item of clothing that you just had to have? Brazilian good luck bracelets. What is your favorite phrase? We Never Give In, Winston Churchill. What is your favorite artwork? A Roy Lichtenstein ‘Sun’ painted on a metal surface. A present from my brother.

“I don’t emulate anyone.”

Who is your favorite artist? Roy Lichenstein, Monet, Francis Bacon, Ennio Morricone, Andy Warhol. Favorite architectural structure? Ipanema in Rio, The Kremlin in Moscow, The Colosseum in Rome, The Lamentation Wall in Jerusalem. What is your favorite color? The “azzuro” of the Italian National Football Team. What period costume would you most like to wear? Either the Great Gatsby or Al Capone kind of attire. Stylistically, what is you favorite movie? The Great Gatsby, The Dolce Vita, Un Homme et une Femme, Le Souper Gladiator. What is your greatest weakness when it comes to clothing? SHOES What is your most prized possession? My life. Which world leader has the most distinctive style? Elizabeth the 2nd Queen of England, for her austerity; Rania, Queen of Jordan for her zelegance; Afghanistan’s president Amid Karzai,for his eccentricity; Barak Obama for his modernity. What famous person would you most like to do a style makeover, and what would you transform him/her into? The Pope. What attire would you rather be caught dead in? Having Neapolitan blood means that I’m very superstitious. Hence I will leave the choice to others. I would only wish they remember to put an Italian flag next to me. What is your style philosophy? Always be yourself.

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Photograph by Francesco Carrozzini

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The Allure of Mystery P h o t o g r ap h e r :

C h i ko O h ayo n St y l i s t : C am i l l a D e n n o

Jumpsuit with bow detail , £1550, Azzaro Suede shoes, £110, Dune

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Silk georgette and steel dress, Price on application, Manjit Deu

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Silk dress, £1670, Lanvin Suede pumps, £80, Dune

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Satin corset, £185, Agent Provocateur Wool and felt skirt, £421, Varun Sardana Jersey and Swarovski crystal gloves, £1842, J,Maskrey Zebra print hat, Price on application, Nathan Jenden

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Silk dress, ÂŁ1890, Erdem

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Felt beret with crystal mesh veil, ÂŁ240, Piers Atkinson

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Leather and gold foil dress, Price on application, Iris van Herpen Leather belt, ÂŁ59, Re

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Wool dress, ÂŁ900, Christian Dior

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fashion blog, A Shaded View on Fashion. She is also the founder A Shaded View on Fashion Film (ASVOFF) which provides a platform for filmmakers and designers to flourish. Iké Udé: How did A Shaded View on fashion (ASVOF) get started? Diane Pernet: When I started ASVOF in February 2005, I didn’t know if there were any other fashion blogs. In the beginning it was more a personal diary with me taking images with my mobile phone camera and using live blogging technology to post it immediately onto my site. At that time the technology was so new that if I had a problem my SFR server had no idea of what to do, and we had to call the mobile company in Finland. After using live blogging for a few years I decided the images were not that great and my phone bills were getting much too high. The last time I used that technique was with Eley Kishimoto on the Gumball 3000, when I liveblogged from London to Monte Carlo for the launch of his menswear. My phone bill was 900 EUROS and I decided that it was really much too much. I have always been and am still interested in discovering new talents. Now I take images with my digital camera and make my posts when I am in front of my computer. I have an excellent backstage photographer, Sonny Vandevelde, and many contributors around the planet. The quality of the images is much better, and my readers never have to wait that long.

How did your point of view develop? How much have your strategies changed from your initial ones? My point of view has developed with me over the years. I don’t think that I ever had a strategy. I’d been writing for Elle.com, Vogueparis.com, and one day I decided that I’d like to have my own platform. So I started my blog. I did not have any big plans for it in the beginning. Right from the get-go, you decided to work online. Why did you choose the internet instead of the print medium? I prefer the immediacy of the internet, but I still write for print media. I am the co-editor in chief for ZOO Magazine. Are you surprised that the internet has usurped the print media? I’m glad that the advertisers finally understand the power of the internet. Advertising on the net reaches more people and costs less. Even august print giants like Condé Nast are rapidly closing their various print magazines. The New York Times is on shaky ground. In fact, virtually all print media seem to be in a state of perpetual consternation. What do you make of this paradigm shift from print to the internet?

Blogging, the internet, eCommerce, Youtube.com and Google have changed the landscape of fashion. Almost every magazine or newspaper demands that their writers not only do their day job but to have a blog and to get on Twitter. They know they have troubles, so they are doing their best to catch up. In the 1980s, you began as a relatively renowned fashion designer in New York. What compelled you to relocate to Paris and become a fashion journalist? I moved because I could not stand living in New York anymore. It was a rather gruesome time in NYC. Mental patients were let out of the hospitals and forced to live on the streets; AIDS was killing my neighborhood in the West Village; crime was epic; rats were the size of small dogs. It was not inspiring for me to keep on living there. I never had any intention to be a fashion journalist. Things just happened organically. I moved to Paris, worked on a few films as a costume designer, got a job assisting the producer of Fashion Files with Tim Blanks as on-camera personality, and then became a Fashion Editor for Joyce Ma. Composite Magazine in Tokyo asked me to write something for them and that is how the journalism began. Beyond writing and talent scouting for the Festival d’Hyeres, what really interests me is building my fashion film festival. In retrospect, what experiences as a designer, served you in your present role as journalist? Designing my own brand for 13 years gives me a different perspective from a journalist who never had that experience. What I look for are creators with a voice, who know how best to present their work. You have a reputation for championing young and emerging designers. Is this a reaction against the status quo or simply a proactive stance on your part? It goes back to the fact that I was an independent designer for 13 years, and I know what it is like. I support people I believe in. Because my site is read by many people in the industry, I know that if I write about someone I think is talented it can prove very helpful for their business. I do what comes naturally to me. Why are most womenswear designers men? I honestly don’t know. Can a female designer claim advantages over her male counterpart in the field of womenswear? Sure. If you are able to wear the clothes, you are a bit more sensitive to how they feel on the body and what works the best for you. The process becomes based more on reality than on fantasy. There has obviously been a shift from the Paris model of

Diane Perne t t, Pol aroid portr ait, Tok yo Japan. Photo: Nobuyoshi Ar aki

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A balance between creativity and the reality of business. Well said! Returning to ASVOF, what is its base appeal for you and your audience? Many Shaded Viewers tell me that I am their window on the world. My primary interest is in discovering and supporting talent. That includes designers, musicians, architects, artists and filmmakers. The site is my viewpoint. I post what I think is worth looking at and considering. Once I discover someone, I like to follow his or her career. I do not lose interest once they become a global success. You’ve been slowly and steadily honing your passion for film by introducing A Shaded View on Fashion Film (ASVOFF). What distinguishes one from the other? I love film as much as I love fashion. ASVOFF provides a platform for filmmakers and designers to interact, and is about the intersection of the two.

Diane Perne t af ter fashion show, New York Cit y, 1987 Photo: Henry Fair.

fashion to the American. The former emphasized boundless creativity with due regards to profit, whereas the later is extremely partial to money and has little regard for creativity. Is there any hope that the next generation of educated fashion consumers will experience and enjoy their own equivalent of, say, Yves Laurent or Chanel? Granted, there is something to be said about American designers who concentrate on how to make their designs sell at a realistic price. However I’m still partial to designers who think as much about the creative process as they do about the price. As for contemporary YSL and Chanel, perhaps we already have it in the collections as Haider Ackermann, Rick Owens, Boudicca and Peter Pilotto. What are the dangers, for designers such as Karl Lagerfeld, Victor & Rolf, or even Comme des Garcon, of working with rich, powerful corporate merchants like H&M? Actually I think that it is a good thing. It makes fashion accessible to the masses, and it is a kind of education. Considering the corrupting influence of corporate money, the Faustian bargain between big fashion brand and Hollywood celebrities, the advertising, and sleazy politics endemic to the fashion industry, does unalloyed talent and passion matter any longer in becoming a successful fashion designer? I am an idealist. I like to believe that talent and passion do matter in the fashion industry. I think that with the internet the fashion hierarchy is being shattered. In reaction, real creativity will be on the rise. What constitutes a successful fashion designer in this age? 144

Are you pleased with ASVOFF so far? How far do want to take it? I’m happy that it keeps growing and that more filmmakers are interested in making and screening fashion films. As to where I’d like to take it, I would like ASVOFF to be present at Cannes, Berlin, Venice, Toronto, and Sundance. Today I’m in Copenhagen with ASVOFF. Last night the Copenhagen Documentary Film Festival said that they had 4,000 applicants this year. We only had 300. So I guess we still have a long way to go. What distinguishes you from traditional fashion journalists who work in print media or television? I have been the Co-editor in Chief of ZOO Magazine for the past 2-1/2 years, so I also work in print. I also contribute to Sang Bleu and several other print magazines from time to time. If your question is about blogs versus print, I find that exchanges with your audience are easier with a blog. As for reporting, the Internet will always be first. I’ve worked at Elle.com and Vogueparis.com for about 3 years so I don’t know if there is a big difference between me and other print journalists. If you want to know how I think magazines should react in the face of the internet, I’d propose that they consider writing longer and more reflective pieces that are not so attached to time. Have your twin ventures been as financially rewarding as they have been creatively? Of course not. When, where and how do you relax? When I’m not traveling I’m happy to spend some quiet times with my friends going to exhibitions, films, openings, having lunch or a tea. I just saw a fantastic Fellini exhibition at the Jeu de Paume, If you are in Paris before mid-January, it is something not to be missed.

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Monica Bellucci

Venus of Umbria Review by iké udé

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The book, Monica Bellucci, published by Rizzoli, is a savory volume of photographs celebrating the varying modes of the international actress and sex symbol.

the book really begins on page 10 with her image, at age thirteen, taken by a local goldsmith named Lino. One sees a very young and beautiful Bellucci with a daisy accenting her hair and face while she holds a pensive downward gaze away off camera, lost in or possessed by an unknowable thought. “This picture,” admits the actress “would be the start of everything.” Fast-forward. Bruce Weber captures her in an exquisite candid moment during a makeup session. The expressiveness of her left hand in counterpoint to the closed right hand of the makeup-artist whose thin brush hesitates millimeters from Monica’s left eye, highlights the brilliance of her eyes that burn through and beyond everything within reach. Her black tresses quietly and lovingly frame her taut beautiful face, taper off and collect at the nape of her long, erect, naked neck with a reassuring grace.

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I’m like a muse who enjoys watching an artist portray her and who lives only through the people who describe her form.

Pamela Hanson’s lens catches Bellucci halfrunning, half air-borne, arms held wing-like, merrily chasing about her own footprints or those of others before her; her half-bare, ribbed and dimpled back is framed by her unzipped white dress. Her capacity to perform with such an effortless élan for both still and moving pictures is a unique attribute shared by few other beauties like Monroe and Isabella Rosellini. Bellucci remarks, “In the end it is an expression that is similar to love: you devote yourself with passion and generosity only to those who know how to stimulate you and lead you to reveal yourself.” In a James White photo, she is rakishly disposed on a handsome satin chair, metamorphosed into an ingénue, tenuously and curiously suited for a Balthus canvas, and no less evocative than Nabokov’s famous barely legal Lolita. In a warm bath of muted colors and illumined atmospherics of Vermeer or Rothko, Dominique Issermann captures Bellucci, head cocked and held in the palm of her left hand, eyes gazing downward; she is all beauty, aloof and wondrously reminiscence of the same thirteen year old photographed by Lino,

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The cover for the book Monica Bellucci

the local goldsmith, the alchemist of Umbria. Chico Biala’s photographs of Bellucci are perhaps the most candidly beautiful of all. On page 40 we see her, most beautiful, imbuing the viewer with such unsolicited loveliness despite disarmingly disheveled hair. On page 90, Bellucci evokes Marlene Dietrich, getting ready in her dressing room and piquantly whistling “They Call Me Naughty Lola.” Kate Berry’s image captures Bellucci seated and squeezed between two pews, her downward gaze intensely pensive, striking a perfect balance by concealing as much as she is revealing. The self-assured voluptuousness and the totally unrehearsed Dionysian abandon, the hallmarks of Monica Bellucci captured in images, are best summed by her: “When I entered the world of cinema, this creativity and the ability to let go accompanied me and gave me the confidence to trust the person shooting me with a camera. I’m like a muse who enjoys watching an artist portray her and who lives only through the people who describe her form.” Alarmingly beautiful, Monica Bellucci is the Venus of Umbria.

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A Passion for Country and Life Shirin Neshat’s

Women Without Men

Interview by Iké Udé

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What is your award winning film, “Women Without Men,” particularly and generally about? Women Without Men, is an adaptation of Shahrnush Parsipur’s magical realist novel. The story follows the intertwining lives of four Iranian women during the summer of 1953; a cataclysmic moment in Iranian history when an American led, British backed coup d’état brought down the democratically elected Prime Minister, Mohammad Mossadegh, and reinstalled the Shah to power. Over the course of several days four disparate women from Iranian society are brought together against the backdrop of political and social turmoil. Fakhri, a middle aged woman trapped in a loveless marriage must contend with her feelings for an old flame who has just returned from America and walked back into her life. Zarin, a young prostitute, tries to escape the devastating realization that she can no longer see the faces of men. Munis, a politically awakened young woman, must resist the seclusion imposed on her by her religiously traditional brother, while her friend Faezeh remains oblivious to the turmoil in the streets and longs only to marry Munis’ domineering brother. As the political turmoil swells in the streets of Tehran, each woman is liberated from her predicament. Munis becomes an active part of the political struggle by plunging to her death. Fakhri frees herself from the chains of her stagnant marriage by leaving her husband and purchasing a mystical orchard in the outskirts of the city. Faezeh is taken to the orchard by Munis to face her own awakened self where Zarin has found solace in her communion with the land. But it is only a matter of time before the world outside the walls of the orchard seep into the lives of these four women as their country’s history takes a tragic turn. So the film essentially makes a parallel in between the women and the country as they all seem to be seeking an idea of ‘freedom,’ ‘independence,’ and ‘democracy.’ The images are simply ravishing, enough so that one even forgets the content now and again. Who was the cinematographer and how did you work with him/her to achieve this visual poetry in your film? The director of photography was Martin Gschlacht, a rising star in Eu-

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rope in the field of cinematography. We came to work together under the suggestion of the producers who were also European. I was at first a bit hesitant, since I was not familiar with Martin’s work, and in the past I had exclusively worked with Iranian cinematographers. So I was doubtful that a non-Iranian cinematographer could fairly capture the cultural intricacy of my country, particularly within a historical nature. But to my surprise, Martin not only satisfied that cultural specificity of the narrative, also brought the gift of his extraordinary cinematography. Together with Martin we were able to align our artistic and aesthetic signatures into one very visual form. Every frame of the film was carefully discussed and planned. Martin was meticulously a perfectionist when it came to composition and lighting. Later in the postproduction stages in Berlin, we worked very closely together again, in color correction to achieve a certain ‘drained,’ and ‘antique’ look. Ultimately, I think Martin Gschlacht represents a younger generation of cinematographers who are willing to experiment with non-traditional films both in terms of script and the visual language of the film. We knew from start that “Women Without Men” would be a film that its story would be mostly expressed through visual imagery. Martin later received several awards and nominations for his work on this film. The lighting, the atmosphere, the composition, all is exquisitely and meticulously attended to. What informed this entire poetic component in the movie? I have to say that the credit of lighting goes entirely to Martin. One exquisite moment in the film was in the scene in the hammam (bath house)which was extremely difficult to light. Many have commented on how all the various shots in this scene, resembled the famous orientalist paintings such as Jean-Leon Gerome’s. I have to also mention that the production designers (an Iranian and an Austrian) were great assets as they were totally involved in the composition and visual look of the film. The challenge for these designers were that not only they had to pay careful attention to historical accuracy of the narrative; they were also making sets that were incredible artistic and visual.

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Shirin Neshat Feature Film Stills Women Without Men, 2009 Copyright Shirin Neshat Courtesy Gladstone Gallery, New York

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One of the production designers, Shahram Karimi who is originally a painter, often mentions how he treated this film as he would a canvas, he simply painted it. For example if you recall the images from the brothel, Shahram personally hand painted the walls to achieve a certain texture; and also created every single tableaux or picture that was used in the background. These elements together with the choice of color represented spaces that were at once sensual and beautiful but terribly melancholic. When you mention ‘poetry,’ I consider the language of this film from beginning to the end visual poetry. Essentially we depended on the use of allegory and metaphor like a poet would do, to tell our story. There were numerous concepts and scenes that were formulated on that basis; to mention a few are; the simple road that connected the ‘city of Tehran’ to the ‘orchard;’ or the scene when Fakhri discovers Zarin’s body floating on the pond, this image was at once reminiscent

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of ‘opheilia’ beautiful and serene but also terribly tragic. Did you come prepared for the shoots or did you as well allow for unforeseen elements of surprises that you loved and kept as part of the movie? Indeed making a long feature film is far more complex and it requires a lot more planning than making a short video art. Any film production is generally an expensive undertaking, so every single shot has to be carefully calculated and timed. We faced many constraints and pressures of not being allowed to improvise on the spot, however, there were several times that we broke the rules and with a very willing cinematographer, I added some unanticipated shots and re-worked certain scenes. Who do you owe the most debt to in the making of “Women with-

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â&#x20AC;&#x153;I had to educate myself on the language of cinema; learn how to handle the many pressures and expectations; and finally put out a film in the world that I believed in".

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out Men?â&#x20AC;? I could not have made this film without my collaboration with Shoja Azari, who was involved in every step of the way from writing the script, to helping me direct, working with actors and finally in the post production stages. Shoja comes from cinema background, therefore he had a lot more experience, but also there was an added advantage that having collaborated together for many years, he had a good grasp of my conceptual and aesthetic style. Other than that, I owe the film to all people who worked tirelessly and to myself, for my endurance and surviving the endless list of obstacles and crisis that came our way. Who are your favorite directors? I admire may directors; some are masters such as: Bergman, Tarkovsky, Kieslowski, Kiarostami, Carl Dryer, Orsen Wells, Kubric; then there are a few of more contemporary directors such as: Roy Ander-

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son, Lars Van Trier, Wong Kar Wei, Elia Suleiman, Paul Thomas Anderson and many others. Who are your top five actresses? I thought the performance of Maggie Cheung in “In The Mood for Love” was extraordinary, I like very much Marion Cotillard, Vanessa Redgrave, Isabella Rossellini and of course her amazing mother, Ingrid Bergman. Who is the one actor/actress would love the most to work with why? Daniel Day-Lewis, Bill Murray, Colin Firth, Tony Leung, are among the strongest on my list, but I would be very interested in working with someone like Andrew Garfield, who is a rising talent from England and an extraordinary actor. Is there something that they all share in common in terms of their practice? I find that there are many actors who no matter what role they play, you sense the same performance, but in the list I mentioned, I believe these actors transform and develop into new dimensions with each performance, never letting you feel they are simply used as typecasts. How long did you take you to finish the movie and was in retrospect, would you do it the exact same way again? I started writing the script in 2003. We shot the short part of the film, the story of one of the female characters “Zarin” in 2005. Finally we finished the script and shot the entire film in Spring of 2007. However, we took until summer of 2009 to finish the film which was then presented in Venice Film Festival last year. I think for my first feature film, this length of preparation and process of questioning the script and the editing was important. In addition to the fact that the novel was extremely difficult to re-adapt into a film so over all, I must say this was an ambitious first film and the length of its production was justified. I had to educate myself on the language of cinema; learn how to handle the many pressures and expectations; and finally put out a film in the world that I believed in. So as painful as the process was, I could not have done it any faster. But for the future, I think 2 years is more realistic than 6 years to make a film!! How do you occupy yourself these days, now that the movie is finished and released? I’ve just optioned another book to re-adapt into a film, it’s called “The Palace of Dreams” by the Albanian author, Ismail Kadare. This is also a beautiful surrealistic novel. At the same time, I’ve been researching a lot about the amazing Egyptian singer, Umm Kolthum. I would very much love to make her biography. Both projects would be a leap into filmmaking for me, as none of them originate in Iran and could be made in English language. Meanwhile, I have shot some new photographs so I’m working on developing the series.

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The artist in Berlin, Germany, July 2009 photograph by Gabriella Meros

D AN Dy

In The Underworld Life and Passions Of Sebastian Horsley Introduction and Interview by Iké Udé 162

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n March 19th dandy, agent provocateur, and epigrammatist, Sebastian Horsely, on a book tour, was denied entry into the United States for “moral turpitude.” After eight hours of severe interrogation by the customs official, they packed him on a plane and returned him back to London. Thereafter, he and I began a series of correspondences and ultimately decided that I should interview him about his book, Dandy in the Underworld, and on his various other passions. In 2007 we met through the artist, Duggie Fields when I was planning my book, Style File: the World’s Most Elegantly Dressed (Harper Collins) 2008/9 and happily included him. He was one of the wittiest and most outrageously intelligent individuals interviewed in my book.

It was definitely an occasion to be dressed for. I was wearing a Savile Row suit and a black velvet coat long enough to sweep all before it including the inconvenient litter of half-filled in immigration forms that appeared to be lying about on the airport’s polished tiles. I swished into the country, crowned in my customary top hat - a magnificent felt confection that would give the stove pipe of a Mississippi paddle steamer something to match. I slotted my finger, as requested, into some scanning machine. At least I had made one concession to this land’s Ivy League sensibilities, I thought. I had removed my scarlet nail polish before setting off.

Before his sudden death earlier this year, he was in agreement when I proposed that we do a kind of Platonic Dialogue book. Now, our numerous email correspondences over the years will need to suffice. Beyond his penchant to shock, to please by displeasing the philistines, feminists, bourgeoisies, and the politically correct, he was a surprisingly gifted artist/writer, aphorist, raconteur and a contemporary Count D’Orsay-type of dandy. Sebastian’s death on June 17th 2010 was due to an accidental heroin/cocaine overdose—contrary to rumors of suicide. He was looking forward to the critical and general reception of the one-man play, Dandy in the Underworld, written and directed by Tim Fountain, which opened at the Soho Theater, London, and June 15th shortly before his death. Moreover, he had a considerable number of sound projects scheduled for completion. I plan to organize our correspondences into slim volumes and publish them serially. His girlfriend Rachel Johnston invited me to attend his funeral on July 1 at the St. James, Piccadilly. Though I was unable to attend his funeral I heartened with the opportunity to write this introduction and share my interview of the brilliant star that was Sebastian Horsely. Fundamental to the appreciation and genuine understanding of Sebastian is the attitude, “Thou Shall Not Judge.”

“Is there anything you want to tell us about previous convictions?” I racked my brains. I didn’t have any convictions - not even the sort that they meant. “That is not what we know about you.” By now my brow was a corrugated mess. Thinking plays havoc with one’s foundation. Well, I had been charged with possession of amphetamine sulphate about twenty five years ago. But I had received a conditional discharge and a fine. I had been told that, if some requisite period elapsed without further conviction, the offence would be dropped from my record. I had been to the States half a dozen times since then without any problem. I was left to mull over my youthful indiscretion for twenty minutes or so before being summoned into an interview room. “You can play this one of two ways here Mr Horsley,” an official said. “Either you can lie and we will charge you with a criminal act or you can tell us the truth and we shall deport you. We know that you have been a heroin addict... that you have been a male prostitute and that you are very vocal about your use of prostitutes. Your book celebrates all of that.” A copy of the offending publication lay on the table. And yes, the dust jacket blurb did give the game away a bit. “Dandy in the Underworld follows the career of an irredeemable dandy poncing around in make-up, fixing up drugs, fucking whores and failing successfully to be an artist,” it declares. They had a point - though how the Americans could be so sure of it, I was not certain. The country has seen such a scandalous flurry of fictitious autobiographies, that I suppose I should have been relieved that they believed mine to be true. Instead my stomach plummeted to the floor with the weight of disappointment as I realised that my dreams of a few days with an entire new continent to show off to were about to come to a very abrupt end.

Sebastian didn’t share the moral sympathies of the hypocritical, disgraced, “moral authorities” like the Vatican/Catholic Church, our politicians, or the righteous middleclass. He knew that their thick masks were as vile as they were foul. He became our collective mirror, an imperfect Christ-like personna who elected to be crucified in the Philippines. He also acknowledged the futility of our existence: that we are involuntarily born and most of us die involuntarily too, and that in between birth and death, there is not much going on, except in the arts and songs. He believed that most of our existence is awfully repetitious, terribly tedious and alarmingly inartistic, and that no matter how healthily we eat, how much time we spent at the gym, the excellence of our health insurance, whether we smoked, used drugs, drank or not, we will all undeniably end up dying. Sebastian lived fully as only he could. One can even conjecture that he died, peculiarly enough, at the right time. Besides his singular autobiography, he will always be remembered for his color, wit, pleasure principles, dandyism and devil-may-care attitude against the futility of our collective existence. Victor Hugo once said that “we are all condemned to death, but with an indefinite reprieve.” Thus, it is not how long or short we live that matters but how intensely, how lively, how colorfully, how brilliantly and joyously we live. NOW THE INTERVIEW: (Our interview took place from November

2009 through February, 2010 and wasn’t published until now due to our website nightmare).

ké Udé: Start with the incident at the American Newark International Airport, in New Jersey, I believe. What happened? Sebastian Horsley: I was off to discover America. My (unauthorised) autobiography Dandy in the Underworld was about to be launched and I was anticipating a leisurely promotional tour. I had it all mapped out in my head. Have you anything to declare, some custom’s official would pop up to ask me. “Only my genitals and my genius” I would dutifully say. After all, I was following in the footsteps of Oscar Wilde. I was going to have a bon mot voyage.

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“You are being detained Mr. Horsley” the man in the box said. Then someone stepped forward and led me aside.

The game was up. I decided to go down with dignity. “Raise your right hand. Do you swear on the bible to tell the truth, the whole truth and nothing but the truth? Well, that question wasn’t difficult. But then I do tell the truth - I had in my memoir. And that was precisely my problem. I had told the truth rather too frankly for the tastes of these policemen. “You have been determined to be inadmissible under section 212

“F

reedom is A drunken whore. I hate free speech. I like to pay for everything. Freedom of speech is irrelevant.” 163

I tried to be flippant but the truth is that the officials were bullying. They had reduced my girlfriend to tears in the room next door. They had told her blatant untruths. That I had a string of convictions for drugs and prostitution. I demanded to have my bags brought and searched in front of me. I wasn’t going to have them planting something illegal among my tissue-folded velvet suits. I haven’t even smoked a cigarette - let alone a crack pipe - for more than three years. Still, so called “moral turpitude” was enough to exclude me from the country whose president lied publicly about an affair with an intern; from the state whose governor espoused family values while frequenting brothels. I am an artist. To me, an artist is not the most useful, but can be among the least harmful members of society. Unlike politicians, artists do not as a rule lie. They don’t have to. Depravity is part of the job description. I was dispatched from America on the next British Airways flight. I put on my hat to board. And then I came back. It seems you can’t fly BA in a hat. Prison was the other option, the officials told me. Well, at least the food would be better. “A nice white boy like you won’t last two minutes in a cell full of hispanics and blacks” an officer snarled. “Prison? Buggery, porridge and Class A drugs? Is there is a three year waiting list sir? “ I wondered. “Sebastian and Rachel, Soho, London, August 2007 photography: by Nick Cunard

(a) (2) (A) (i) (I) of the Immigration and Nationality Act ... you are an alien who has been convicted of, or who admits having committed, or who admits committing acts which constitute the essential elements of a crime involving moral turpitude ... You will be refused admission to the United States ... and you will be returned to your county. Do you understand?” Well that explained a lot. I had always suspected that I might be an alien but it was reassuring to have it confirmed in writing. “Have you ever used or been involved with illicit substances?” The only illicit substance I know is cous cous. “Oh. You mean drugs? ... yes and proud of it ... if I had to live my life again I would take the same drugs ... only sooner ... and more of them.” “Have you ever solicited prostitution?” “Yes. Mary Magdalene set a saintly precedent.” “ Who is Mary Magdalene? ... “And what have you got in that hat?” “My head”. Even when suffering from moral turpitude one should try to remain polite. If you feel that you cannot comply with the morality of the world you must do everything else you can to be agreeable ...besides, to the Americans English manners are far more frightening than none at all. I was allowed one phone call in the course of eight hours. I spoke to my editor at Harper Perennial, Carrie Kania. “I’ve been detained by immigration and I’ve got good news and bad news, I warned her. “Go ahead”. “The good news is: They’ve read my book ... The bad news is: they’ve read my book.” 164

The next BA flight was due to leave. “I am the only thing of value in your country and I am removing it immediately,” I declared with as much hauteur as I could muster. And I left. And that was that. Was it the prose or the clothes, the truth or the topper? Is there such a thing as an immoral book? I don’t think so. There is only good art or bad art. And my writing is simply an extension of my dandy uniform. The customs officials were wearing uniforms too. I hadn’t objected to theirs. As for free speech? Is there such a thing? You pay for everything. I certainly had. So, God bless America, the land of the free ..but sadly not the home of the depraved. Is your book, Dandy in the Underworld, essentially banned in America? I am banned not the book. Quite an achievement these days. In the old days writers were much more esteemed in Russia. They played a much larger part in society than they did in the West. The advantage of not being free is that people listen to you. An American writer, free to turn out books that no-one reads, might have actually envied a Soviet writer who was censored and imprisoned, for there is dignity and stature in being designated an enemy of the state. But to become an enemy of the United States of America? It is a war that they simply cannot win. In the battle of wits they entered the skirmish almost totally unarmed. How does that fit with the American image of being the land of freedom of speech, press and everything else? Freedom is a drunken whore. I hate free speech. I like to pay for everything. Freedom of speech is irrelevant. Freedom of thought is what matters. If you make people think they’re thinking, they’ll love you; but if you really make them think, they’ll hate you. It’s brave to let people hate you

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Were you honestly shocked or did you half-expect to be detained at the American Airport and deported back to England? I was very shocked. In going to America I so longed to be worthy of assassination. I had to settle for deportation. There is nothing worse than not being allowed into a country you wouldn’t be seen dead in. I guess I was a threat to national insecurity. Or maybe I just had the wrong hattitude? Style is when they’re running you out of town and you make it look as if you’re leading a parade. What I did was a very Dandy thing. I hate travel. My idea of travel is to lie on a divan and have the scenery carried past me. I stayed where I was. I brought America to me. I was on the front page of the New York Times not once but three times. An editorial in The Washington Post. CNN leading on it. All this and I was sitting in my one room in Soho. What a triumph! Like all great dandys, I succeeded by paradox - taking the US by storm by being refused entry. I woke up one afternoon and found myself infamous. I had joined the ranks of Wilde, Byron and Rochester. To be great is to be misunderstood. I’d like to take this opportunity of being in print to thank the US government. You couldn’t ask for better publicists. The public takes no interest in a work of art until it is told that the work in question is immoral. Thank you. You cannot censor the gleam in my eye. Are you happy with the response to the book, so far? Writing for me is completely pointless. I only write to get my knob sucked - and the kind of girls I am attracted to are illiterate. What were some memorable reviews—good or bad—from the English press, of your book? “Sebastian Horsley, a man who has absolutely nothing to declare but his own lack of talent. He is a prat ... a wanker. This book should be avoided by anyone of a nervous disposition or by anyone who has a fondness for the female sex. The question that may enter the enquiring mind is this : what exactly is the point of Sebastian Horsley? Do him a favour and bin it.” – The Standard “An emotionally infantile spoiled brat, a vapid poser, he has less talent than a used condom.” – QX magazine “His autobiographical theme of narcissistic bravado has already been successfully played by Beaton, Dali and other modernists ; his wit, and some of his style, is also borrowed – from Oscar Wilde and Quentin Crisp ... Horsley adopts an artistic sensibility and has himself crucified in the Philippines. That’s been done, too, and better.” – The Times “An insufferable cretin.” – The Leeds Guide “An attention-seeking tosser…This book is forced and embarrassing. He is a show-off who can’t do anything. He has a wild artistic temperament, but no talent.” – The Telegraph “Horsley is the grubby/moderately brighter equivalent of the model/ actor. His heroes (Brummell, Byron and his namesake Sebastian Flyte) wouldn’t have liked Horsley. The chip on his shoulder squeals from every page. Spare yourselves this trivial autobiography and wait for him to appear on Celebrity Big Brother.” – The Literary Review “Sebastian Horsley is a pervert who stands for everything that is wrong with British society today.” – Jeremy Vine “Why don’t you just put it in the fucking bin!” – John Lydon I rather enjoy the bad reviews, they make me laugh. When people hate me or don’t understand me it kinda cheers me up. It really does. It’s strange. When did it first dawn on you that your book would become finally known as Dandy in the Underworld? When I got a cheque. Money is the world’s greatest muse.

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How long did it take you to finish the book? Do you have any particular writing habits? It took about 47 years. Before you sit down to write you must have stood up to live. The tools I need for my trade are ink, paper, alcohol, crack, heroin, tobacco, whores, and lots of money. Apart from that, nothing really. How much of the autobiographical details in your book is pure, exaggerated or understated? The whole book is pure. The best weapon is purity. I never exaggerate. I just remember big. Nothing is understated. Less is not more in prose and more is more in clothes. Style is more important than truth. Did you consume as many drugs as you said you did in your memoir? And which are the best and worst arguments for or against drugs? Yes I did. Everything you see, I owe to crack cocaine. I took drugs to ape the angels, only to give wing to the devil. Best argument : Drugs at dawn make the days shorter. Worst argument : Drugs are a cure for unhappiness and who wants that? How many prostitutes have you actually slept with, thus far? 1,966 but who’s counting? I have been told I treat objects like women. Not that I want you to get any wrong ideas. Bar two thousand odd prostitutes, I am actually quite chaste. Is prostitution such a bad thing? If it is, why does it continue to enjoy such a long existence? I adore whores. I regard any whore, however low, as superior to any lady, however noble. I don’t care if a girl has a face that could double as a chastity belt. I’ll pay cash for gash as long as its class. I adore a whore who is poor. All that glitters is not gold. All that smells is not garbage. Whores are the flowers of the earth. Prostitution is the oldest profession in history - except gardening, of course. And who would want hoe a furrow when you can furrow a ho? It was very polite of Eve to accept that fateful apple and to sin us out of God’s horrible garden and into Satan’s streets of shame. Thousands of other saintly women have followed in her footsteps. Mary Magdalene, set a blessed precedent. Now she was the finest woman that ever walked the streets. The prostitute is not, as the unfuckable feminists claim, the victim of men. She is their conqueror: an outlaw, warrior, stargazer, gambler, crusader, plunderer, violator, and martyr. Consorting with prostitutes is a legitimate route to enlightenment. All I know most surely about truth, about love and about faith, I owe to whoring. Yes, I love whores. If I haven’t got any money, I masturbate. When and how did you meet Rachel?

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he tools I need for my trade are ink, paper, alcohol, crack, heroin, tobacco, whores, and lots of money.” 165

between two people there is no bridge to cross, and no one to visit on the other side. When there’s no distance, there’s no border; when there’s no border, there’s no taboo; when there’s’ no taboo, there’s no transgression; and when there’s no transgression there’s no desire. “Love must be reinvented” said Rimbaud and we have done just that. Any plans for marriage or wedding? Marriage? Pah! For physical pleasure I’d sooner be crucified any day. When are you expecting children? I hate children more than Herod. I am a dandy. The only place I would push a pram is into the Thames. Tell me about your next project? The play of Dandy in the Undeworld has been commissioned. It will open in the West End next year. And then transfer to Broadway. Ealing Broadway. Tim Fountain and I are writing it. Tim is perfect. He took Quentin Crisp’s life to the stage (“Resident Alien”), then Julie Burchill’s (“JulieBurchill is Away”) and Toby Young’s (“How to Loose Friends and Alienate People”). They feel that Sebastian Horsley sits in nicely in that line of people. We all have the airs and graces of a genius and no talent. Not that I will see the play. I will drink and I will take drugs and in my weaker moments I will even eat but I will never, ever go to a theatre. Me, my life is theatre. Theatre is life. Life is art. Art is furniture. Dandy in the Underworld has been optioned by Stephen Fry Sprout Films. Are you tempted to play yourself? If not, what actor would you love to see portray you? Play myself? Oh no, I‘d be completely miscast. Robert Downey Junior would have been good. He went to the methaSebastian as both a model and one of the four London style arbiters for Comme des Garcon 2007 collection. done school of acting. But he turned it down. It was too exciting for him. I am sure it won’t come off. If I had my life story offered to me to film, I’d turn In a public lavatory. Money changed hands. Possibly a dime. it down. It is a bomb with a rather long fuse and if it ever goes off I am Do you regard her as your girlfriend? Better yet, what term would sure it will bomb. you use to best describe your relationship? The film world is just like life. Nothing ever happens. It is like Waiting for Squaw, doormat, trophy, Barbie, lover, muse, whore, co-conspirator, Godot but without the tree let alone the poetry. but never, ever girlfriend. Will you do a second memoir, or this is it? Has the emotional distance between you two remained the same, The only way I could top that book would be to top myself. gotten heavier or lighter? Lighter than corks, we dance on the waves. Rachel has an empty head Do you often feel like Sebastian Horsley? And how often do feel and a full sweater. Is that not perfection? like the other Sebastian Horsley? Rachel looks great but she only knows 120 words and she’s only got I like feeling them both. The affair between Sebastian Horsley and Setwo ideas in her head. The other one is shoes. bastian Horsley is one of the prettiest love stories in all art. Have either of you yet experienced the law of diminishing returns in the sex department? Of course. Women are like bank accounts. You put it in, you take it out, you lose interest. It is not lack of closeness that kills desire, but too much closeness. Desire needs distance. If you eradicate the distance

What becomes a legend most? That combination of theatricality and indifference. And your motto, if any? If you can’t laugh at yourself, make fun of spastics.

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Marta Hallett Interview by Miss Rosen

Working from a cozy office in her sprawling Central Park West home, Marta Hallett has established Glitterati Incorporated as one of the leading boutique illustrated book publishers in the country, providing a sophisticated mix of stylish titles, which enjoy a vibrant life outside the crumbling book industry. ~ Smartly, she has partnered with the likes of Saks Fifth Avenue, Macy’s, April Cornell, and the International Center of Photography on high-quality titles dedicated to elevating the discourse in art, culture, fashion, design, travel, food, and lifestyle. With over 30 years experience, Miss Hallett has built Glitterati’s reputation as a publisher of modern beauty and iconography, spotlighting work from Coco Chanel, Josie Natori, Villa d’Este, Ralph Pucci, and the kitchen of Mrs. Charles Darwin, among many others. ~ I first met Miss Hallett some ten years ago, when she was the publisher of Rizzoli. For someone in her position, I found Marta remarkably accessible, engaging, and welcoming. Her warmth is part of her charm, and though I was essentially a nobody, a glorified secretary assigned to filing duties, Marta was always gracious and patient with any query or concern. ~ A few years later, both Marta and I were part of the

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Marta wearing turtleneck, by Johnny Rozsa,

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ranks of former Rizzoli employees. In 2002, Marta called to see if my new employer, powerHouse Books, would be interested in distributing her newest incarnation, Glitterati Incorporated. After years at the helm of houses including HarperCollins, Smithmark Publishers, with an imprint at Stewart, Tabori, & Chang, Miss Hallett had decided to leave the confines of the corporate lifestyle for the uncharted waters of independent publishing. Earlier this year, I reconnected with Miss Hallett once again when I decided to leave powerHouse Books to join her in the creation of my own company, Miss Rosen. It is in this capacity that I can work one-on-one with colleagues, whose vision and dedication provide me with the knowledge and inspiration to go it alone. That Marta is now one of my clients, and that I continue to share in her future, is a gift I greatly cherish. I love the story you told about graduating college and turning down your father’s offer to finance a one-year trip to Europe so that you could move to New York City and work in an office! Tell me more about the kind of woman you were at 18. Marta Hallett: I just knew I could not wait to be on my own and totally independent; I was dying to work, explore the world, have my own money (rather than be on the dole of my parents), and I could not wait to start my life for real. In some ways, I’m the same now. I’ve always loved change and reinventing myself. How did you first get started in book publishing and who influenced and mentored you? Once I arrived in New York, my first job wasworking for a very smart and innovative company that had decided there needed to be a talent collective for all the chefs of the world, who at that point were virtually unknown and independent of each other, in a company called the Good Cooking School, organized by James Beard, Milton Glaser (New York magazine’s “Underground Gourmet”), and an entrepreneur named Burton Wolf, who is now a food travel expert. I was hired as Burton Wolf’s assistant, and when the editor of The Cook’s Catalog (a book they were producing for Avon Books and Harper & Row) left the company, I was promoted to managing editor. It was an incredible opportunity for me to learn how to make an illustrated book. When the project was completed, Nach Waxman, the Harper in-house editor for the book, asked me what interesting project I would be doing next I replied, “Looking for an interesting job!” He told me he was sure there was a place for me at Harper. I interviewed and was hired as a special trade editor on a huge field guide project they had been produc-

really don’t think an apparatus like Kindle can replace the genre of illustrated books, which present themselves as objects and have an intrinsic value because of production.” aRUDE: St yle I ssue 2 0 1 0

ing for years, but which needed a dedicated editor… And it went on from there. I was in the right place at the right time. In 1975 no one in editorial knew anything about making illustrated books with color art. But I did from my experience at managing The Cook’s Catalog. I knew something that was to be quite rare for years to come. You spent over thirty years in the corporate sector before striking out on your own. What is the most liberating aspect of being your own boss? Actually I spent 15 years in the middle of my career with corporations, working in my own book producing business in the heyday of the advent of lifestyle books. I had two very successful companies before I moved to HarperCollins in 1996. I love everything about being my own boss except the exigencies of cash flow! I know you just returned from a trip to Villa D’Este, with whom you have worked on several projects. How did you come to work with them, and what made you return to this magical hotel? When I was at HarperCollins I was introduced to the legendary Jean Salvadore, the PR “goddess” of Villa D’Este for the past 42 years, by the very wonderful Larry Ashmead. Jean was hoping to publish a book on the history and style of the Villa D’Este, and Larry thought I might be interested. Jean and I are now like family. We’re now working together on Jean’s memoir, beginning with her life as a youngster in war-torn Europe, and going on to her being the first publicist in all of Italy as the TWA publicist in Rome for Howard Hughes, and finally, as the doyenne of Villa d’Este, where she presides to this day. So many of your books are about travel. What are your favorite getaway destinations? I return to Paris over and over again. I also love Tunisia and Morocco. But the trip that changed my life was going on safari in Kenya around 1980. That trip was wondrous—like traveling to another planet. So much has changed in the industry over the years. What strikes you as the best and worst of these changes? I guess the most prominent disappointment is the declining lack of interest in high quality content and the profusion of books that lack power and profundity. The best change is the Internet. Publishers can now glean all sorts of information to help them better address their readers, as well as create definitive texts and databases. I love the ability we now have to use a wide array of research to pinpoint every small factoid that we want to know. What are your thoughts on the emergence of the e-book/ Kindle, and how do you see it having an impact on the Glitterati product? I love the Kindle because I think it’s brilliant, and I cannot believe that everyone will not want to own one once the price becomes more affordable. For travel, what could be better than to gang up all those books most of us carry around, not wanting to leave them behind in hotels when we finish them, and to have the gratification of reading all the time we’re away? On the other hand, I think it’s important to realize that the Kindle is to books what the microwave is to an oven. It’s an incredible extension and appliance, but as a replacement, it’s impossible. I really don’t think an apparatus like Kindle can replace the genre of illustrated books, which present themselves as objects and have an intrinsic value because of production. How have you seen your work change as a result of the industry’s instability? What is your secret for staying ahead of the curve? Being a small company allows us to try to stay ahead of the curve. Whether we actually achieve this the majority of the time is de169

Marta at Home, by Jianai Jenny Chen

batable! We want to use the internet as a tool for addressing customers’ needs, transmitting information more effectively, and keeping our partners, authors, and clients informed and interested. Who do you most admire in book publishing? Lawrence P. Ashmead, who is a god among editors, publishers and anyone in the industry. He is not only brilliant, but he is a generous, kind, and truly a unique person. What would surprise book lovers to know about the industry? That most illustrated books do not sell in stores. Many sell through special sales venues that we set up in conjunction with the launch of the book, such as Saks Fifth Avenue, Barney’s, or the New York Botanical Garden. In addition, the Internet has become a huge resource for selling illustrated books, because people can read a review and quickly click through to a purchase, rather than having to go to a bookstore and hope that they actually stock it! Customers expect immediacy these days, and the Internet and special events centered around books serve their needs better than bookstores often do. What should everyone who wants to publish a book know? They will not become rich as an author, but there is deep gratification in expressing oneself perfectly in print and on paper. If you could do a book project with any person living or dead, who would it be and why? Every time a new project comes along I think that is the one that I cannot live without! What kinds of artists, writers, projects interest you personally? I really am interested in people who expand their minds constantly through exploring new ideas. And I like to work with authors who, through their explorations, bring something exciting and mind-expanding to my world. Being an editor is the perfect 170

dilettante’s endeavor. You need to know a little bit about a lot of things. I love that aspect of the business. What have been some of your favorite projects and why? My Peanuts publishing program was probably the most monumental thing I did because it gave me the opportunity to develop and reinvent one of the great geniuses of our time: Charles Schulz. And he was truly a genius. He cared about nothing at all except making his art. He was incredible. I loved working with Fleur Cowles. I think she was also a genius in her way, although she was a difficult personality who was totally self-absorbed, but endlessly fascinating. I love working with Douglas Kirkland, whose Coco Chanel book we published last year. Here is a person who could have been resting on his laurels for the past 20 years, but is still out there roughing it on movie sets, taking pictures and educating young talent about the wonders of photography. He doesn’t stop. He is an inspiration. I could name hundreds more. One of the wonders of being a publisher, especially when it is one’s own company, is that you can make the decision to work only with people you like and admire. That’s an incredible thing. It allows me to spend time with some of the most intelligent, wonderful people in the universe, and every one of them has some sort of impact (usually positive!) on the world in which we live. What is the greatest accomplishment in your career? I can’t say. Someone else would have to decide. But one of my greatest moments was having my books (The Spice Girls in Your Pocket series) hit the New York Times Bestseller list. It was beyond exciting! But is that really an accomplishment? I guess in some ways it is because it was the kind of outside public validation for which every publisher/editor yearns. Was it as meaningful as some of the incredible art books that I feel privileged to have published, which would not have seen the light of day without me? Probably not!

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Max Kibardinâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s World Philosophy of Timeless Shoes Interview by Anna Battista

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acques Deray’s 1969 film La Piscine (The Swimming Pool) is probably on the favorite list of many passionate cinema, fashion and style fans. Starring Alain Delon and Romy Schneider, the film recounts the vicissitudes of Jean-Paul and Marianne, two lovers who spend their holidays in a villa with a swimming pool near Saint-Tropez. Though the main connection La Piscine has with fashion is in the costumes designed by André Courrèges, the whole film oozes a special stylish atmosphere. It was the ambiance and the mood of the film, and not only those detailed shots framing the male protagonist’s soft leather shoes, that inspired footwear designer Max Kibardin’s (www.maxkibardin.com) new men’s collection. Born in Siberia, Kibardin studied architecture in Moscow before moving to Paris and eventually arriving in Milan, where he worked for different brands and designers, such as Alberto Biani and Pollini. In 2004 Kibardin launched his first signature collection, focusing on sophisticated and timeless women’s footwear. Selected as one for the three finalists of the “Who Is On Next?/Uomo” award—the competition set in Italy to uncover new talents in men’s fashion—Kibardin was announced winner of his category at the 76th Pitti Uomo event in Florence and he’s being given an especially appointed showcase to present his his new collection of shoes and accessories in an installation-style during the January edition of the popular fashion trade show. (The designer declines to give specifics on the exact nature of his presentation except that he will be collaborating with an artist who inspired this forthcoming presentation. He is also working with an architect of his choice to realize this installation. The keyword to Kibardin’s collections is quality. All his shoes are created according to the highest standards of craftsmanship: the new men’s collection features footwear in the finest materials, such as suede, nabuk, ostrich hide and crocodile, in bright shades of colours, from mimosa yellow to deep turquoise, pale pink and soft purple. The “intrecciato” motif prevails in some of the models. Others are characterised by the absence of any stitching or by incredibly flexible soles. Yet all of Kibardin’s designs are dedicated to all the men and women who want to add a bit of everyday luxury to their lives.

Anna Battista: What prompted you to start designing

shoes? Max Kibardin: My grandfather was a traditional shoe-

maker who designed Georgian shoes. People often imagine me sitting down and learning the ropes from him. But I think it was more something I had in my blood that pushed me to become a footwear designer. Your men’s collection features roughly 40 styles. What inspired it? The main inspiration was the French movie La Piscine, featuring Romy Schneider and Alain Delon. I absolutely love what they wore in the film and how they wore it. They really looked gorgeous. The collection was created according to the highest standards of craftsmanship, with a great attention to detail and with a few vintage styles in mind. All the shoes were made in North Italy, where they have the know-how that I need to produce my shoes. I tried to update some of the classic styles of this collection byadding some vibrant colours and opting for exciting materials to make them more contemporary, young and casual. I see my work as a way of giving customers a chance to invest in everyday luxury, choosing timeless designs that will stay with them forever.

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What’s the first thing you do when you start designing a new collection? When the new collections come out, I see everything other designers have done, and I carefully study what’s on the market. Then I start working on styles I haven’t seen and come up with a few ideas and rough sketches, pulling inspirations also from my personal archives, which include films, art and ballet. You are maybe more famous for being a women’s shoe designer. When did you decide to work also on men’s styles? I like to inject emotions into my collections, and my women’s collections are usually very sophisticated. Yet in the last five years, people haven’t been into very sophisticated designs, and women’s shoe designers have been looking at aggressive trends, featuring studs and spikes in their work. I found it very difficult to express my philosophy in current times, and I suddenly felt more at ease trying to distil the essence of my work into men’s collections. They somehow allowed me to explain my emotions better. Do you think the financial crisis and the consequent recession had an impact on the footwear market? There has been a crisis because a lot of people started producing the same designs without putting their hearts into what they did. I think that designers must try to sell a lifestyle, a philosophy and not just a product. You must try and inspire people. This is the solution to the crisis. Britney Spears wore your shoes for her latest concert, but what’s incredible about that is that you had nothing to do with it, and were in fact surprised to learn of it through the press. How do you feel about this? Is Britney Spears the type of woman you imagine when you design your collections? Britney Spears is considered one of the most important entertainers of our times. Seeing her choosing my shoes for her “Circus” tour made me really happy. Yet when I design a collection, I never imagine a type of woman. I try instead to develop my concepts as luxurious designs, making sure that they embody a dream for all women. Do you plan to eventually meet Britney and maybe do a special collaboration with her? We received a request from her office to develop another pair of shoes for her tour. We were pleased and happy to oblige. Besides Britney Spears, what other celebrities would you love to collaborate with, if you care at all? I would be happy to work with any woman who has achieved success in her career, be it in politics, show business, journalism or fashion. Is there an actor/actress/dancer you would like to see wearing your creations? I would actually love to see Iké Udé wearing my shoes! He’s got a very special taste ,and he knows what quality and unique design truly mean. Who is your favourite shoe designer? I don’t have any particular icon, but I tend to approach the work of all footwear designers with great respect. What do you like doing when you're not working? MK: I like going to the theatre, exhibitions and ballets, and spending time with my family and friends. 174

“I think that designers must try to sell a lifestyle, a philosophy and not just a product”.

What’s your favourite ballet? I like a lot of different ballets, but one of my favourites is “Fountain of Bakhchisarai” ( HYPERLINK "http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LfWp4K-nk4Y" www.youtube.com/ watch?v=LfWp4K-nk4Y) which has some fantastically coloured costumes, this is why I used it as the inspiration for my Spring/Summer 09 collection. The ballet features one of my favourite étoiles, Maya Plisetskaya. It is actually inspired by a 19th century poem by Alexander Pushkin, and it’s about the fountain inside the Bakhchisarai Palace in Crimea, also known as the “Fountain of Tears”. In the ballet Zarema, one of Khan Girey’s concubines living in the Bakhchisarai Palace harem, tries to win back the attention of the Khan, who has fallen in love with a European noblewoman. I based my collection both on the Middle East-meets-West theme and the richness vs. austerity dichotomy. While I was creating it, I imagined a Western woman adapting her clothes to the Oriental wardrobe. So I came up with classical shapes and silhouettes, but I decorated the heels with gold chains, fishnets and veils. The palette – a combination of cobalt blue, black, gold, fuchsia and emerald – was my very personal tribute to Yves Saint -Laurent. What inspired your 2010 collection? The Autumn/Winter 2010 collection was inspired by the artistic transition between Art Nouveau and Art Deco. This period contains many visually brilliant designs which escape any specific definition or classification. Among the remarkable work from this period is that of the French designer and illustrator E.A. Seguy. His portfolio contains extremely original patterns in provocative colour combinations, including different shades of rose pink, violet and green. Besides that, one of Seguy’s main themes is nature, from flowers and foliage to fruit and birds. So I adapted my collection to the colours, motifs, shapes and silhouettes of Seguy’s artworks, and tried to reproduce them in materials that include exotic skins, metallic nuances and satins. Do you have any plans or dreams for the future? MK: My dream is to design clothes one day. Where can we buy your shoes? In Italy they’re available from Bardelli and Vetrina di Beryl. In the States you will be able to find them at Saks and Fred Segal.

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Timothy ¬reenfield Sanders Interview by IkÉ UdÉ It is generally understood that, “to blacklist can mean to deny someone work in a particular field, or to ostracize them from a certain social circle. Conversely, a whitelist is a list or compilation identifying persons or organizations that are accepted, recognized, or privileged. But with your “Black List” book and film, you seem to have turned the phrase radically upside down. Please explain.¶ From the first moment we met to discuss the project, Elvis wanted to call it “THE BLACK LIST”. He’s always hated the negative connotations associated with those words, and he wanted to bring new meaning to the phrase in the 21st Century. I loved the idea and felt it was a perfect name for the project.

Photographs By Thimothy Greenfield Sanders

What was the genesis of this project? A: About three years ago, I was sitting in my kitchen with Toni Morrison and some of the stars of her opera, Margaret Garner. Toni was talking about all the amazing black divas who had auditioned for the opera. She turned to me and said, “Timothy, we should do a book about all these talented women. We could call it Black Divas. I’ll write the text and you can photograph the stars”. To work with Toni Morrison would be an honor, but aRUDE: St yle I ss ue 2010

Left, Chris Rock. Right, Toni Morrison. Opposite page, Collin Powel

the problem was that I’m not really a huge opera fan. But, it did get me thinking about black achievement and all the people I knew or had photographed. I kept thinking about the idea and finally reached out to Elvis for his thoughts. Elvis and I are neighbors on second Street, so we got together for lunch around the corner at a Thai restaurant. 175 names on napkins later, we had the genesis of The Black List Project. Is there any definitive, singular objective embodied in this project? If not, what are the other general outlines of the Black List? From the start we saw The Black List Project as a film, a book, a photographic exhibition, and an educational outreach endeavor. We were very ambitious, but honestly, it made sense to us to do all of these things. Obviously you’ve admirably collected some of the heavyweights, A-List names on the American cultural map. How did you go about doing it? Elvis and I looked pulled out our rolodexes and got to work. He knew Chris Rock, Keenen Ivory Wayans, Slash and Suzan-Lori Parks. I called up Thelma Golden, Toni Morrison, Faye Wattleton, Richard Parson and Bill T. Jones. Those folks alone would have made an amazing film. What difficulties did you encounter? Something like this is an enormous effort. There were so many people to coordinate, not just the subject him or herself, but the crew as well. It’s a miracle that we got it all done in time for Sundance. In particular, what was the security like when you photographed former secretary of state, Collin Powell? The General walked alone from his office across the street from our hotel ballroom for his interview and photo session. I, of course, had my usual five-person security deal to protect me from jealous largeformat photographers. Timothy, you generally prefer to shoot in your wonderful studio,

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but some of the personages in Black List, obliged you to go to them. How did you negotiate their relatively foreign terrain and still manage to obtain a classic Greenfield-Sandersesque portrait? I much prefer shooting in my studio. It’s a very warm and inviting place. As you know, I live in a former Rector, it’s a very interesting building and it always serves to loosen up the interviewees. We had to use rental spaces in L.A. and Philly, something that makes the job of creating a perfect mood, more difficult. What were some of the overlapping ideas between you two, considering that Elvis conducted the interviews and you, Timothy directed? I did all I could to make sure that Elvis and the subjects were comfortable and relaxed for the filmed interviews. That was key. Elvis is always prepared, so once the subject arrived, I worked at being a good host. And of course, I made sure that all the equipment worked perfectly. There’s nothing worse than waiting for technical fixes. Subjects hate that. Black List: Volume One implies that there will be a Volume Two, Three, etc. Is that correct? If so, what are we to expect in the forthcoming volumes? When is the next installation, as it were? We are working on making Volume 2 a reality. Ike, you will be the first to know when that happens. Working in both book and film media, how do you compare the advantages and limitations of each medium? The book and the film worked out rather seamlessly. The filmed interviews turned into text for the book and my portraits, which were shot initially for the museum exhibitions, became perfect illustrations for the book as well. Have you ever literarily been black/white listed to one degree or another? No 177

“The book and the film worked out rather seamlessly.” 178

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A N D O TADAO

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MY WAY

Interview by Olu Oguibe Tadao Ando is widely considered one of the greatest architects of our time, and has executed numerous major projects around the world, from religious temples to notable residences. He won the Pritzker Prize, architectureâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s highest recognition, for 1995 Olu Oguibe: Mr. Ando, I would

like us to begin with the elements: fire, water, air. What do the elements mean to you and what is their place in your architecture? Tadao Ando: Architecture is not what is perceived by just the eyes, but what is experienced through 179

the five senses. Therefore, they are important elements in my architecture. How about light, color, and the intangible elements of spirit and grace? What do these mean to you and how have you employed them in your work? Architecture is not only a substantial matter. Intangible elements such as “light” and “spirit” deepen architecture. Once buildings are built, they will have stood there for a long time and kept influencing people when their memories and spirits are formed. I think this depth is quite important for architectural creation. How has history or tradition shaped your work and philosophy? You are a keen admirer of Japanese architectural traditions and have mentioned that one of your objectives is to counter certain tendencies that emerged in Japanese architecture in the 1950s. For example, you love childhood home and still live in it. But you are also a keen admirer of other architectural traditions. What is about these traditions that you find compelling and in what ways have you reflected this in your work? For creating architecture, looking just a future is far from enough. We have to step forward while looking back to the history and looking over the society. That is why history and tradition has a big importance on the society. I admire Japanese architectural traditions but it does not mean that I would use its form and materials directly in my architecture. Some times I like to integrate its spirit in my architecture. You have built temples and other public spaces. You’ve also built residential dwellings. What are the different challenges that these categories of architecture pose for you, and what is it that informs your approach? Though each function is different, the difficulties you encounter in dealing with people, and the challenges of thinking about spirit, are same. What do you set out to accomplish or achieve in each case? First, I go to see the site, talk with clients and read the social characteristics and regional conditions behind the project. My design always starts from having

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CHURCH OF LIGHT OSAKA JAPAN 1989

Intangible elements such as “light” and “spirit” deepen architecture.

thorough dialog with these matters. It has been more than a decade since you won the Pritzker Prize. When you set out as a young apprentice many years ago, traveling and studying, did you envision that someday your work would bring you recognition as one of the great masters? Rather than imagine the future, I’ve always done my best on every single work like I would on a graduation design in school. I would like to keep this sincere attitude anytime. And in what ways, no matter how subtle, has your work changed or evolved since the Pritzker? Receiving the Pritzker is an encouragement to me, but it never changed my attitude toward architecture. Instead, it 181

has brought me a kind of tension because I keep trying to create architecture that would exceed the worth of a prize. You work principally with concrete, a material that is traditionally considered cold, distant and imposing. The Romans who popularized concrete in architecture reserved it for public and monumental projects such as bridges, aqueducts, public arenas like the Coliseum, and temples. For residential dwellings they preferred stone, brick and mud. But you’ve used concrete for both public spaces and private dwellings. How do you go about creating warm and humane enclosures with a material that is so distant and indifferent? Concrete, steel and glass are the materials that represent the 20th century and are available all over the world. I always seek new architectural possibilities that I can create with these universal materials. My aim always, is to create warm and rich human spaces, even while using materials that are usually considered cold or poor.

Langen Foundation. Neuss, GERMANY

Over the past decade you’ve done a number of significant collaborations around the world: with Alessandro Benetton for the Fabrica Benetton, and with artists Richard Sera and Elsworth Kelly for the Pulitzer project, for instance. Tell me about your experiences and challenges with these collaborations say, the Fabrica and the Pulitzer project. Artists often exist completely independent from architects, as well as form the social world. In a sense, collaboration is a kind of competition. In my case, I keep communicating with people thoroughly without making compromises. Such an intensive relation between architect and artist, or with a demanding owner, generates creative architecture. Tadao Ando, Mies van der Rohe, Frank Lloyd Wright; none of these great masters studied architecture in school. But you’ve had a long association with universities and a long, parallel career as a teacher. When you step into the classroom to face a group of young aspirants, what do you tell them about architecture and practice? Although I can offer the young general education, teaching someone how interesting and 182

deep architecture is, isn’t so easy. However, I believe that my experience can tell them something important about architecture. As a youth you traveled around studying the work of master builders and craftsmen: temples, arenas, monuments, sea vessels, as well as simple dwellings. When a young apprentice or acolyte sets out tomorrow with a sketchbook in hand to study the work of the great modern masters, what do you hope they’ll find in the work of Tadao Ando? My works might seem alike at first sight. However, on close inspection, they can find various devices and difficulties in each work. My architecture results from an earnest quest for “what is living?” and “what is residing?” I would like the young to perceive not only superficial appearance, but my spirit and philosophy behind it, also. Hyogo prefectural museum of art. KOBE, JAPAN

Olu Oguibe is an artist and Professor of Art and Art History at University of Connecticut where he runs the Institute for African American Studies. "Oguibe has published widely on art and contemporary culture, and is the author of The Culture Game."

Style

/ Interview by Manny Romero

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New York City is one of the last places anyone would come to to start a line of bikinis. How did this happen and why bikinis? Why not hats or coats? I will never forget a friend of mine who said, “ I want a bikini that fits like a panty.” This was before I started my business. When my brother and I came up with the idea of bikinis made from vintage T-shirts, my thought was to make this fit and feel like a panty. What makes Vin-T Bikinis unique? Vin-T Bikinis are hand-cut, hand-studded and are one-of-akind designs for the modern woman who chooses to express herself with American hard edge style and sophistication. These bikinis are created from vintage T-shirts, which are a staple in American style. The collection of vintage T-shirts comes from rock concerts, college and professional sports teams, and popular culture. The Vin-T design is made especially to complement a woman’s best features, while minimizing her problem areas. How do you create each piece? At what point do you feel that a piece is complete? I work in stages. I collect my material and in my mind I’m already thinking of what the finished product will look like. I take each T-shirt and analyze the shape, the color, the graphics, and I envision the woman who would be wearing the bikini. I work out of my apartment on the Upper East Side. When I begin to design and build a bikini, I surround myself with the material and I listen to music that inspires and energizes my creativity. As I cut each piece, I keep in mind the shape of a woman’s body and work to tailor eat piece for each of my clients. My clients’ ages range from 12 to 40. I say, “Any woman who feels they can rock this bikini should be wearing it.” It’s a one-of-akind garment that should be worn with confidence and style. What are the most common mistakes women make when they are shopping for a perfect swimsuit or bikini? Why do you think these errors happen so often?

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Robin Ashford Macy

Bikini in Rock and Roll

“Any woman who feels they can rock this bikini should be wearing it.”

tyle and Fashion are terms that are inter-twined and often misunderstood by consumers, who seek to feel good in the clothes they wear. This is especially true when women are in search of the perfect swimsuit. Robin Ashford Macy, CEO and creator of Vin-T Bikini (www.vintbikini. com), knows a woman’s body and understands what women want in swimwear – comfort and sex appeal with an edge. As a young teenager, growing up in Nogales, Arizona, Macy was a free spirit, who longed for the opportunity to create and express herself. “I wasn’t a rebel by any means,” Macy admits, “but I certainly wasn’t the ideal high school student who conformed to the standards of growing up in a small town.” Macy eventually landed in New York City where, in 2006 she established Vin-T Bikinis, a unique line of hand-cut, handstudded and one-of-a-kind designs for the modern woman, who chooses to express herself with American style and sophistication with a hard edge. These bikinis are created from vintage T-shirts, which are a staple in American style. The collection of vintage T-shirts includes rock concerts, college and professional sports teams, and popular culture.

When selecting a bikini or swimsuit, the biggest mistake women make is trying to cover up problem areas by purchasing boy shorts. Few body types can wear the tight boxy square look. Women should feel comfortable to show off their natural curves. We women have to work with what we have, and confidence is key to pulling off any type of garment. Do you consider yourself and your business successful? When did it hit you that Vin-T Bikini was a success? I knew I was on to something big when CNBC’s “The Big Idea” asked me to appear on their show. Soon after, Vin-T Bikini was featured on the CNBC’s “Will it Play in Peoria.” Vin-T Bikini received great response from viewers and experts. I’ve since established a working relationship with Seminole Hard Rock Hotel in Hollywood & Tampa, Hard Rock Hotel in Orlando. I believe I’ve made a dent in a very competitive industry. There is always room to grow, and I am determined to continue creating for individuals who are looking for something unique and stylish. How do you define “sexy?” Sexy is defined by the manner in which a person carries his or herself. It’s important to be confident and comfortable in your own skin; having this quality makes a person sexy. What in your estimation are the truly gifted bikini designers in the past and now? Emilio Pucci’s bikini designs in the 60s and 70s fit the era like a glove with a psychedelic vibe and color. Pucci’s bikini designs were cut straight across the hip and small tops with or without under wire. The current bikini designer who captures that same sexy look that flatters a woman’s body for today’s fashion is Paula Hermanny of VIX Swimwear and I, of course. How does, say, Brazilian Bikini compare with the American style? Brazilian definitely has a smaller cut all together than the typical American bikini designer. Americans have a more conservative outlook on bikinis and how they should fit. What pubic-hair-shape best compliments a Vin-T Bikini or a bikini in general? I think the ideal public-hair-shape styles are Hollywood and Brazilian. Hollywood is completely bare and Brazilian is a teenee tiny oval or strip of hair. Vin-T Bikini has plenty of coverage in the front to compliment both styles. I would always suggest waxing, because I believe that a clean look is sexier than stubble from a razor. You don’t want to distract people’s attention to your swimsuit by having a unclean bikini area.

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Ken Lewes The Bookworm

Kenneth Lewes first made a name for himself with his scholarly psychology book, Psychoanalysis and Homosexuality, a history of how psychiatry warped Freud’s views on homosexuality to fit their own agendas. He has now turned to fiction, publishing his first novel, The Book Worm, a meta espionage thriller, positing a terrorist underground that is able to communicate in code: literary references that leave the hopelessly non-literary military in the dark. The hero is, of course, on the side of the terrorists. Scott Telek of Cinema de Merde draws the author out. The Bookworm is an exciting and fast-paced thriller. At the same time it’s literate and very funny. How did you come up with the idea? I have confession to make. Until recently I was hopelessly addicted to espionage movies and action thrillers. But whenever I left the cineplex, I always had to wonder why the producers seem unwilling or unable to include believable characters, interesting dialogue or any concept that hadn’t been lifted straight from the latest video game. So I thought I’d try my hand at a better combination of sex and violence, and at the same time slip in some literate fun. But you’re no longer addicted? No, I’m not. The pre-show entertainment did it for me. Between those dreadful previews, where the actors talk about what a meaningful experience it all was, and then an almost identical trailer, I had it. I’ve sworn off going to the movies, at least for a while. Your book plays on serious issues regarding surveillance and terrorism, but it’s quick and humorous. Were there points at which you had to tone down the seriousness for fear of bogging the book down? I wanted to make the book fun to read. No one wants to hear some old fart ranting and wheezing about the younger generation, least of all the author himself. In any case If you can put your sense of outrage aside for a minute or two, there are plenty of things you can find funny if you have an eye for them. The real problem was trying to stay abreast of the latest stupidities. I thought I had gone too far in my description of the airport of the near future. But the last time I had to take a plane, I discovered my fantasy was already out of date. How would you respond to someone who claimed that your book promotes terrorism? I would ignore him. Your main character begins the book living in another country and disengaged from the American political scene. Do you think that young Americans are apathetic and disengaged? What do you think? Look around you, as one of the characters in my book suggests. The latest generation of Americans may one day hold the record for being the most conservative, smug and ignorant group of consumers in the history of this country—at least since the one my parents belonged to. I know what you’re going to say. I should look

Kulture & Art: Books / Interview by Scott Telek

around at the new spirit of protest and all the wonderful new ecology movements that are springing up like mushrooms. Well, I think that there does seem to be a much greater wish for involvement on the part of younger people, which seems to be a reaction to the mindless consumerism of their parents. I’m not impressed. Does any sane person believe we can save our poor planet by alphabetizing our garbage? Do you think that something can be done to make them more engaged? You know the old joke. How many psychotherapists does it take to change a light-bulb? Only one, but the light-bulb has to want to be changed. It’s the same with the latest generation of light-bulbs. They seem to be perfectly happy to lie back and have their pockets picked, their brains washed and their birthrights stolen from them. The only thing I can imagine that would cause these consumers to take to the streets in protest would be having their cell-phones confiscated. With the secret language that the underground movement in your novel communicates in, you are obviously making a point about the level of literacy in this country. Are we at the point where literacy has become its own secret language? I think we may be. Did you know that a recent translation of the Bible changed St. Paul’s “once I was stoned” to “once I received a stoning”? This new version may thoughtfully prevent some minimally literate believers from misunderstanding the text, but I wonder what they’re going to do about “Thou shalt not covet thy neighbor’s ass.” I guess there just aren’t many people out there still reading their Bibles. Oh, but there are. They’re just the wrong people. Who don’t people read books any more? It’s a great mystery, isn’t it? I suppose it has something to do with everybody’s sense that language has been hopelessly corrupted. We’re surrounded by it constantly, but all it ever tries to do is sell us something. Young people should know better, but they don’t. They’re very well aware that they’re being milked like cash-cows and lied to every waking minute of the day, but they seem to think that Jane Austen is the villain. So they would never be seen picking up a real book. But they’re content to go around like walking ads for the corporations, proudly sporting the logo of their favorite designer stenciled on the front of their t-shirts. Still, books have had a pretty good run, don’t you think? It’s been five and a half centuries since Gutenberg. So then who is the villain? Who else? Money and advertising, of course. In your book, the young main character and his father come to represent resistance and repression, respectively. Do you think that youth almost always tends toward rebellion and age toward conservatism? Not at all. There are several aged revolutionaries in my novel, just as there are some bright-eyed and bushy-tailed young fascists. I do think that there may be a tendency for young people to entertain the possibility of doing things in a new, better way, just as there may be corresponding tendency-- at least there used to be-- for the old to value things that are beautiful or otherwise worth preserving. The problem nowadays, at least as I see it, is that young people have been bribed and corrupted into wanting things that are not in the least worth having. Who are you favorite fashion deisgners? I love them all-- every single one.

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off wall: Interview by Efrat Cohen

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John Hunt

Education: I stayed awake just long enough to graduate

with an honors degree in Economics and Public Administration from London University. Now I know better and next time I would read History or Philosophy at Cambridge. Place of residence: Manhattan –currently the greatest

location on earth. Ideal Residence: The Hacienda de San Antonio in Colima, Mexico –a gorgeous 19th century plantation beneath two active volcanoes, one always covered in ice and the other in fire. The house has a fountain courtyard, gardens like at the Alhambra, a bullfighting ring, a pool to rival the Hearst castle, an open air theatre and a few thousand acres of lush vegetation, riding trails, fishing streams and its own coffee plantation.

Fine wine and travel combine handsomely. Grapes grow only in great climates, and great cultures then grow up around them. Is greed a moral or political issue? That depends upon who is being greedy. Politics balances opposing strategies, while morals are about absolute rights and wrongs. Greed can be political and immoral at the same time.

Marital status: Polygamous: married once to my wife

and once to my work. Vitae: I suffer from a professional version of A.D.D. I like to

make things, so I started in brand management at Procter & Gamble and Philip Morris. Then I created three successful new ventures: a chain of espresso stores (Seattle Coffee Company –acquired by Starbucks), an internet consulting company (Syzygy –floated on the German stock market) and an e-commerce software company (Obongo –acquired by AOL Time Warner). I am currently building a new luxury goods brand (www.orielwines.com) and a new luxury resort in the Caribbean (www.amanyara.net). Go figure.

What’s your dream job? For sheer pleasure it’s tough to beat my current gig making fine wines and luxury resorts, but for something more meaningful I wouldn’t mind a chance to shake up the U.N. (so long as I could have weekends off and take long summer vacations with my family). What would you wear to the Oscar Awards? The only reason to go to the Oscars is to walk down the red carpet and create a stir (not top of my priority list). But if I was going to do it I’d want to do it well, so I’d wear silk pajamas and a cape made of that funky new flexible video screen textile, so that I could be covered in movies as I moved. Is sartorial appearance as important as one’s character or substance? Mutton dressed as lamb is still mutton.… Lamb dressed as mutton isn’t a great idea either. Who are your favorite fashion designer/designers? My favorite designers include architects Luis Barragan, Santiago Calatrava and Shigeru Ban. My Favorite fashion designers include Issey Miyake, Badgley Mischka and Zac Posen. Can it be said that one is ever over-paid? Sure, But finding someone who is neither over-paid nor under-paid could take forever. Over-paid suggests that others wouldn’t hire that person at that price, while under-paid suggests they would. What is your favorite way of spending money on lifestyle?

aRUDE: St yle I ssue 2 0 1 0

“Greed can be political and immoral at the same time”

Your ideal dream vacation? Sailing a Wally Yacht around the Aeolian Islands.

What was J.P. Morgan’s legacy and why is this kind of person a rarity in today’s financial arena? Morgan was an unparalleled financier. He helped pay off the U.S. Civil War debt. He averted a banking panic in 1907, and he was indirectly responsible for the creation of the Federal Reserve. He helped build the railroads that helped build the economy that ended WWII, and he cemented New York’s global position in the art world. Wealth has now exploded, debt has become acceptable, art has been snapped up and infrastructure is well established. So it’s a tough act to follow. If you could wear any outfit to work, what would it be and why? Entrepreneurs are burdened by the tyranny of choice. I don’t have to wear a suit so I have to decide what to wear every day. My ideal may be standard-issue prison stripes so that I don’t have to make any unnecessary decisions. Failing this, perhaps a wardrobe of identical crisp white t-shirts and loose dark blue suits from Comme Des Garçons? What are your favorite hangouts? When I am feeling sociable I love breakfast by the pool on the roof at Soho House in New York, lunch at the Voile Rouge in St Tropez and dinner on the terrace of the Villa San Michele in Florence. I have to keep secret the places I like when I’m feeling reclusive, but one of them would be reading by the pool at Amanyara, in the Turks and Caicos. What would you rather be doing besides your present job? I would rather spend less time on work and more time on family, friends and findings solutions to human problems. Favorite Artist? I love the work of the Japanese photographer Hiroshi Sugimoto and the American sculptor James Turrell. Both deal in concepts of time and beauty that stimulate even as they calm the frazzled mind of 21st century man. What are the limitations of wealth? That we might confuse it with something important in and of itself…!