CA www.candidonline.com Issue 8
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CANDID Magazine Issue 8
CANDID Masthead @candidonline
www.candidonline.com
C Candid Magazine
Issue 8 Editors-in-Chief
Danny Keeling
Joshua White
Arts & Fashion D.Keeling@candidonline.com
Film & Music J.White@candidonline.com
Jordan Porteous Fashion Features Editor J.Porteous@candidonline.com
Maxine Kirsty Sapsford Arts Editor K.Sapsford@candidonline.com
Francesco Cerniglia Film Editor F.Cerniglia@candidonline.com
Hannah Banks-Walker Junior Fashion Features Editor H.BanksWalker@candidonline.com
Writers
Danny Keeling Head Of Design & Creative Direction
Isobel Urwin, Pierre A.M, Thomas Eldred, Sidney Malik, Elliot Robinson, Samuel White, Chris Canaway, Ellen Elizabeth Stone, Peter Schimke, Jessica Bunyard, Martin Gardner, Rosie Williams
Chris Canaway Arts Copy Editor With Thanks To Vicky Illankovan Editorial Submissions
Applications, Enquiries & Advertising
Danny Keeling D.Keeling@candidonline.com
info@candidonline.com or to the corrosponding Editor above
The Cover Photographer Ioannis Koussertari Stylist Danny Keeling Hair & Make-up Ekaterina Novinskaya Styling Assistant: Vicky Illankovan Models Ryan Darvill at AMCK & Charlie Adshead at PRM
Ryan wears Jacket by Peter Jensen & Trousers by Kit Neale and Charlie wears Jacket by Lou Dalton & Half Kilt Trousers by Alan Taylor Both wear Clarks Shoes
All rights reserved. The views expressed within Candids publication are those of the contributors and not necassarily shared by the magazine or its staff. Under no circumstances unless with written permission from an Editor, may Candid be reproduced in whole, nor part, including all logos, titles and graphics.
CANDID Magazine Issue 8
CONTENTS 006 Between Two Lines 014 An Interview With Sana Khan 018 Liu Wei at White Cube 020 Hello My Name is Paul Smith 024 David Lynch - The Factory Photographs 026 Rouge vs Noir 036 Lights Camera Action, New Mediums 040 Reading The Body Language, Saatchi 044 Dark Creek 056 New Ethics? 060 Is Tom Ford The E.L James of Fashion? 062 The Potential of Video Art 066 90’s Knot 074 Menswear Designers Effeminacy and Play 076 Appropriating Values - Cristina Garrido 080 Shadow Play 086 Editors: Choice - Ashish 090 Books-piration 092 Welcome to the Dollhouse 100 London’s Point of Difference 102 The Future of Fashion Journalism 104 Chapter 4: Save in Progress 110 A Conversation with Andrea Bowen 114 GBF Reviewed 116 Al Pacino A Retrospective 120 Review: The Spectacular Now 122 Review: Katy B 124 Flashback: Destiny’s Child
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FROM THE EDITORS Long awaited by readers and Editors alike is the Issue 8 of Candid Magazine. In this bumper issue we have amassed the largest number of editorials in Candid’s history. The editorials feature high-end designers such as Lou Dalton, Nicole Farhi, Baartmans, Siegel and many many more. Since the previous issue, the womenswear and menswear collections have changed dramatically, with designers really pushing their collections into a new direction, which is demonstrated in the sheer range of outlines, fabrics, patterns, styling and added features presented in this issue. During February and March, London’s BFI takes a look at the life of one of the greatest actors of all time – Al Pacino. Our in-depth write-up of the exhibition is bound to give you an idea of what you are in for. We also approach the film industry from another angle, with an intimate interview of Andrea Bowen alongside our review of her new film, G.B.F. This issue not only sees our Junior Fashion Editor, Jordan’s, taking his first steps in his new position as Fashion Features Editor, but also introduces our readers to Francesco, our new Film Editor. Both have added their own twist to both sections, their own styling to Candid’s unique fabric. Jordan has kept up with tradition, keeping ‘Editor’s Choice’ and has something rather vibrant this issue for you all. Our Junior Arts Editor, Maxine, is now our Arts Editor and she has packed this bumper issue by looking at books, photography and different exhibtions. Maxine has also taken on the opportunity to explore video art as the underdog of artistic mediums. Looking at the visual aesthetics, the issue has been taken down the route of even more minimal appeal and to attempt to keep things more sterile, we hope this adds to the readability and enjoyment. Keeping with the appeal of fashion illustration, you will find illustration from Danny and Scott W Mason. We have taken a look at Katy B’s eagerly awaited second album, which is becoming a firm favourite in the Candid office. As well as this, we have also taken a trip down memory lane back to the days of Destiny’s Child! We both would like to thank everyone who is returning and all that are new to Candid and wish you all the upmost enjoyment with this issue. Danny Keeling & Joshua White Editors-in-Chief
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Between Two Lines
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Charlie wears Shirt by Cacharel and shorts by Lou Dalton Ryan wears Shirt by SOPOP Shorts by Kit Neale
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CANDID Magazine Issue 8 Photography Ioannis Koussertari Styling Danny Keeling Styling Assist Vicky Illankovan Hair & Make-up Ekaterina Novinskaya Models Charlie Adshead @ PRM Ryan Darvill @ AMCK
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Charlie wears Short sleeve top by Beau Homme, belt by Pointer x Anderson
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Ryan wears T-shirt and Shorts by Kit Neale, Brogue Trainers by Clae
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CANDID Magazine Issue 8 Charlie wears Jacket by Beau Homme and Trousers by Nicole Farhi Ryan wears Top by Lou Dalton, Trousers by Alan Taylor
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CANDID Magazine Issue 8 Charlie wears Neoprene top by Common and Shorts by Lou Dalton
CANDID Magazine Issue 8 (as before plus) Charlie wears shirt by Cacharel & Ryan wears shoes by Clarks
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Ryan wears Jacket by Peter Jensen
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Dialogue With A Man (2009) Sana Khan
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An Interview With Sana Khan Words Chris Canaway Sana Khan is a Pakistan-born, London educated artist who specializes in photography, but her bold works aren’t afraid of branching out into mixed media and photoshoped elements. Unafraid to make sacrifices to get the shots that she wants, we talk to the artist herself to find out more…
by an old master painter in the city of Lahore, getting permission from a zoo to borrow rhinos for the day, painting babies black and having them hold onto upward staircase poles on their own without crying or falling. But most of all the endless hours of tying around 30 thousand bells, one at a time.
So, the basics: When did you decide you wanted to go into art?
Your shoots are never dull by the sounds of it; tell me about some of your more colorful animal studio sessions?
Growing up in a family of scientists and doctors, making the transition into arts wasn’t easy but I took it up properly when I was about 15. But I gained a better understanding of art later while doing my Bachelors and having the privilege of studying under a genius of photography, Malcolm Hutcheson. Your work is very dark; it comes across as sinister with a twist of humor. Is this your intention and do you think it reflects your personality? Since most of my work was inspired by unpleasant events in my life, expressing them with a twist of humor helped in accepting a bad situation and hence overcoming it. You go to great lengths to get the images you want, sometimes traveling great distances and patiently waiting months for the right ‘props’ as you did for the severed human head in Dialogue With A Man (2009). Which image do you feel you had to work hardest to complete? Since it’s quite a lengthy process, I mostly begin construction of three photographs at the same time. The three works I made around sculptures of Indian bells known as ‘Ghungroos’ took me around 7 months of traveling, making sets, getting three meter long backdrops painted
Oh there are plenty! Rhinos getting a boner while on shoot, trying to control a monkey that jumped around peeing on set, the cat killing the crow during a shoot and it working out rather well, as not only was it far easier to work with the crow dead, it also looked fantastic with the missing eyes. But the worst one by far was when I was working in a morgue for a brief time in order to get permission to use a dead female head for my work (The above mentioned Dialogue With A Man (2009)). While the doctor was cutting the body, a huge chunk of skin and flesh flew into my mouth and for some strange reason my first instinct was to swallow it. Can you describe your creative process? For example do you come up with a concept first or collect visuals or shoot then see what the images say when they’re finished? Every detail of your pictures look very carefully considered. I think through creation of art, I get to understand and relate to daily and past experiences of my life better. Which then allows me to better understand myself and the way in which I relate to others in the world. When I conjure an idea, I then begin with methods of research into bringing the mental composition accurately to life.
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Ascension (2008), Sana Khan
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Until The Quiet Comes (2012) Sana Khan
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Liu Wei at White Cube Words Ellen Elizabeth Stone
Lower Ground Floor Liu Wei White Cube, Masons Yard
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Tucked away behind Piccadilly, White Cube Mason’s Yard is the epitome of the modern gallery space; a literal white box. The works on display are never traditional, sometimes predictable, mostly pre-occupied with the urban landscape and contemporary minimalism: Density by Liu Wei follows this well-trodden path.
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The ground floor gallery displays works numbered 7–14 in the eponymous series Density, an exploration of discarded detritus from building sites through minimalist architectural lines. Taking scrap-metal, galvanised steel and broken fragments of wood, Wei reassembles the urban landscape in large wall pieces. As though removed directly from the dishevelled futuristic city of Ridley Scott’s Blade Runner, these are fragments of contemporary architecture hung in the gallery space. A form of metalwork collage roughly welded together, each work is ordered by a set of rules that appears at once unfamiliar and yet part of the everyday. Through the layering of found architectural materials, Wei’s work hints at the speed and spread of rapid urbanisation; an issue clearly pressing for this Beijing-based artist. The only floor piece in this first room, Density No.10, is a cube of found metalwork on top of a fractured wooden plinth; the building materials of the old world and new world merging into one piece. There is a juxtaposition of the discarded to be found in this work. By placing the newest materials atop of the old, there is something archaeological being explored by Wei, as architectural infrastructure mirrors societal changes. One layer must always be forgotten, downtrodden if you will, to make way for the next. In the lower ground floor gallery hangs another of Wei’s works, Jungle No. 20 – 24. Each work in his Jungle series is a layering of canvas stitched together and stretched. Mirroring works in Density, these pieces are rough with seams that are skewed and uneven, these imperfections reminding the viewer of the human hand that has created the artworks. However there is something more evocative and human about these canvas works than there is of the metal pieces. The texture of the
canvas, the hinting towards clothing seams, is far more tactile and approachable in many ways than the colder architectural works. Somehow this makes the pieces in the Jungle series more introspective and saddening to view. Density No.1 is by far the most dramatic artwork in Wei’s show. Housed in the lower ground floor, this work is imposing, filling the large space. Made from pages of books compressed into blocks, the shapes in Density No.1 are primitive and childlike. A pyramid, sphere and cylinder, the large sculptures that make up this installation are not complex in design – minimalist simplicity being the overriding dogma for the whole exhibition. However by creating artworks from books, Wei brings voices into each piece. Things are being said by the materials in the work, there are points of view and opinions lost in these large sculptures; they are made up of other voices and thoughts. “Density” implies a crowd, an urban jungle of overpopulation and through this installation this compression of many into one is explored in depth. Similarly “density” is synonymous with mass and thickness, the real weight of the thousands of book pages exemplified in the very title of the work. Through the simplicity of Wei’s lines, his works appear to be very ordered. By re-imagining and re-purposing the everyday he finds a way to organise the turmoil and commotion of the urban landscape. In the cold and the isolating he finds the human hand. There is something very touching about Wei’s works, they are not ground breaking in form, but are undoubtedly sincere in how they represent the isolation of the modern world. Liu Wei: Density is showing at White Cube Mason’s Yard until March 15th.
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Hello My Namie Is Paul Smith, A Retrospective Of The Paul Smith Brand Thus Far
Words Maxine Sapsford Arts Editor 20
Paul Smith Unisex Campaign SS13
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“This is not a retrospective” Smith informs the crowd of jostling photographers and journalists at the press preview to his Hello My Name is Paul Smith show, now open at the Design Museum. Apparently he has no intention of slowing down despite his 40 year career in the fashion industry. Smith still exhibits all the exuberance of a teenager as he flits about like a giddy schoolboy, pointing at things in the exhibition, posing for photos and telling stories about the Afghan hound he shared his first tiny shop with. “Don’t be scared to ask questions, I have presents for those that do” he smiles, rummaging in a bag. I asked him if he ever gets stressed, “No”, he beams, “never.” And throws me some stripy socks. You can definitely see Smith’s carefree and playful personality shine through in his clothing range. Classical English design with a twist is the general theme that runs through the brand. Smith loves
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his bold colours and in the Design Museum recreation of his office he shows me how he picks the colour combinations for his pieces by winding coloured threads around cardboard to see how they sit together. “I love putting the wrong things together”, he says of his crazy colour combinations. “And that’s why I use yarn a lot when doing my colouring. Because when you use yarn rather than a computer you get surprises. So when you put orange and red together it really hurts your eye and it really clashes. Like a Warhol… so changing the colour can change the whole look of something.” He continues to work his way through the exhibits, moving things and joking that he is going to get in trouble for messing with the displays. A 40 year career is nothing to sniff at in the fashion industry. Smith may seem carefree but he has a strong grasp of the business side of his brand and doesn’t shy away from hard
CANDID Magazine Issue 8 work, “A lot of young creatives only know about the creative side but don’t appreciate that you need all the other ingredients as well” he says of the “cocktail” of skills needed to successfully run a clothing brand. In his opinion a young designer “needs to have a point of view” to succeed today. “My point of view is that they’re very wearable clothes at the correct price and they’ve always got a sense of fun … my advice would be; start off by thinking ‘what’s my point of view’ and understand the trade. So work in a shop on a Saturday…be patient, keep your feet on the ground”. Paul Smith himself started in this way, working first for someone else then showcasing a range of clothes from his bedroom before starting up a small shop. Letting a business grow organically, in his opinion, is the only way to guarantee longevity.
dimensions of his first shop. It can be likened to going to a history museum where everything is perfectly preserved or recreated in earnest to depict the past as accurately as is humanly possible.
The show itself is set out like a walk through time; you are transported back to the major landmarks in Paul Smith’s history. There are accurate recreations of his office, the bedroom he sold his first collection in, there’s even a tiny room that has been made to the exact
Originally set to run 15 November 2013 – 09 March 2014 the exhibition has been extended till 22 June due to large public demand. For more information visit the Design Museum website - http://designmuseum.org/ exhibitions/2013/paul-smith
Besides the plethora of recreated spaces, the exhibition houses a number of important pieces, collaborations and items close to the designer’s heart. His father’s old Rolleiflex camera resides inside one glass case. A Paul Smith edition of Le Book, complete with little plastic fish, inside another. Even the Smith mini with its visually electrifying stripes has made it into the show along with, of course, a number of catwalk clothing pieces. If you ever wanted to get inside the head of this prolific designer, there is nowhere more suited to the task.
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David Lynch Untitled (England), late 1980’s/early 1990s Archival gelatin-silver print 11 x 14 inches © Collection of the artist
(opposite page)Mark Berry Portrait of David Lynch Courtesy of the artist
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Currently showing at The Photographers Gallery is an exhibition of David Lynch’s photography – The Factory Photographs. If you are unfamiliar with Lynch’s work then this is your chance to get to know his mastery of the medium. Upon entering the room you are instantly immersed, as 90 photographs of factory landscapes and factory interior shots all captured in black and white surround you. As you walk around it starts off with a
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David Lynch - The Factory Photographs Words Martin Gardner
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Rouge vs noir
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Photgraphy: Paolo Colaiocco Styling: Sylvester Yiu Styling Assist: Lewis Wilson & Makeup: Kenny Leung Hair: Micky Kastly
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Julian Miaja
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Shirt with bow details and boots both by JUST CAVALLI, skirt by VIVETTA
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Sequin top by Just Cavalli. Suit trousers by Karl Lagerfeld. Coat by Persy. Shoes by Sophie Gittins
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Top by Karl Lagerfeld, Skirt by Perry’s
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Shirt & Boots by Karl Lagerfeld. Print trousers by BLK DNM
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Red suit by Just Cavalli
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Fur coat by Faint Connexion, Skirt by DKNY
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Fur coat by Faomt Connexion, sunglasses by Watts
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Shirt, Trousers and shoes all by Just Cavalli
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Red coat by Zeynep Tosun, shoes by Karl Lagerfeld
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Lights, Camera, Action: New Mediums in Old Spaces In 2013, reportedly the first ever piece of “Vineart”, Tits on Tits on Ikea by Angela Washko, was sold for the sum of $200 at Moving Image art fair, New York. An unusual artwork in many ways, depicting the artist massaging two pink balloons placed on top of her breasts, the one thing that was not shocking about this work was its digital nature. Following the digital revolution of the 1990s, video and digital art has become mainstream, with major galleries from The Met to MoMA to Tate to the Goetz Collection, Munich, collecting and displaying this bourgeoning medium with great frequency. But, unlike any other medium
before it, digital art poses problem after problem for the traditional gallery space. Now is the time galleries have to change and accept digital video art, before it bypasses the industry altogether. The most obvious challenges to the gallery space posed by video and digital art come from the buzz and glow of technology. Turn your TV on in your room and it pulls focus and diffuses light and sound around you. Transpose this to a gallery space and therein lies the problem. The issue: how can you hang a painting next to a video installation without one inevitably impacting on the other?
Jaki Irvine, Shot in Mexico On the Impossibility of Imagining the Numbers of Dead and Disappeared 2014 Wallpaper and set of 20 archival pigment prints on Hahnemühle paper Dimensions variable
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Words Ellen Elizabeth Stone
Every year the Courtauld Gallery hosts one exhibition hung by the university’s MA Curation students. Internationally recognised as one of the world’s greatest collections of impressionist artworks, The Courtauld is a very traditional establishment. Yet Portrait of an Artist as…, unremarkable in many ways, caused a stir when the student curators dared to include Gilbert and George’s Portrait of the Artists as Young Men, 1970. This single-channel piece is one solitary television set with the images of Gilbert and George, standing quite still, on the screen. There is no noise to the artwork; there is no movement to draw the eye, only the underground hum of electricity. A hum that was
seen as “bleeding through the whole gallery”, as described by Professor of Curation, Martin Caiger-Smith. Can you muse over a Van Gough, get lost in the colour and the brush strokes with the same depth of thought, the same integrity, with the call of a television echoing around the gallery, as you do in a silent space? The Courtauld claims not. To include the video work the exhibition had to be hung around it, hidden away in a far corner from works of international importance: the damaging impact of the background noise of technology being too impactful, too harmful to allow.
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CANDID Magazine Issue 8 As opposed to hiding the screens, some choose them and eschew other mediums. Frith Street Gallery is currently showing Jaki Irvine: This Thing Echoes, an exhibition of video and photographs from Mexico City-based artist Jaki Irvine. The gallery space, dark and closed off, is given over fully to the prime focus of the show Se Compra: Sin é, 2014, a 17 minute video piece. This work dominates the space, the gallery choosing to show it on a large screen amongst blank walls. It stands alone, with its haunting soundtrack and bright colours, not competing for attention, as there is nothing to compete with. However to isolate video art is to designate it as something other than the more traditional mediums. At Art Under Attack, Oct 2nd 2013 – Jan 5th 2014, Tate Britiain followed a similarly quarantined approach. Placing Mark Wallinger’s Dia Dolorosa, 2002, in its own purposely built dark room. In a multi-media exhibition of sculpture, painting, and installation it sat on its own; the unwanted guest at the party. To watch the visitors walk straight past the entrance to its little room epitomises the neglect of video art when so purposefully cornered off.
(opposite) Installation image of Taking Shots: The Photography of William S. Burroughs at The Photographers’ Gallery London 2014 © Kate Elliott
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Some galleries will designate whole rooms to a multitude of video and digital artworks, pushing multiple screens into one room, as though bright flickering lights will not distract from other bright flickering lights. Each independent piece will then get its own headphones – typically two per screen. Which means standing in line to wait your turn for
the headphones, used by countless gallery-goers before you, by which time you may have watched the visuals twice already – not ideal viewing conditions. In a utopian world the gallery is a place to visit with hours to spare and time to contemplate every last piece. In reality galleries, sadly, are used as a stop off before dinner or for a quick amble through during your lunch hour. At 20 minutes a go, visitors breeze past even the best of video art. Elizabeth Price’s brilliant 2012 Turner Prize winning video exhibition at BALTIC, Gateshead, showed a video trilogy of apocalyptic narratives involving a fire and death. They were visually immersive and mesmerising. But not enough that the constant bobbing in and out of gallery goers black silhouettes, blocking the screen, couldn’t become irritating. If you can turn up half way through a video piece, what makes you stay to see the beginning? If you’ve been subjected to the soundtrack on repeat as you’ve viewed the rest of the show why bother to stop and watch the images fully? Last week at The Photographers Gallery Taking Shots: The Photography of William S. Burroughs, the most painful, yet on-the-nose comment on video and digitally displayed art was spoken by a young man to his girlfriend. Announcing to her, as she went for the headphones, loud enough for the whole gallery to hear, “Don’t bother, I’ll just find it on YouTube”. A statement all too indicative of the way video is viewed by galleries and audiences alike, this statement underscores
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Reading The Body Language at the Saatchi Gallery Words Maxine Sapsford, Arts Editor
Kasper Kovitz Carnalitos (Unamuno) 2010 Iberico ham, concrete 50 x 29 x 29 cm Š Kasper Kovitz, 2010 Image courtesy of the Saatchi Gallery, London
The trend toward the non-figurative within Modern Art has ebbed enough to allow for more pictorial and painterly representations of the human form to crawl out from under its weighty backside and make for the limelight. Yet modern figurative art is still far from standing on its own two feet and competing with the big boys - the non-figurative and the conceptual. Today it seems that it is still easier to make headway in the art world by smearing bodily fluids over a canvas, than it is to take up a paintbrush and pour several hours into painting a nude. (May I suggest you paint the nude using bodily fluids if you really want to
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make headway in the art world). This is why private collectors like Saatchi are so important, they keep contemporary art moving, rather than letting a trend sit and stagnate. The Body Language exhibition, while looking a little like a portfolio of investment pieces, would not be possible as a publicly funded show. Saatchi’s plethora of new purchases would be seen as too risky an investment; a frivolous expense. Here however, we have a platform provided for the figurative and the painterly; two aspects of modern art in desperate need of some attention.
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The show fills nine large rooms and while the bulk is made up of painting there is a scattering of sculpture and photography. Possibly the overall effect of the show might have been more impactful had it been limited to just painting. Some of the sculptural works, although individually quite brilliant, sit awkwardly against the walls of two-dimensional pieces. Kasper Kovitz’s ham sculptures for instance are bold and playful depictions of political figures carved directly into meat on the bone. However, they look a little lost here, occupying a corner of one of the expansive gallery rooms, set adrift against the sea of white formed by the surrounding walls. In some cases the sculptural pieces have the
opposite effect in that they overpower the paintings. This may be why Andra Ursuta’s work has been afforded its own space. Yet meeting suddenly with the large, imposing structure in the middle of gallery ten still feels very abrupt to me. Besides the large towering catapult-like structure, the room is occupied by two crumpled bodies, one of which looks as though it has sat there blackening for many months. The other could easily still be fighting for life, having supposedly been shot from the wooden catapult to hit the wall with such force that it has brought down a fair amount of plaster on top of it. Staring at the motionless, plaster-strewn body and then up at the cracked wall, you could be forgiven for the momentary urge to rush over and check for a pulse.
Andra Ursuta Vandal Lust 2011 Trebuchet; wood, plastic, cardboard, elastic, rope, metal Body; Foam, plastic, fabric, leather and wax 365 x 365 x 320 cm 22 x 152 x 127 cm Installation view, Saatchi Gallery, photo Maxine Sapsford
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Marianne Vitale, Markers (2011), & Denis Tarasov, Essence Series (2013) Installation view, Saatchi Gallery, photo Maxine Sapsford
It is not to say that I believe two-dimensional and three-dimensional work should not be displayed together, just that in this instance the ratio seems wrong and I don’t feel they have been sympathetically placed to create the most productive dialogue between 2D and 3D works. Marianne Vitale’s Markers (2011), gravestones made from reclaimed lumber, set against a backdrop of Denis Tarasov’s Essence Series (2013), a collection of photographs of Russian and Ukrainian gravestones, is a case in point. The subject matter is so similar that there is initial confusion as to whether both bodies of work are by the same artist or are possibly linked in some way.
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Amid the painted works there are some contemporary references to modern culture; Eddie Martinez gets out the obligatory spray can to create frantic and energetic mixed media pieces and Makiko Kudo’s enchanting Monetesque landscapes are occupied by charming little manga characters. There are also a few nudes and a varied enough range of painting styles to satisfy those with an appetite for the traditional as well as the technical mastery of the medium. But besides the appeal of the painted canvas and the draw of a well-placed brush stroke, few pieces strike me as truly innovative.
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Makiko Kudo Floating Island 2012, Oil on canvas, 227 x 364.6 cm © Makiko Kudo, 2012 Image courtesy of the Saatchi Gallery, London
One exception is the work of Dana Schutz, whose paintings give rise to a quiet sense of alarm and fear that grows internally the longer you look at them. Little details like the figure eating with her feet in Reformers (2004) evoke that feeling originally coined by Freud as uncanny otherness; the realities within these pieces are twisted and strange. The handling of colours and her strong yet loose painting style add to the sense of panic. Like many artists that
go down the painted figurative route, Schutz’s work seems to heavily reference Francis Bacon, yet refreshingly it is this feeling of violence and panic rather than a technical similarity that she emulates. From this vibrant collection of rising stars I would wager Schutz is the one to watch. And say what you will about Saatchi, I hope his support and exhibition of the new brings us more works like these in the future.
Dana Schutz Reformers 2004 Oil on canvas 190.5 x 231 cm © Dana Schutz, 2004 Image courtesy of the Saatchi Gallery, London
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Dark Creek Photography: Anna Fearon Styling: Sean Azeez Model: Jake Hold @ Elite Grooming: Silvia Saccinto Assistants: Landry Adelard, Annabelle MorellColl
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Trench - Matthew Miller, Trousers - Baartmans & Siegel, Shoes - Saucony
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Jacket - Alan Taylor
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CANDID Magazine Issue 8 Jacket Alan Taylor, Trousers Baartmans and Siegel, Shoes Serbago
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Jacket Berthold, Shirt Alan Taylor, Trousers So Popular
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New Ethics? Words Isobel Urwin
Katrien van Hecke
The environmental and social impact of modern life, and modern fashion, is a growing concern in today’s society. Even in an area as seemingly innocuous as fashion, there are various ethics at stake. “Ethical fashion” has become something of a buzzword, but how do we really define ethical fashion? The Ethical Fashion Forum believes that an ethical approach to fashion must encompass design, sourcing and manufacture, and improve conditions for communities and individuals while limiting damage to the environment. It can be the practices involved in making the clothing which are ethical; the use of organic materials, limiting pollution from pesticides
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while growing the materials, or limiting industrial pollution from factories – in short, caring for the environment. Then there are ideas of fairtrade, of making sure everyone involved in the production gets a fair share of the profits, of not using child labour in foreign countries. Earlier this year, the collapse of a factory in Dhaka, Bangladesh brought the conditions in some textile factories into the western media. But it left the public eye, without making a huge impact on public opinion, because, in general, people want their fashion to look good on the outside as well as feel good on the inside.
CANDID Magazine Issue 8 Talking about ethical fashion can give rise to some stereotypes of environmentalists, bringing to mind a Birkenstock clad, hemp-loving hippy with tangled hair and a terrible wooly hat. An American survey found that people were less likely to support environmentalism because they didn’t like that stereotyped version of the environmentalist; and to an extent, this has spread to the portrayal of ethical fashion. But it is becoming more and more desirable, with designers who do not sacrifice their vision while still having ethics; designers who create lines which are desirable as well as ethical. This is work which is beautiful from a purely aesthetic viewpoint, and the fact that is ethically produced merely makes it more so. Six years ago, the British Fashion Council founded Estethica. This initiative showcases designers who adhere to their principles of ‘fair trade and ethical practices, organic and recycled materials and are selected for both their ethical principles and design excellence.’ Crucially, the final point about ethical principles and design excellence is demonstrative of the move towards the rebranding of ethical fashion as something which can still be desirable and luxurious. The Estethica guidelines for designers cover various aspects of ethical fashion, and move through the stages of design, sourcing, manufacture and beyond. They begin by looking at the was in which ‘intelligent design’ can minimize the environmental costs of a product and maximize longevity; then move on to the sourcing of sustainable raw materials; the social implications of the product’s production
process; how packing and transport can be socially and environmentally responsible; how the product will need to cleaned when it reaches the consumer, and how to create something the consumer will want to keep; and finally the end of the product’s life including the environmental impact of disposal and the possibility of a second life for the product. At each stage the Estethica guidelines are focused on creating a socially and environmentally ethical product, but as the London Fashion Week showroom proves, not at the cost of desirability. A current Estethica designer, Katrien van Hecke is a womenswear designer with a focus on hand-dyed silk. Working in her native Belgium, she uses only high quality, sustainable raw materials with which she creates structures and prints. Katrien believes that sustainability is the new high fashion. Her SS14 collection exudes elegance, but in a kind of disheveled, edgy way. The flowing lines have a grace in their apparent simplicity; everything hangs in just the right, effortless kind of way. The prints used are bold enough to be a talking point and are a kind of mix between abstraction and nature, and display some of the craftsmanship involved the creation of the garments. In short, even if you weren’t concerned about ethical fashion at all, you’d still covet this collection. Each of Katrien’s garments is individual; the processes involved create ‘imperfection’ and variation, making the end product something unique and special.
Bags: Sonya Kashmiri
Sonya Kashmiri is another designer who is part of the Estethica initiative.
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CANDID Magazine Issue 8 Sonya Kashmiri produces accessories focusing on functionality and sustainability. The leather bags are created from vegetable tanned, chrome free leather and are classic yet sculptural and fresh. The current collection, seven bags ranging in size and one belt, is available in either black or antique pink, and everything has a kind of modern timelessness. On the website, you can find information about the importance of treating your leather bag with beeswax, and how to store in it order to prolong it’s life. This attitude of social and environmental responsibility benefits the consumer who gets a longer lasting bag as well as the world. London based phanntiq is produced in the UK using hand silk screening techniques to create unique items of clothing. Established by Anna Skodbo, the textiles are inspired by ‘forgotten London, urban industrial decay, and street art and textures.’ The SS14 collection sees a successful balance between the delicate materials and the urban, edgy design. The draping of the dresses shows a precision and attention to detail, which demonstrates the high level of craftsmanship in each garment. The collection is based around solid black, and printed, patterned grey and yellow. The black pieces have a sleek, powerful kind of urbanity with a tough edge. The yellow and grey pieces retain many these characteristics, but the printing technique used creates a more dynamic feel, particularly in the vivacity of the yellow.
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Labels like Katrien van Hecke, Sonya Kashmiri and phannatiq prove that fashion using ethical practices is desirable for aesthetic as well as ethical reasons. This is a move towards banishing the stereotype; there isn’t even a hint of hemp in sight. The collections are
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Above - Phannatiq
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Is TOM FORD The E. L. James Of Fashion? Words Pierre A. M. Illustration Scott W. Mason Everyone knows who Tom Ford is – unless fashion is a too distant land which has been out of your sight for the past twenty years. In that last case, all you need to acknowledge is that Tom Ford is the man whose kinky va-vavoom defined the style of a decade, as from the mid-1990s. The crumbs of his approach still have repercussions on today’s fashion as well as on western culture. His accomplishment as a fashion designer is indisputable and his influence provides him with the vital components to survive and expand his brand in the fashion commercial jungle. His savvy understanding of the industry and his singular style infuse respect and admiration. Firstly, the sexual nature of his personality is a repetitive aspect of his success: Tom Ford is sexual and his name screams sex. From the elaboration of the Gucci aesthetic to the utter revamp of Yves Saint Laurent in the early noughties and his eponymous brand, Ford has been injecting a sense of inexorable bestiality within modern post-cold war societies. Tom Ford is not a designer or an artist: he is a revolution himself. His evident beliefs and his in-depth perception grant him such title. More recently, the same role was attributed to acclaimed author Erika Leonard
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as a result of great encouragement regarding her Fifty Shade bestseller trilogy. Is Tom Ford the E. L. James of the Fashion industry? Beyond any doubts, it became an obvious fact when I re-exanimated Ford’s work over the past twenty years. At the peak of his career, when he was at the helm of both Gucci and Yves Saint Laurent, Tom Ford brought us the infamous ‘G’ logo unisex thong and shaved the same letter in Louise Pedersen’s pubic hair. At Yves Saint Laurent, we remember an ecstatic and provocative Sophie Dahl for the Opium fragrance campaign. Looking at those mythical fashion moments produce the same feeling of sinfulness that invade the atmosphere when someone reads a book from the Fifty Shade trilogy. Besides, BDSM could easily be a blissful world for the Tom Ford clientele; both men and women are attracted to the designer himself and the charismatic eroticism he seems to spread in the air, like an efficient bee would do with pollen. His image is based on that and it is impressive how his company has been fed only by means of it. Seasons after seasons, years after years, Tom Ford remain one of the world most powerful libertinism representative.
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Furthermore, the enterprise behind the mainstreaming of sex and sensuality is nothing less than a wish and a hope for gender equality. “Why shouldn’t women have sex for enjoyment?” he once asked Dennis Freedman. Sex is a weapon designers can cleverly use: Yves Saint Laurent was the first to break through its secrets, yet Tom Ford is the one who standardised it. Women were given the right to be in total control without having to justify themselves. The correlation between Tom Ford and E. L. James is even more flagrant as it is secretly noticeable that Anastasia Steele is the woman in charge. She is the type of women the designer highly adulates and wants to dress. Now, Tom Ford asserted he was planning an impressive and entire comeback, leading his company into a new era and establishing it as one of the top five. His ambition and businessman qualities will serve him marching on this conqueror path. For his eponymous collections, the designer exploited his genius and came up with a new definition of sensuality and boldness. The fuel of his inspiration are humans’ contacts and their prolonged excessiveness. In order to understand Tom
Ford’s vision, one must recognize the recurrent core themes of his message: strength, freedom and audacity – something women have always asked for. On another note, his menswear line reflects his ability to capture the zeitgeist and turn his creativity into appealing and desirable objects. We do not know how Tom Ford – the company – will evolved in the next ten years but we are certainly excited to be counted amongst the witnesses of this brilliant success story. Eventually, I believe we all have a little bit of E. L. James and Tom Ford in us, whether we candidly ignore it or not. The way their vision and work have been embraced and cheered demonstrates the need for society for such characters. These personalities are of great importance because they are primordial in order for us to understand the evolution of humans’ behaviours. While the author gives carte blanche to Mr Grey to spring into action, Mr Ford let his female customers more imaginative but incite them to cross the red line in private. Tom Ford put the S, the E and the X in sex, the same way Erika Leonard democratised perversity and sauciness.
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The Potential Of Video Art: Classification Words Jessica Bunyard and Spectatorship
Tacita Dean, Craneway Event 2009, 16mm film still Courtesy the artist, Frith Street Gallery, London and Marian Goodman Gallery New York and Paris © Tacita Dean
Video Art is on the rise within the consciousness of the art populous, aided by awards and organisations such as the Turner Prize and Artists’ Film International. Tate Britain is conducting an exploration of Video Art’s history and potential in a series entitled ‘Assembly: A Survey of Recent Artists’ Film and Video in Britain 2008-2013’. The event will screen short and feature-length films by over 80 artists and will also include weekly screenings alongside a programme of discussions with speakers and artists. This extensive survey of British single screen art brings video art, often seen as impenetrable, into the light. The medium can often seem difficult due to temporality issues. Does the artist think of their work as a film, a piece of video art or something different?
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Classification, if they want one, has a bearing on the curation. The latest exhibition at Carroll/Fletcher Gallery is a group exhibition of artists’ films showing different methods of approaching and displaying video art. The exhibition presents works that explore the cinematic, including narrative and cinematography. The works are presented in different ways but often result in the viewer being sat in front of a screen. However, this seating arrangement is often used with cinematic works, and within this exhibition it was subtly changed to place emphasis on whether this exhibition was perhaps Video Art, (white bench gallery style/no seating) or Artist Film (cinema chairs).
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Joe Clark Somewhere in West Virginia, 2009 Interactive installation; projector, screen, computer, arduino, variable resistors, console casing, bucket, video camera, water pump, wood, wiring and tubing
One notable work did not use seating at all. ‘Somewhere in West Virginia’ by Joe Clark is an interactive installation, with a video of a petrol station at the forefront. Overlying the petrol station is a real time video of rain; this is produced by water dripping into a bucket. The viewer therefore experiences the sound of rain alongside the visuals. The interactive element; a control panel, allows viewers to adjust the lighting at the petrol station. The camera shot of the station is incredibly cinematic: the still scene, low lighting and rain create a tense visual, one that could have been plucked straight out of any film. Joe Clark demonstrates that not all work which explores cinematic elements, has to use traditional cinematic displays: i.e. rows of chairs and a large dominating screen. By creating an installation,
but incorporating filmic techniques and elements, the viewer is both passive cinema audience and participant. Joe Clark is a breath of fresh air within filmic works. Too often with films or works that experiment with moving images, the traditional viewing techniques found within cinema are implemented. This is not to say that a simplistic viewing platform is not often the best one for the work. Often the works that manipulate or explore cinema successfully utilize cinema’s seating arrangements and the notion of audience sat in the dark staring at a screen. On certain occasions however, the work could be pushed to achieve or be something different: ‘Somewhere in West Virginia’ is both a cinematic exploration and an installation.
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CANDID Magazine Issue 8 One artist whose work is often best suited to a minimal seating arrangement is Turner Prize winner Elizabeth Price. Video artists have had a long pedigree in the award with Douglas Gordon becoming the first video artist to win the prize in 1996, since then video artists or works involving video have often been shortlisted. The history of video art within the Turner Prize draws new audiences to the medium. The Artists’ Film International also raises the international profile of video art, and provides viewers with the opportunity to view works that they may not otherwise get the chance to see. In its fifth year the event is a collaboration between 15 organisations in different countries including India, Israel and New Zealand; the selected films embarking on a global tour of these destinations. This year the Whitechapel
Gallery has selected Price’s 2007 film ‘At The House of Mr X’ to be part of the event. The film explores consumption, desire and material worth by taking the viewer on a tour of an anonymous art collector’s late sixties home. Due to the fact that it was only briefly inhabited, the house remains in pristine condition. Going from shot to shot, the camera focuses on the objects and colours within the house, whilst a tour guide narrates through text. ‘At The House of Mr X’ uses Price’s filmic signatures of text and astonishing sound quality. Price’s film presents a materialistic view of the house, lingering on the glossy surfaces. The viewer is invited into the interior, to see the luscious colours, to feel the cool glass, to run their fingers over priceless artworks. Courtesy of the camera, the viewer is a voyeur peering in with a morbid and materialistic curiosity.
Elizabeth Price IN THE HOUSE OF MR X (2007) Film Still Courtesy the artist and MOT International
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CANDID Magazine Issue 8 In both Joe Clark’s and Elizabeth Price’s works currently on show in London, they engage the viewer. With Joe Clark, the viewer is physically invited to join in and alter the work. In Elizabeth Price’s video the camera and narrator invites them in, to passively observe is not enough, the eye must wander through the house, creating a uniquely physical viewing experience.
equally benefit itself; crossdisciplinary conversations have the potential to open up new practical and theoretical discussions within all fields. Alongside this, the introduction of new technologies, gifs and the Internet should not be ignored. There is great potential for video art, whether on its own or combined with other mediums.
There are a multitude of investigations with film and video art: found footage, cinema, installation, film, animation, performance and abstract. There needs to be however, recognition of the viewer’s role within these works. In videos that utilize a camera and cinematography, the camera becomes the viewer’s eye, leading them into and around the video. Within video installation, the viewer’s body as well as their eye moves with the potential for a physical reaction with the piece. Video and film art are placed in a position to criticize and explore other modes of viewing, as well as pursuing their own goals. Outside the realm of spectatorship, the medium is placed to experiment with multidisciplinary works, furthering the potential and reach of other media and vice versa. Video art’s exploration with other media would
A Group Exhibition of Artists’ Film runs until 22nd February at Carroll/Fletcher. For more information go to - http://www.carrollfletcher. com/exhibitions/23/ overview/ Artists’ Film International: Elizabeth Price runs until 13th April at the Whitechapel Gallery. For more information go to http://whitechapelgallery. org/exhibitions/artists-filminternational-elizabeth-price Assembly: A survey of recent artists’ film and video in Britain 2008-2013 runs until March at Tate Britain. Screenings: £5/£4 concessions. For more information go to - http:// www.tate.org.uk/whats-on/ tate-britain/eventseries/ assembly-survey-recentartists-film-and-videobritain-2008-2013
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photography & Styling Aylen Torres Hair & Make-Up Kim Theylaert for Gerlain Paris and Bumble & Bumble Model Yana @ Ulla Models Thanks to MAD Brussels Styled with Vintage 90’s garments by American Vintage, Mellow Yellow, Christian Wijnants & Vintage Pucci.
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Menswear Designers, Effeminacy and ‘Play’
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Bobby Abley SS14
Kit Neale AW14
Words & Illustrations: Danny Keeling, Editor-in-Chief
CANDID Magazine Issue 8 even adorned with crowns – and for AW14 he sent his boyish rabble onto the catwalk clutching teddy bears. Can this merely be attributed to the designer’s love for the ‘cartoon’ and the ‘kitsch’, or is this growing trend of infantilising wardrobe just one of the many ripples created by the modelling industry’s obsession with youth? Our male and female models on the runway are getting younger and younger by the season, many of them still being at school when their careers kick off.
Personally I adore the direction in which this branch of the menswear industry is going in. For once we are seeing an element of risk at London Collections: Men, which is a breath of fresh air – and of course I adore the Mickey Mouse ears and models in crowns. Should we really be taking this so seriously? Let’s take this with a pinch of salt and enjoy these garments and accessories for what they are – a bit of fun. Let us praise the fact that we aren’t sitting here looking at more suits and attempting to get excited simply over different fabric and stitch.
Let us not forget Kit Neale in all this. Neale never disappoints with his prints, creating clothing which contrasts and possibly questions the age range of his customer base. His AW14 collection was more colourful than many designers’ spring/summer collections, yet it remains wearable for the reason that it is aesthetically innocent but it does not scream of contrived formalities of the likes of E.Tautz or YMC. Designers such at Neale are taking calculated risks, but in doing so are able to fulfil the wearer’s needs, both physically and mentally, reflecting their own joy and gratification back onto the viewer or customer.
J.W. Anderson AW14
There is an increasing trend being seen throughout the fashion world of designers – aiming to bring their collections out of the formal sphere and into a more high-end yet commercially viable one – employing youthful and playful concepts and imagery, not only in their fabrics and outlines, but also on the runway. Take Bobby Abley for example, who takes inspiration from Disney, using cartoon emblems throughout his current and past collections. One season he sent an army of ‘Prince Charmings’ down the runway – some
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Appropriating values – Cristina Garrido – “The Capitalist Function Words of the Ragpicker” Peter Schimke
EVERY ARTWORK STARTS WITH A PURCHASE/ LIVING LABOR, STERNBERG PRESS, 2014 Pintura acrílica y papel 96,5 x 36 cm
Picasso’s Guernica is an enormous work of art and is highly valued both in a financial and symbolic sense. Located in a small street just behind the famous Museo Reina Sofía in Madrid, the home of Guernica, is the gallery Louis 21. The show room of the gallery is, perhaps, lacking in space to accommodate Picasso’s masterpiece, but invites the visitor to look closely at its details. Their current
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exhibition, The Capitalist Function of the Ragpicker by Cristina Garrido, concerns itself with these financial and symbolic values. Garrido’s work appears to be a collection of everyday objects, such as bags, letters and a poster. However, her work lies within the details. She is interested in the value of these objects, both in a commercial and utilitarian sense.
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Garrido is concerned with the production and attribution of values. However, her work is not necessarily a capitalist criticism, but rather an investigation of it. In the past she has worked with the idea of ready-made. Using already existing postcards, such as from the Centre Pompidou in Paris, she paints out the significant art objects and therewith eliminates the apparent value. It is her way of questioning and appropriating the attributed value. The title of the show stems from a letter written by the German sociologist Theodor Adorno to Walter Benjamin and suggests the more theoretical tone of the exhibition. Adorno was convinced that perhaps the biggest value for an object is not to own it or to talk about it, but rather to use it. “I am not going to steal anything valuable or appropriate ingenious formulations. But the rags, the refuse: these I will not inventory them but give them value through the only possible way: by using them.” Cristina Garrido is a native to Madrid, where she also had her first exhibition in 2010. Since
then she had taken part in numerous group exhibitions and has contributed to various publications. Most notably perhaps is the collaboration with Jeremy Cooper in his books Postcard Narratives and Artists’ Postcards that also included works by Gilbert and George and Tracey Emin. In her current exhibition she works with readymades as well, but rather in the sense that perhaps Adorno had suggested – by using them. In fact, most of her ready-mades only appear to be such. They are precisely crafted replicas of unused ordinary objects. A press release becomes a painting, an unused recommendation letter is recreated on a gallery wall and a poster of Duchamp’s Fountain becomes a poster without it. Nothing is left, but the titles at the bottom of the poster. She paints over the urinal, matching the colours of the background. By removing the valuable object and therefore the apparent value as such, she confronts the spectator to reassess value and the personal judgement of it.
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POP ART IS POSTER (MARCEL DUCHAMP FOUNTAIN, 1917-64), 2013 Póster adquirido en la galería Gagosian intervenido con pintura, acrílica 99 x 68 cm
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