Vulture Magazine / Nov 2012
Issue 02: Excess
BEYOND THE GOLDEN MEAN W. Robert Montgomery Zandra Rhodes David LaChapelle Meadham Kirchhoff Yue Minjun Paul Kooiker Marc Quinn Cecilia Lavarini Andrej Pejic Patricia Field
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Editor-in-Chief Nabil Aliffi Managing Editor Clifford Loh Managing Associate Vanessa Fong Art Director Russell Seah Designer Andraditya Dhanu Respati Contributing Editor Melanie Chua Fashion Assistant Kelly Yeunh Press / Editorial Assistant Muhammad Sadikin Business & Marketing Assistant Zhang Qianwen VULTURE Digital Lionel Bobo Deng Linda Hao Contributors Xi Sinsong, Deana Saechang, Michelle Ng, Skye Tan, Tay Shiying, David K Shields, Jill Tan, Shawn Chua, Jael Chew, Justin Winz, Rachel Elffin, Sia Lingxin, Sean Tay, Aaron Kok, Aran Atsuo, Lim Jae Hann, Fadli Rahman, Thor Elias, Randolph Tan FRONT COVER by Skye Tan featuring Louis Vuitton x Yayoi Kusama BACK COVER by Hermes Fall/Winter 2012
Editorial Enquiries For advertising and sales, please email us at contact@vulture-magazine.com VULTURE Magazine Pte Ltd 113 Somerset Road Singapore 238165 Published & Distributed by Allscript Establishment (Singapore) Pte Ltd With Special Thanks to Ryan Wong from Vue Photography Studios & Ave Management
Š 2012 All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means without permission from the publishers. The views expressed in VULTURE Magazine are those of the respective contributors, and are not necessarily shared by the magazine or staff. VULTURE welcomes unsolicited contributors, but cannot accept responsibility for any possible loss of damage of the submitted material.
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EDITOR’S NOTE Picture this: billboard signs rest mighty atop colossal concrete towers, looming over with blinding neon pixels, flashing animatedly in disarraying sequence. Honking of taxis sears through the murmuring of commuters spilling out of the tube station. Plastic carriers pregnant with loot fresh from the high streets rustle like white noise. And as you heave in, an inhalant of perfumes, exhaust smoke and steamy asphalt fills your lungs and overcomes you. Just in that instant you are sedated momentarily. It is a world of overstimulation. In this issue, we explore the effects of living in this great excess. To understand the realities of reaching beyond the ‘Golden Mean’, a governing concept the Ancient Greeks once swore by to ensure harmony and balance as not to rival the excesses of the gods. Perhaps in this secularist time, the idea seems archaic. But it still poses a valid question to re-examine our human limitations and to restore a sense of restraint for us to exist more meaningfully. To eventually let the drowning cacophony of stimulus die out and indulge in its simpler composites. And really, just so we can all breathe more easily.
Nabil Aliffi
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9 Yue Minjun, Untitled, 2005. Image courtesy of Saatchi Gallery, London.
CONTENTS
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Editor’s Note
Thee Voyeurism Of Paul Kookier
Popular Colours
A Capsule Collection
FEATURE
FEATURE
ART
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25
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Independent Spirit
The Future In Two Dimensions
Subjective Reality
Field Days
EDITORIAL
INTERVIEW
FEATURE
FEATURE
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God Save The Queen
Menswear Trend Report S/S 2013
Rising In The East
Down The Bosphorus, A Louis Vuitton Voyage
INTERVIEW
FEATURE
FEATURE
ART
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Stamps From The Collective Subconscious
Yue Minjun: In The Guise Of The Absurd
Painted Faces by Danny Roberts
The Modern Dandy
FEATURE
ART
FEATURE
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SHOPPING
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Earth Laughs In Flowers
The Joy Of Chaos
The Mad Catter
An Ode To Stuff
FEATURE
EDITORIAL
COLUMN
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The Sweet Life: Cecilia Matteucci Lavarini
Gertrude
All That Glitters
The Human Scientist
EDITORIAL
ART
FEATURE
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Hermann Nitsch's Six Day Sacrifice
Transcience
Lucy In The Sky With Diamonds
Evanescent
FEATURE
SHOPPING
EDITORIAL
ART
EDITORIAL
EDITORIAL
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A Landscape Painting
Brombear
Chaotic Beauty
Truth In Excess
INTERVIEW
EDITORIAL
FEATURE
COLUMN
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PAUL KOOIKER’S WORK CAN BE SEEN AS A CONTINUATION OF AN OLD TRADITION FOCUSSING ON THE RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN THE ARTIST AND THE MODEL, THE OBSERVER AND THE OBSERVED.
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THE VOYEURISM OF KOOIKER’S OBSESSIVE COLLECTION OF IMAGES CONFUSE, HUMILIATE AND UNNERVE.
PAUL KOOIKER Text – Lingxin S.
Fashion and pornography have brought us a world of underclad flesh, but we are still bashful at stripping our bodies bare. Does the taboo of being in one’s birthday suit stem from an old-time modesty? Or is it fear of how the body will be seen by others? Paul Kooiker, an artist based in Amsterdam, forces us to ponder if what shocks is the perfection demanded of it rather than the body itself. His series of photographs explores this, and was published last year in an innocuous photo book. This is not Kooiker’s first foray into print—in fact, it follows formats of earlier photo books such as Room Service and Showground, which are all fetishistic. Titled “Sunday”, the series depicts a generously-sized lady lounging on a cushioned surface. Her face, turned away from the camera, is a mystery. Her legs are splayed awkwardly; their curves and folds are accentuated by the stark tonal contrast between the flowery prints in the backdrop and her pale skin. One notices not her nudity, but flesh that bulges, sags and folds into itself.
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“Sunday forces us to confront our own fascination with what we deem acceptable, and what we are morbidly fascinated with because of its unusual, excessive nature.”
In the 1860s, Manet scandalised France with a painting of a nude woman confronting her audience with a stare (Olympia, 1863). A hundred years later, American Diane Arbus made a name for herself by immortalizing deviants such as giants and transgenders in her blackand-white square prints. In the late 1970s, Kohei Yoshiyuki elicited controversy with Kóen—images of couples and their sexual romps snapped secretly in the shadows of Tokyo parks. With Kooiker, we return to the basic human form. Yet, how we cringe at being presented with a less than svelte figure. Kooiker delves into nudity without the shock factor of any anomalies. The lady in his photographs could be anyone walking down the street—yet we are transfixed, confounded by her ability to preen and pose that ample body. Sunday forces us to confront our own fascination with what we deem acceptable, and what we are morbidly fascinated with because of its unusual, excessive nature. There is no telltale hunch of the shoulders or tense muscles of the self-conscious in Sunday—despite her being someone who
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would easily be labeled “fat”. The flesh in large quantities; the confidence she exudes even when her face is hidden. Her contour is a strong, bright tone against a feminine backdrop that simply cannot compete for attention. High heels swing lazily, almost clumsily, from her feet. The sense of her putting on a show heightens the viewer’s uneasiness. We are past the age where grotesque means bodies contorted by sex or deformed from birth. They are now a rarity. However society’s preoccupation with size, despite its tired ubiquity, is one that is not going to wane anytime soon. Kooiker, through his unnerving prints that evoke the insecurities within each of us, hits the spot with his interpretation of voyeurism.
For more of his works, check out: www. paulkooiker.com
popular colours Text – Deana S.
NARS x ANDY WARHOL The face of pop-culture, filmmaker, publisher, and artist, Andy Warhol, remains one of the most influential figures in contemporary art and culture today. Just as how he believed that “everyone will be world famous for fifteen minutes”, Warhol’s impact as an artist goes beyond inspiring creative thinkers to revolutionising visual arts.
see in the pan or the tube is how the colour should appear on your face, so I’m always pushing our chemists to add more pigment. That’s why I love the saturated colours Andy used in his work - reds, blues, yellows. He was so unafraid to be bold.” Just as how Warhol’s omnivorous curiosity resulted in an enormous body of work that spanned every available medium, his artistic point of view is a huge influence on Nars’ work as a makeup artist, then a photographer, and as someone who’s built a brand around an art form.
The vibrant and bold colours, featured in his iconic Campbell Soup Can and sparked the Pop Art movement in the 1960s, are huge influences for NARS’ latest collection – the NARS Andy Warhol Holiday Collection.
NARS X Andy Warhol Holiday Collection is confident and graphic. It embodies a boldness that every woman should embrace.
Like Warhol, Francois Nars loves colour – “Colour is so important! I like colours that are honest – I think that the shade you
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A Capsule Collection Text – Kelly Y. Photography – Clifford Loh Styling – Randolph Tan Hair – Andy Razali using Marc Anthony True Professional Makeup – Ros Chan using Sephora Model – Alexandra S, Jimmy Q, Yan K, Timofey K, Jana Z | AVE
Two is better than one: the collaboration between the conceptual artisans at Maison Martin Margiela and fast fashion giant H&M is one that will produce a reedition of the greatest and most memorable from Margiela’s extensive design archives that is 23 years in the making. The most representative garments are drawn from said archives and reproduced in new shapes and fabrications under H&M, offering something of a reintroduction of the fashion house to the masses. The collection will consist of womenswear, menswear and accessories, providing a succinct synopsis of Margiela’s famed design signature: a focus on shape, volume, deconstruction, artisan tailoring, ambiguity, and transformation.
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Decidedly gender neutral, the garments themselves are incredibly accurate reproductions of the original; all garments and accessories in the collection will be individually tagged with the season of the original garments that inspired them. This collaboration will not only, hopefully, bring Maison Martin Margiela’s unique heritage to the masses, but also to remind loyal fans that the house is far-reaching and stronger than ever. The collection will be available worldwide on the 15th November 2012.
THE SHOP Let’s be honest: some shopping experiences are not only more fun, but more memorable than others. The term “concept store” does not only evoke an immediate feeling of elevation, but can also come across as unnecessarily elitist even if their very intention is the promotion of brands and design goods that are not.
Text – Kelly Y.
INDEPENDENT SPIRIT
The 3939shop based in Shoreditch, London, is a fine example of a concept store. It is a combination of lifestyle and retail concept with a presence both online and physically, with the distinct taste of Tokyo-living in London. It was founded by three creative friends who act as a single entity: Tatsuo, who works at Dazed & Confused in merchandising and product, Pete, the Art Director who is also at Dazed, and Pip, the Buying Director. The shop features unique ideas, collaborations and exclusive products lovingly developed in collaboration with equally creative and enthusiastic friends and family styled in a specifically genderless way. While the physical space is mainly for retail, it doubles as a showroom and gallery to promote upcoming artists – making for a true fashion/art/culture experience. With an ethos that emphasies the discovery, creation and promotion of The Unknown with a distinct point of view, 3939shop shines through the haze of mediocre corporate-driven retail experiences.
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AVAILABLE AT THOROCRAFT.COM 23
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The Future in Two Dimensions Text – M. Sadikin
It is characteristic of Rei Kawakubo to be radical, original and strongly opinionated. Widely regarded as a designer’s designer, she leads the trends more than she follows them. While her designs may be shocking, it never comes as a complete surprise. This season is no exception. Comme des Garçons Fall/Winter 2012 collection gave the audience much to think about, something that is beyond the mercurial and capricious trends of the season. For one, the oddly silent Fall/Winter runway show could be viewed as a production process in a factory, a toy factory perhaps. Taking cue from the hyperbolic silhouettes and the quasi two-dimensional patterns, we are led to see the models as paper dolls rolling off a conveyor belt in an assembly line. The feel is cartoonish and almost caricature-like complete with jovial prints and candy-coloured wigs. Up close, the extreme outlines featured dense, pressed and felted fabrics uninhibited, constructed sans any fastenings.
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Guided by the notion that the “future is in 2D”, Rei Kawakubo presented an alternative take on futurism. There have been many nuances of augmented reality and multiple dimensions shown by her esteemed counterparts, particularly this season. But the thought that what lies ahead could be a simplistic version of the present is truly novel; the thought that the future may not necessarily be bleak or dystopian is equally fresh. Rei Kawakubo made this assertion by sending her largerthan-life pieces in shades of deep reds, baby pinks, lilacs and electric blue with a child-like spontaneity and eccentricity. Ironically, by reducing reality to 2 dimensions, Rei Kawakubo has created more depth to our pre-existing relations to clothes. This collection is sturdy and bold, articulating her onward stance on what contemporary garments should look like.
SUBJECTIVE
REALITY Photography – Lim Jae Hann Styling – Kelly Yeunh
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Feather Neckpiece: FLYNOW | Necklace: Mandy Wu | Sunglasses: Grafik Plastic Slit Brogues: Greyhound | Patent Leather Shoes: Christophe Lemaire
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Necklace: Madness | Knit Jumper: V AVE SHOE REPAIR | Bangle: Amen | Ring: Madness Lattice Sunglasses Karen Walker | Backpack: Seventy-eight Percent | Patent Leather Shoes: Christophe Lemaire
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Feather Neckpiece: FLYNOW | Patent Leather Shoes: Christophe Lemaire Bracelets: Marilyn Tan | Glove Scarf: Lilia Yip
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Necklace: Mandy Wu | Dress: Greyhound Slit Brogues: Greyhound | Lattice Ring: Marilyn Tan
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field days PATRICIA FIELD IS SELDOM SHY; SHE IS ALL ABOUT WEARING YOUR HEART ON YOUR SLEEVE AND MAKING A STATEMENT WHILE YOU ARE AT IT. Text – Rachel E. Photography – Skye T.
Who do you think is poised to take that throne that once belonged to Galliano? The blondes? (Laughs) Galliano’s extravagance and theatrics are irreplaceable. Ideally to me, McQueen, Thierry Mugler and John Galliano are of the same stature. They were all able be to bring “theatre” into fashion.
A native New Yorker and a living legend, Field has received innumerable accolades from the Academy Awards for The Devil Wears Prada in addition to the several Costume Designers Guild Awards for Sex and the City. Her articulate and vivacious take on the aspirational New Yorker in the hit television series has undoubtedly exulted Sex and the City into the ‘modern classic’ that it is today. Much of this bravado in her oeuvre is due to her fondness for extravagance and unadulterated decadence. We had a quick chat with Field to find just when is much too much.
When do you think will we finally see ourselves as living in excess? At the end of the day, we are a post reflection of excess the remnants we leave behind. Eventually, the reduction of excess comes with practicality.
They say ‘more is more’; do you think that still applies today? Definitely, ‘more’ is by definition more. I don’t think that it will ever be ‘less’.
Overstimulation - yes or no? Over stimulation is a great thing for the brain!
The last designer who truly celebrated the idea of excess is arguably John Galliano. Do you think his exit marks an end to this “Golden Age” of extravagance? Not really. The scandal will die down but his remarkable work, collection presentations and art will be truly remembered in fashion’s history. Galliano will always be amongst the greatest.
Three words to describe what, in your opinion, is excess? Too much. I think that pretty much sums it up.
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GOD SAVE THE QUEEN THE WIDE-EYED WONDER OF ANDREJ PEJIC HAS IMPECCABLY STUNNING COMPOSURE AND A RATHER DECEITFUL BEAUTY BUT, AS RACHEL ELFFIN DISCOVERS, HE IS MORE THAN JUST A SEMBLANCE OF ANDROGYNY. Text – Rachel E. Photography – Skye T.
Andrej Pejic’s steady composure backstage at the inaugural Digital Fashion Week in Singapore belies his larger than life stature. Quiet and sometimes furtive, Andrej doesn’t quite seem to grasp just how special he is. Perhaps, he doesn’t let it get to him. Moving on from debunking gender stereotypes in the Jean Paul Gaultier’s Fall/Winter 2011 show – stealing the thunder from many of his female counterparts - he now finds himself headlining a fashion week in a patriarchal city-state where gender issues are still a taboo subject to many.
be differences because a woman in a man’s body is different [and] vice versa. I envision the trend in the future be a minimal, unisex approach in fashion and beauty likewise.
The Serbian-Australian beauty greeted me with a generous toothy smile as I inched in to have a little chat, just to get a little peek beneath this sensation that is Andrej Pejic.
Who inspires you? I think when it comes to style and charisma; people like Amanda Lear, David Bowie, Boy George, Guns and Roses inspire me the most.
How would you describe Excess in 3 words? Elitist, Damaging, and Unnecessary.
Aside from these early fashion adopters, personally, what do you think defines style? To me it’s a way of being creative and expressive but it’s also about fun, fashion shouldn’t be taken too seriously. People shouldn’t put too much value on it. You are supposed to have fun! It’s good if you know about style and you know how to dress, it’s not supposed to be a pain to do it; dressing up is enjoyable.
In an interview, you once said that you’re all about “creating a new gender”. Tell us more. I would call it Humanity; I am not exactly out to create a new gender, per se, but more often creating a path for them to be on the grey side, providing opportunities for the curiosities.
Tell us about the worst shoe experience to date. I was told I needed to shoot a television commercial and I had to be on my feet for 23 hours in heels with only 2 breaks and I tripped and fell so many times. It was pretty tiresome and unbearable.
You have achieved quite a bit in a short amount of time. So, what’s next? A lot I guess. Well, I would love to go back to university someday and maybe have kids one day, and also a house somewhere to settle down.
People refer to you as the “prettiest boy in the world”. How do you think androgyny would change our notions of beauty and gender equality? I think that it would be more like an expressional equality, because currently the male and female are entitled to doing the same things, serve the same jobs and live the same lives, not like the 1960s anymore where discrimination between the sexes was quite an issue. And so in this new age, it will probably embrace freedom even elaborately. I am sure there will
And finally, share with us the ultimate survival tip. Control your ego.
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A Travelling Man Acne | Hermès | Damir Doma | Louis Vuitton
Menswear Trend Report SPRING / SUMMER 2013 Text – Kelly Y.
A Travelling Man
Go Big or Go Home
Any man worth knowing is one who travels and absorbs the novel, the subtle cultural cues, and the whispers of the exotic without playing the tourist. All of this would be reflected in his sartorial choices, according to a number of designers with ultimate jetsetters clientele.
Oversized silhouettes have been prevalent throughout the men’s collections. They serve as a testament to the fact that skinny tailoring of the early 2000s, heralded by Hedi Slimane at Dior Homme, may be the select silhouette of the past. Even though they are oftentimes included as an easier alternative to the more tailored offerings in menswear, solid anoraks and full trenchcoats, stood strong on their own within the collections.
The houses of Bottega Veneta, Louis Vuitton, and Hermés all had the very best of travel-friendly luxury sportswear to offer. The common denominator of their Spring/Summer sportswear lines are classic and durable, made to be Man’s best friend for as long as he travels. Of course, no look went incomplete as well-crafted leather luggage served as the perfect punctuation to looks that were indubitably low-key but high-impact.
They came in all sorts of shapes, colours and textures that draped effortlessly on the body. A soon-to-be classic oversized peacoat at Burberry, languid shapes at Damir Doma, and the clean, sporty luxury offerings at Balenciaga were shown with quiet pride, daring to be worn and paraded on the streets.
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Go Big or Go Home Burberry | Dries Van Norten | Lanvin | Balenciaga
Print Play Acne | Etro | Kenzo | Issey Miyake
Colour Shot Dries Van Norten | Ferragamo | Junya Watanabe | Burberry
“There was a definite feel of bravery in the face of the mundane, as evident in the coloured silhouettes offered at Junya Watanabe and Burberry.�
Print Play Just as there was the sparse and the strict, patterns and prints came out to play for Spring/Summer 2013. Check plaids, cheeky repeated motifs, and abstracted prints all made an appearance with much joyous aplomb – often in striking head to toe looks that did not fail to impress even the bravest of print wearers. Even the most intense of the prints that were on offer are controlled by the strictest of lines, even on the most relaxed sportswear pieces. This allowed for smart layering without the risk of the prints overpowering the look. Guillaume Henry at Carven was particularly good at mastering this, as evident in his pastel plaid sweater and shorts look.
Colour Shot There are those designers who work with a limited palette with purpose, and then become pigeonholed for using the same colour story (usually black and white and grey/some shade of nude). One such designer is Ann Demeulemeester. And so she made a declaration that colour did belong in her world, and followed through with her word spectacularly. Whole looks in rich eggplant and iridescent tangerine most definitely re-established her aesthetic, all the while keeping with her classic slouchy silhouettes in what appears to be rich Thai silks. There was a definite feel of bravery in the face of the mundane, as evident in the coloured silhouettes offered at Junya Watanabe and Burberry. Colour was most certainly present and accounted for in all its exciting, tone-setting glory.
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Vega Zaishi Wang A/W 2012
RISING IN THE EAST BEST NEW ASIAN DESIGNERS Text – Deana S.
VEGA ZAISHI WANG
collections. Using slightly exaggerated silhouettes, Wang creates pieces that are rather urban, possibly a by-product of her journey from a small town to global cities like London and Beijing. Her First Love, Last Rites collection features plenty of red, symbolising her passionate response to that journey, and her many states of mind – anger, love, strength, and promise. In her words, it is a collection that is “strong and powerful”.
Since graduating from Central Saint Martins in 2008, fashion designer Vega Zaishi Wang has emerged as one of China’s most promising designers of her generation. After returning to China, she meticulously started to establish a name by creating her first ready-to-wear collection in Xiamen, then moving on to Beijing where she continued to build her namesake label.
Despite her growing recognition, the designer still finds the most satisfaction in dressing her friends, such as the drummer of PK14, which is dubbed by TIME magazine as one of Asia’s top bands, and Zhang Shouwang of Chinese indie rock band Carsick Cars. Currently based in Beijing, Wang is focused on growing her team and opening her first brick and mortar store.
Focusing on womenswear, Wang stands firm in her belief that “design shouldn’t be too forced; it’s intrinsic, and should stem from emotion.” Drawn towards natural fabrics and precise craftsmanship, Wang is also heavily influenced by her immediate surroundings - the tiny sights and sounds that make a place memorable. Her belief that “design is a language” conveys attitudes and perceptions of the world. This unfolds unequivocally in her
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Vega Zaishi Wang A/W 2012
JIN KAY Born and raised in South Korea, fashion designer Jin Kay developed a creative sensibility that is both poetic and conceptual. His dominant use of black very much casts a blanket of gravity over his collections, which are often somber and stealthy. Jin Kay designs for a woman of many facets. She is analytical and reserved, yet creative and strong. When isolated into separates, Jin’s designs are timeless, classical pieces meant to complement most women’s wardrobes. His latest pre-fall collection, Silence of Shadows, was inspired by a 1930’s debate on the definition of beauty between the East and the West. Drawing from Junichiro Tanizaki’s book In Praise of Shadows, Jin experimented with fabrics of varying weights and opacities to portray the interplay between light and shadow — a representation of dichotomies, like the yin and the yang of the East. Jin Kay’s success is due to a bastion of industry experience, having worked at prominent labels like Derek Lam, TOD’S, Oscar de la Renta, and Christian Cota. His recent triumphs include being handpicked by the LVMH conglomerate to participate in its NYC Design Workshop, and a collaboration with PPR Group and Parsons. With an already strong foothold in the industry even before his official debut at Fashion Week, he is poised to become a name to remember in the seasons to come.
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Jin Kay Pre-Fall 2012
Down The Bosphorus A LOUIS VUITTON VOYAGE Text – Rachel E.
‘Journeys Wandering In Contemporary Turkey’ continues the series of exhibitions, initiated at the Espace Culturel Louis Vuitton, which explores the contemporary art scene of a foreign country. After Indonesia last year, the Espace now turns the spotlight to Turkey, which is fast becoming the country du jour on the contemporary art circuit. In October, eleven artists from different generations used various techniques to capture the idea of travel, which reflects the identity of Louis Vuitton. Some explore their country, not only in geographical terms but also its history and the multi-culturalism. On the other hand, others embark on an intimate introspective journey. The strength, beauty, and grandiose of the Turkish landscape unfold in Murat Morova’s polyptych. It includes a photographic mise-en-scène by Halil Altindere, an installation by Murat Akagündüz, which brings together video and resin painting, a reportage featuring the inhabitants of Istanbul by Silva Bingaz, and a patchwork of intimate urban photographs by Ali Taptik. Ceren Oykut, meanwhile,
takes inspiration from everyday life to express, through her drawings, the fevered, chaotic activity of the city. Childhood and the past also provide another rich vein of inspiration: Ihsan Oturmak paints uniformed schoolchildren from class photographs, while Tayfun Serttas appropriates an astonishing series of archive images in which young girls adopt the same hackneyed pose before the photographer’s lens. The artist Canan goes back over the history of her country with a video portrait of a woman, offering a contemporary vision of Turkish society somewhere between classic ottoman calligraphy and illumination, collage and animated film. Gözde Ilkin’s embroideries, composed of objects the artist found on her travels, and Hale Tenger’s globes hanging beneath a starry vault, invite the visitor to wander beyond the borders of this fascinating country.
The exhibition runs until 6th January 2013 at Espace Culturel Louis Vuitton, Paris.
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“Some wander through their country, not only in geographical terms but also in the scope of its history and multicultural essence of its people.�
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Stamps from
The Collective Subconscious PUBLIC SPACES ARE THE BATTLEGROUND FOR INFLUENCE, AND RIPE STAGES FOR POSTURING. FOR OVER A DECADE, ROBERT MONTGOMERY HAS CO-OPTED MARKED SPACES, RE-DOING THEM BILLBOARD STYLE OR WITH NEON INSTALLATIONS. Text – Melanie C.
From Paris to Istanbul, emotionally charged phrases like “civilisations come and go like autumn rain” and “all of our splendid monuments lipstick traces” were stamped along urban streets in cities. Following the situationist tradition, Montgomery’s panel billboard installations replace the ironic with a new sincerity. They are inserted into the flux and flow of urban living. Read from afar, each speaks directly to our subconscious selves. Like advertising, his art appears anonymously and seeks to affect. Unlike advertising, he seeks to engage and transform a selling space into a reflective one. Each line is poetically perfect for turning over in your brain, and offers just the right squeeze of the heart. Montgomery leaves off trying to go subliminal or ironic - once typical buzzwords of postmodern art.
Instead, prose flows in black-and-white capitals, as if thought stamps from the collective subconscious. Much of his work comments on late-capitalism and its inevitable failure. Montgomery is not afraid to decry the failure in our own stakes. In this way, it stands apart from other critiques that focus on a rabid system tearing at its own seams. Montgomery’s statements implicate us, but it also feels intimate and personal. Perhaps this explains why his work has offered up one of the most tattooed artist quotes. The People You Love Become Ghosts Inside of You and Like This You Keep Them Alive was his first major work using solar power and LED. Created after the death of his close friend, it stands as a poignant remembrance for keeping memories alive.
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The Scottish artist studied at the Edinburgh College of Art, where he obtained a first-class honours degree in painting and an Master Of Fine Arts. From 1995 to 1997 he was artist-in-residence at the Museum of Fine Arts Houston, Texas as part of The Core Program. He also is associate publisher at design magazine Dazed & Confused. Currently, his first solo exhibition in Germany includes ten billboard poems around Berlin, of which five are at the Tempelhof Airport (including two neon Light Poems). Montgomery’s work has been exhibited internationally, and will be shown at the Kochi - Muziris Biennial in India in December 2012.
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Yue Minjun, Backyard Garden, 2005. Image courtesy of Saatchi Gallery, London.
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Yue Minjun:
In the Guise of the Absurd Text – Jael C.
Probably the owner of the most arresting face in Chinese contemporary art today, Yue Minjun has made abstract exaggerations of his visage, simultaneously becoming an icon of emotional catharsis, ironic self-mockery, and sociopolitical commentary. Yue’s works epitomise hyperrealism whilst juxtaposing expressions of pained hilarity with the most mundane of activities or objects. Whether it is rendered in vibrant acid tones or monochromatic hues, the central image remains: that taut face stretched in a bone-cracking grin; eyes scrunched up, never seeing. The Daqing-born artist has continually explored the Chinese identity against a backdrop of turbulent political, economic, and social reform. This perspective was conceived during the intellectual and emotional awakening in the aftermath of the 1989 Tiananmen crackdown. Yue’s work is a collection of heartfelt explorations of the dichotomous tensions and vacuums created in the wake of China’s rapid development; they serve as outlets for his attempts to make sense of the modern age. Drenched in the sheen of commercialised vacuity, they ironically employ the traditional Chinese obliquity as a cushion for the satirical blow and as a self-referential parody. Amidst the lurid hyperbole, what shines through is Yue’s emphatic sympathy for the helpless rage of his countrymen.
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Images by Michel Zoeter
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by Danny Roberts
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“The 26-year-old Californian has ... had his talents praised by industry tastemakers, who have all found his brand of work to be refreshing in an age of digital imagery and Photoshop.” Text – Aaron K.
If anyone could capture the surreal and romantic nature of fashion, that person could well be Danny Roberts. With a humble selection of paints, markers and pens, Roberts has been drawing the faces of fashion through an unmistakably signature combination of tenuous lines and vibrant colours. The 26-year-old Californian has since had his talents praised by industry tastemakers, who have all found his brand of work to be refreshing in an age of digital imagery and Photoshop. After collaborating with The Sunday Times and Gwen Stefani, Roberts has a new project with IMG Models. In their Spring/ Summer 2013 show package, Roberts took his love for illustrating models and blew it out onto the 138 girls that IMG compiled into a giant colouring book. The result was a psychedelic visual feast of colours, textures and doodles, all of which was documented onto a 2-minute long stop-motion video. We feature 8 of our favorite pieces of work including some notable names like Ajak Deng, Xiao Wen Ju and Getrud Hegelund.
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the modern dandy FASHION IS HOW WE HOLD OUSELVES TOGETHER Text and Illustration – Kelly Y.
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03. Alexander McQueen double-breasted shearling coat
The exemplary modern dandy, Tom Ford, is simultaneously the ultimate consumer and purveyor of decadent luxury goods. Naturally, this taste for extravagance contributed to the famed designer’s honed eye for style.
04. Kolor silk and cashmere-blend scarf 05. Lanvin slim-fit velvet blazer
Unafraid of flamboyance, colour, and texture, Ford goes the extra mile to ensure that everything he makes not only fits like a perfectly made lambskin glove, but also has that special added touch – his fingerprint of personalised luxury. He is, after all, one of the revolutionary forces that brought bespoke back to the forefront of fashion’s conscious that once drowned in mediocre democratised luxury.
06. Gucci silk tie, silver 07. Charvet woven-silk tie, purple with turquoise pindots 08. Junya Watanabe wool melange socks, red 09. Canali classic cotton twill shirt
01. Burberry Prorsum rabbit collar shearling-lined wool coat 02. Turnbull & Asser brushed cashmere scarf, black
All available at www.mrporter.com
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David LaChapelle
earth laughs in flowers HYPERREALIST DAVID LACHAPELLE GOES ON TO RELEASE A BOOK COMPRISING 10 LARGE-FORMAT PHOTOGRAPHS THAT MADE ITS DEBUT AT THE KESTNERGESELLSCHAFT MUSEUM IN HANOVER. Text – Aran A.
David LaChapelle rose to fame as a commercial photographer and is known for his extravagant portraits of singers and celebrities. He broke away from commercial work in 2006, turning instead to fine art photography. Earth Laughs At Flowers, inspired by a Ralph Waldo Emerson poem, is his latest series and was exhibited in St. Moritz, London, Vienna and New York simultaneously.
bear subtle signs of rotting, while the flowers are fake, painted or wilting, signalling the concealed dangers and implicit diseases of the consumerist obsessions of modern society. The props elucidate each individual picture and add a plethora of symbolic evocations - all of which reference the objectification and commoditisation of the human anatomy. Vulvic and phallic symbols are scattered throughout the pictures, giving the works a powerfully embedded pornographic quality, which recall the exploitation of sexuality and over-stimulation common in mainstream media. Bringing together gaudiness and high art, LaChapelle elicits in the viewer a feeling between pleasure and disgust, nausea and panic, in a well-executed commentary on the artifice and deceptiveness of our consumerist dreams, which suspend us in a perpetual party even as the world around us is gradually engulfed in the wastage of our excess.
The ten still-life photographs from Earth Laughs At Flowers depict large flower bouquets and fruits placed amidst a tangled mess of products and waste. Taking his signature hyperrealistic style and fusing it with a baroque aesthetic, LaChapelle confronts the viewer with scenes of a destabilised, declining world, a wasteland saturated in decomposing commodities. At first glance the vivid bouquets, carefully arranged and curated, call to mind a dream of purity and beauty, while the ripe fruits promise gratification. But upon closer inspection these archetypal symbols reveal their commonality with the wastage strewn around them: the fruits
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Meadham Kirchhoff
The Joy of Chaos FASHION CAN BE BORING. LIFELESS. Text – Kelly Y.
Every once in a while, revolutionaries emerge from the mediocrity of the fray and bring with them a whole new aesthetic movement.
same. This variation that would otherwise be ordinarily conceived as chaotic incoherence within a collection, is in fact, their greatest strength.
The dynamic duo behind Meadham Kirchhoff, Englishman Edward Meadham and French-born Benjamin Kirchhoff are two such revolutionaries. The pair met in school at Central Saint Martins in 2002, and upon graduation, went on to launch a menswear label, Benjamin Kirchhoff. The launch of their womenswear under the name Meadham Kirchhoff was in February 2006, as part of London Fashion Week’s FASHION EAST.
Like a gang of misfits doused in Manic Panic, the collection was just as much about context as it was about the clothes. It was, in essence, the most joyous Crayolacoloured sportswear rendered in sumptuous cable knits, quilting, draped lace, and surprising delicate prints. The scene that set the tone for the clothes was akin to a teenager’s messy flat after a fantastic party, during which, at some point, guests had gotten their mischievous hands on hair dye and paint and glitter. All in all, it is what Meadham Kirchhoff does best: celebrating the blinding wonder of the carelessness and carefree nature of youth.
Meadham Kirchhoff’s latest offering for the gents is a gleeful celebration of colour, youth and extreme singular individuality. Not one model, or look, or pose is the
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The Mad Catter
Photography – Fadli Rahman Styling – Kelly Yeunh Hair – Andrea Claire Makeup – Beno Lim using M.A.C Cosmetics Model – Jemma H, Timofey K, Kira | Ave 66
Left Sunglasses, Jacket: Marc Jacobs | Shirt: Burberry Prorsum Trousers, Shoes: Prada | Socks: Stylist’s Own Top Sunglasses: Alexander McQueen, Marc Jacobs,Yves Saint Laurent Jacket: Burberry Prorsum | Embroidered trousers: Marni
Timofey Shirt, Waistcoat, Shorts, Shoes: Prada Socks: Stylist’s own Kira Shirt, both Waistcoats, Trousers, Shoes: Prada
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Timofey Coat & Trousers: Burberry Prorsum | Shoes: Prada Kira Bowtie: Stylist’s own | Shirt: Prada Jacket: Marc Jacobs | Trousers: Miu Miu Jemma Collar, Coat, Shoes: Marni
an ode to stuff A COLUMN Text – Jill T. I have long been a collector of objects, commonplace and curious, from old photographs and tchotchkes to a crumpled note with instructions on how to make a slime sandwich (don’t ask) written on it from my elementary school days. Some may cry “pack rat”, but I blithely choose to see myself as a curator of sorts. In fact I like that these objects have a significance that only I will understand. The fact that there is something that can physically represent my life experiences is particularly comforting, looking back on the markedly different stages of my life. This ludicrous totemism extends to my wardrobe, which contains several relics from childhood too good not to share. At the bottom of my costume drawer is a Pink Power Ranger suit, which I bizarrely wore to church every Sunday. This was from the phase that I’m sure every kid must go through - thinking that they were a Power Ranger come to life; I introduced myself as Kimberly for a year. I look upon those days with a surprising lack of embarrassment because it is emblematic of my utter conviction that I could be whoever I wanted to be – an indestructible crime fighter with impossibly sparkly hair barrettes in this case. I like to believe that part of me will always be the same dreamer in that pink spandex suit. Next to it, more spandex: a leotard covered in electric blue, yellow and red sequins - a relic from dance recitals heydays. This phase of my life was interesting to say the least, and more than a little incongruent with the rest of my subsequently ungraceful, klutzy existence. The scratchy synthetic fabric may not be recalled fondly, but the memory of being able to do a backbend while perched on top of a fellow dancer surely is. Occasionally, when I glance at that sparkly costume, I will reluctantly admit that I feel something resembling pride.
All this is perhaps just an exercise in self-justification as to why I never throw a damned thing away. Just to give you some idea of this mania: when I taught at a high school five days a week for five months, I wore a different outfit every day. And after packing for college, while most of my friends were scrambling to find clothes to wear in the remaining days, my wardrobe looked like it hadn’t been touched. When people hear this, they go, “what kind of closet do you have?” An overflowing one. Admittedly, I may have a miniscule shopping problem. I like those Opening Ceremony sample sales a little too much, and go a little nuts shopping at the vintage stores in Brick Lane even though I know they are organised into staples of clichéd hipster-wear. The bigger issue at hand, though, is that until recently, I have never been able to keep eighty percent of my wardrobe in rotation. I have a white, sweeping tiered Y-3 skirt that I have never worn apart from playing dress up; I have prom dresses and back-up prom dresses (sue me) that have never seen the light of day after a single wear. There are voluminous asymmetrical crinolines worn only during Halloween, Technicolour quilted Fifties house coats from Buffalo Exchange and riotously patterned Marimekko linen peacoats too out there for even the liberal arts college where I go to school. And then there is the shoe museum. At the corner of my room stands an innocuous bookshelf with pairs of barely worn, five-inch works of art are lined up and gathering dust. Gold Marni sandals with geometric sculptural heels, patent YSL Tributes, two-tone pink velvet mary-janes, shamrock green scalloped pumps all sighing disdainfully as their owner traipses around muddy college grounds in G.H. Bass tasseled loafers and now-signature electric blue metallic Doc Martens. You
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might decry the waste of fine heels, fancy frocks and fabulous coats right about now. Yet, I have never once considered the vastness of my closet anything but a treasure. The thing is, opening my closet fills me with joy and possibility - I may never wear that sparkly floral see-through top with an open back that I got for a dollar, but I may very well want to one day. The point is that when I do, it’ll be right there squished in the corner of my shelf, as will these thousands of different combinations that I can conjure up with the clothes in my closet. Sentimental spandex aside, I’ve been getting better with clearing out the things that don’t fit or straight-up mistakes from my youth. I recently sold off some of my stuff on my tumblr, and held a trunk sale. The cleanse felt good, if unnatural at first. Still, I will probably never throw away the two-dollar dungarees I got at a junk sale in Melbourne, or my superhero t-shirt collection. That said, I am hopefully getting better at buying stuff that I actually wear on a daily basis. The Topman lobsterprint shirt I purchased this summer has been worn thrice (albeit once by someone else), and I wear my previously-deemed too-fancy-for-school Charles Anastase trench over my pyjamas on late-night food runs to compensate for the lack of glamour. And as for shoes, my new Nicholas Kirkwoods have been getting plenty of wear because I decided to go for flat sandals instead of heels. So I don’t wear my sixway foldable origami skirted gown every day, and can’t wear my mint green pleated leather skirt in the rain or snow (which is sixty percent of the time). But what’s wrong with a little bit of excess, really? I’ll wrestle with this when I next have to pack and move. In the meantime, Black Friday sales are coming up.
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the sweet life CECILIA MATTEUCCI LAVARINI IS THE IDEAL EMBODIMENT OF ITALIAN MAXIMALISM WORTHY OF BEING EXULTED AS THE NEXT GO-TO FASHION ICON. Text – Kelly Y. Illustration – Skye T.
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Heiress and philanthropist, Cecilia Matteucci Lavarini, may be the lesser-known name amongst fashion concelebrants but she is one Milanese who wields some serious fashion prowess. Affectionately known as a ‘couture collector’, she recently lent 13 couture pieces from her archives to the Diane Vreeland after Diane Vreeland Exhibition at Palazzo Fortuny in Venice in March earlier this year. And most recently she made a killing at the Kerry Taylor auction in Bermondsey, walking away with many high-value statement pieces. As far as Italian high society goes, she stands tall among the upper echelons together with Stefano Tonchi of W Magazine and Art Critic, Maruccia Cassadio. In the spirit of celebrating her ultra luxe personal style, we curated some staples that will elevate your wardrobe to looking much more like the many fashion museums that house Lavarini’s prized collections.
04. Diego Percossi Papi pearl hoop earings 05. Christian Louboutin Pigalle spikes patent pumps 06. Linda Farrow x Prabal Gurung large frame sunglasses 07. Le Sibille floral ring 08. Delfina Delettrez Emploi Du Temple cuff 09. Delfina Delettrez Vanitas necklace
01. Mesi Jilly Capri ring 02. Alessandro Dari Firenze Alchemica ring
All available at www.luisaviaroma.com
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GERTRUDE Photography – Clifford Loh
Styling – Kelly Yeunh Hair – Celia Tham using Sebastian Professional Makeup – Raudha Raily using M.A.C. Cosmetics Model – Jemma H | Ave
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(Top) Headband, Earrings, Dress, Cape: Dolce & Gabbana (Left) Headband, Earrings, Necklace, Dress, Shoes: Dolce & Gabbana  |  Bracelets: Bulgari
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Earrings, Blouse, Skirt: Dolce & Gabanna  |  Necklace: Bulgari
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Headband, Earrings, Necklace, Blouse, Skirt, Cape: Dolce & Gabbana | Ring: Bulgari
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Headband, Earrings, Necklace, Dress: Dolce & Gabbana
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Earrings, Necklace, Dress: Dolce & Gabbana
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all that glitters ARTISTS ARE ALLOWED A BIT OF EXCESS, AND PLUGGING IT HAS BEEN DE RIGUEUR SINCE THE NOUGHTIES. MARC QUINN POLARISES WITH EXTREME DEPICTIONS OF - AND WITH -THE BODY. Text – Melanie C.
At the recent 2012 London Paralympics, a 13-metre tall reproduction of Marc Quinn’s sculpture ‘Alison Lapper Pregnant’ was a centrepiece in the opening ceremony. Literally, the sculpture depicts disabled artist Alison Lapper when she was eight-and-a-half months pregnant. It was meant as “an icon of the creative and inclusive city that London is”. It sat nicely with the idea that the Paralympics is an event that seeks to transform and challenge perceptions, not only of our physical capabilities, but also our notions of self. When the original was unveiled in Trafalgar Square in 2005, the 12-ton, 3.6-metre tall marble sculpture swept both public interests and global attention; the BBC’s calm headline “Square’s naked sculpture
revealed” managed to both announce and avoid the obvious. It also belied one of the biggest controversy to hit divide both society and the art world. Some questioned how a ‘normal’ British woman could take a spot beside national icons and deeds. Lapper isn’t quite Nelson, while feminists questioned why the sole woman allowed (aside from warlike Boadicea near Westminster Pier) has to be a saddled femininity. The Disability Rights Commission called it “powerful and arresting”. Critics were divided. Laypeople were variably disgusted, unimpressed, and baffled. More interestingly is the question of if it is good art, if it was at all. In fact, the rough form of the white marble could be called ugly.
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While its elevation on the esteemed fourth plinth of Trafalgar Square is an invitation for the slingshots, it also represents Quinn’s culmination as an artist who has pushed ‘excess’ to its limits, while receiving brickbats for the niggling problem of finesse. Some called the sculpture, and the sculptor, too deliberate—deliberately controversial, didactic, and noncommittal, wavering between intellectualism and anti-intellectualism. Quinn says he was motivated by the lack of “positive representation of disability in the history of public art”. Indeed, his work puts the triple threat of femininity, disability, and motherhood firmly on the map. It also makes full use of one of them as the
springboard for shock value, no points for guessing which. Lapper’s autobiography released in the same year provides the heart-warming subtext. Other disabled people were featured as part of a series ‘Complete Marbles’.
but the idea of her presents a modern icon for excess, the sort that sprawls on sidewalks lit in a champagne/coke glow. Is her excess really excessive if we are celebrating it? It looks suspiciously like gritty Instagram glamour.
It parallels another series, though of supremely enabled people. Michael Jackson, Pamela Anderson, transsexuals Buck and Allanah, and adult “breast entertainer” Chelsea Charms are some of the figureheads in his exhibition that looks at those who have gone off the deep end with plastic surgery and hormone therapies to transform their bodies to reflect their inner selves. The names keep to his detached style—for example, “The Ecstatic Autogenesis of Pamela”.
Taking price as representing crude demand, it reflects the value assigned to the art, and the values thrown up by these artists. Furore erupts in accordance to the values trespassed within us, and again when its value rip us off. Yet, art has always reflected the values of its time. Cue Quinn and his ilk. Damien Hirst spent US$20 million using 8,601 real diamonds on his diamond skull (2008). It eventually sold for over five times that amount. As Hirst said, “It works much better than I imagined. I was slightly worried that we’d end up with an Ali G ring.”
Among this series, Kate Moss is the skinniest, shiniest, and sexiest of them all. Sphinx shows her sitting yoga style, legs hooked back presenting eager face and vagina. Last year, it sold for US$1 million at Sotheby’s to an anonymous Asian buyer. Hollow and as light as Moss herself, the sculptures are not the spitting image of Moss. In fact, she never posed for Quinn,
Quinn’s excess lies in pushing the audience’s sense of taste. Self (above), a visceral sculpture using five litres of his frozen blood pushed portraiture to the extremes. It established Quinn's name coming from Charles Saatchi’s collection of works by the “Young British Artists” in the 1990s.
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(Another stir came after Saatchi’s wife, Nigella Lawson, accidentally switched off the fridge, causing the head to melt.) You Take My Breath Away is a self-sculpture using liquid latex forms resembling flayed skin. It also begins a career of turning things inside out, and sticking persistently to the real—excrement, blood, rabbit carcasses, the most gold used in sculptures since Egyptian times. Quinn’s choice of subject always matters, guaranteeing plenty of feathers ruffled. His methodology keeps it real, and very inappropriate. He points out, “It is not only Kate Moss who is a real person and an image—everyone has both qualities as well... The world is so weird that you don’t have to make things up, you just find things.” The warped balance of excess aside, it asks us then, if our distaste is with the reproduction or the actuality.
IN HER SECOND COLLABORATION WITH AESOP, 'BODY ARCHITECT' LUCY MCRAE BLENDS GENDERS AND DISTILLS BODY PARTS, ALL IN A DAY'S WORK IN THE KITCHEN
the human scientist Text – Michelle N.
Aesop, the 25-year-old Australian skincare brand, constantly seeks out new and upcoming architects and brands for collaborations. Most, if not all, have been out of this world. The recent collaboration with French label A.P.C, which created the cheeky Post-Poo Drops, proves that more is never too much for this cult brand. The essential oil does exactly what it says on the tin. Lucy McRae, an Amsterdam-based body architect (a term she coined in an attempt to get hired for a job, and she was), was called up to jointly produce a mystifying three-and-a-half minute film in which a scientist meticulously administered a series of complex beauty treatments to his sleeping muse. Made to coincide with their website’s relaunch on 5 September, the film Morphé went viral and McRae is now working on a new short film to be released this December.
In line with McRae’s captivating trademark body aesthetic, this film centres on a woman who clones humans by fusing gender and blending egos, much like how a chef constitutes food. Inspired by the latent world of science and emerging technologies, McRae ingeniously uses unusual human-sized kitchen appliances like body steamers and facial cookie-cutter for cutting duplicates to form the foundation for the experiments in the film. “I’m interested in automation and technology and how these can merge with the body,” says McRae. Morphé works around the premise that “food and the body are inseparable”, a conclusion drawn after McRae’s dialogue with Nahji Chu, owner of Australian cult restaurant Miss Chu. This begs the question: what is the woman in the film trying to achieve by cloning humans?
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Perhaps she is striving for the perfect human using alternative methods such as steaming, cookie cutting, distilling and blending. I would like to think McRae is sending a more sublime message to us as observers, challenging us to rethink our cookie-cutter standard idea of beauty in today’s culture. We’ve come a long way from slow dial-up connections to having cutting edge technology manipulating anything we desire but really, is it necessary? Happy digesting till December.
Hermann Nitsch’s
Six Day Sacrifice AS THE RINGLEADER OF ONGOING CULT GROUP, ORGY MYSTERY THEATRE, HERMANN NITSCH IS A MASTER AT BATTERING THE SENSES THROUGH HIS GRAND SPECTACLES OF BLOOD, CRUCIFIXION AND ANIMAL SACRIFICE. Text – Sean T.
Hermann Nitsch’s bearded disposition might lead some to mistake him for a religious cleric; they would be forgiven for thinking so. He is the leading figurehead of the ‘Orgies Mysteries Theatre’, with whom he works to stage many of his pieces. His large scale action pieces draw parallels with archaic rituals and the Bacchanalia, an intense spiritual experience for some but a confounding bloodbath to others. Nitsch received formal training at the Wiener Graphische Lehr-und Versuchanstalt as a painter. He gained prominence in the 1960s for his work, and is often associated with Viennese Actionism, together with Günter Brus, Otto Mühl and Rudolf Schwarzkogler. Despite their similiarities, Nitsch deemed that they were never a group, claiming that they were merely ‘artists reacting to particular situations that they all encountered, within a particular time period, and with similar means and results.’ Whereas Brus and Mühl’s pieces mostly comprise sudden, violent actions performed continuously in a ritualistic manner, Nitsch’s actions often materialise as grandiose theatre complete with a live orchestra playing scores specially written to accompany the actions. This treatment
stimulates all the senses, creating an atmosphere that displaces the viewer out of the present context of the space, and into the narrative he is creating with the piece. Despite the large amounts of blood-letting and violence, the actions largely end up as being meditative. The pinnacle of this reverence is manifested in his repertoire ‘Aktion 100’, commonly known as the six-day play, performed in 1998 at his castle home in Prinzendorf. It is a series of constant performance, a re-enactment of the six days of creation, when God created the world. Fashioning the stylistics of Ancient Greek Theatre, Nitsch employed a hundredmusician orchestra to support a 90-man choir, singing and wailing at times, to an overt 300-page score. It is this grand scale that gives his oeuvre the weight it needs to resonate with a largely desensitised contemporary audience. At the heart of it, Nitsch’s work could either be read as anti-materialistic or a response to its festering effects on the soul. Decadence and hedonism are huge trigger words. Often blood and rust are splattered violently across huge, snow white areas, creating an electrifying tension in the space as in ‘Aktion 80’ (1984). Voluptuousness, destruction, amalgamation and 84
rebirth are four words that describe that non-material tension. The red staining the white suggests the fall from innocence, and the awakening of knowledge and the material sense (‘Splatter Painting’, 1986 and 1983). It has arguably become a cathartic process to perform these rituals. The blood has now transitioned from desecrating and blasphemous, to holy and precious, a gift from God that is to be shared with all. The religious imagery he uses, the repeated actions, the entire physical experience are akin to a baptism. When put into context, the sheer gravity of Nitsch work could very well be a hopeful attempt at inducing a spiritual awakening to a generation of cold secularism. Some might even go as far as claiming the rituals purge us all. Striking up this conversation of the holy using the profane, Nitsch questions the truth in organised religions, expressing his deep reverence for the faith and the exorcism of his inner spirit. Nitsch ought to be canonised for succeeding in eliciting ‘shock’ from his audience, in a time where little is unseen, inadvertently inducing us to retreat towards a return to innocence.
“Religion is a dominant motif in Nitsch’s work, with images of the crucifix, the trinity, and the dogma of the church being heavily referenced.”
Hermann Nitsch,130, Action 23.5.2010 Pentecost 2010 Naples, Museo Herman Nitsch, 12 hours, Courtesy Hermann Nitsch, Photo: Daniel Fevevl
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TRANS CIENCE
Photography – Thor Elias Hair, Makeup & Body Art – Becca Gilmartin Models – Alexandria De Goey Omundsen | Vivien’s Daniel Gard | Division Model Management.
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LUCY IN THE SKY WITH DIAMONDS
Photography – David K. Shields Stylist – Cassandra Scott-Finn Hair & Makeup – Dean P. | Green Apple Italia Model – Marthe Wiggers | IMG Sydney With thanks to Elliot Ward-Fear
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Jacket: Prada | Trousers and shoe: Miu Miu (on left) Shirt & pants: Prada | Top: Anna Langdon
Jacket: Miu Miu | Skirt: Burberry | Shoe: Prada
Shirt: Romance Was Born | Jacket: Louis Vuitton
Dress: Anna Langdon
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Fur vest: Louis Vuitton | Trousers: Romance Was Born
Evan eScent Photographer – Xi Sinsong Hair – Arturo Swayze using Bumble and Bumble Model – Anouk Sanders | One Management
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a landscape painting A GLEEFUL CELEBRATION OF COLOUR,YOUTH AND EXTREME SINGULAR INDIVIDUALITY. Text – Jill T.
Shoplifter, or Shoppy as she introduces herself, held her exhibition at the Clocktower Gallery in SoHo. Atop an innocuous public office building, she described the space as the “brain” of the building, and her piece built around the gallery’s existing metal structure as its new “hairdo”. Nervescape is Shoplifter’s take on a landscape painting, an artificial hair installation that is comically Seussian on first glance at its exterior. When venturing inside what she calls “the belly of the beast”, a much more familiar sense of the primordial sets in. The contrast is offset by the ethereal and haunting sounds created by Kria Brekken that are both of, and out of, this world. This is the riotous, dichotomous world of Shoplifter. How has living in Iceland and now New York shaped your practice? When
it was time to move abroad and I imagined myself studying in Europe, I always envisioned myself in black and white. But when I envisioned myself in New York, I saw myself in colour, and I kind of made my decision based on that. It felt like I would be more free [in New York] to remove myself from the context of older artwork or classic art, so it’s more poporiented. Also my artwork is a lot about humanity and existence and pop-culture and vanity. So it was the best place in the world – New York, America – for vanity. How did you come to create this “habitat” within an artificial, urban setting? I’m creating an artificial world with artificial fibres – hair extensions, basically, the cheapest kind that are very clownlike – so it’s a little bit cartoonish and so far from being realistic. At the same time
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it’s very magical because it has this sort of child-like and mystical elements about it. I asked Icelandic musician Kria Brekkan to come and work with me on creating a soundscape for the piece because I wanted it to be an environment. I didn’t want it to be a static sculpture, I wanted it to have some kind of movement, and sound creates movement. Could you talk about your interest in hair as a medium? Hair can be very creepy and at the same time very sensual, it´s both human and animal base. Once it’s off the body it’s both romantic and horrific. I like these kinds of opposites that exist in this medium. When I started using it, it wasn’t so common and people didn’t recognise it immediately but when they came closer, they immediately jumped back because they are all horrified by the
hair in the shower. Even I, who work with hair, don’t understand what makes us think of it as creepy. Maybe because it grows, and it’s both alive and dead. It also has to do with humour. I like making something beautiful using something horrific. I’ve always been knitting and crocheting and hair is basically a thread. It’s like the primal thread, the original thread that grows on our body. It’s our vegetation; it kind of parallels the body with a planet that has growth on it in various places. It’s also used to function as a memory of a loved one. It’s one of the few things that last after you die. There’s something beautiful about cutting a lock of hair and putting it in a shrine or a locket. I’m a hopeless romantic. You talked about using humour. Often people’s go-to emotion with art is to channel the melodramatic - could you speak to this humour being expressed instead? It took me a while to allow a lot of my characteristics to enter into the work, like colourfulness and humour. We
tend to edit it out in order to be considered serious or for people to take the work seriously. But I don’t want to take myself ceremoniously but I take myself seriously. Being silly is very serious to me (Laughs) I fight for my right to be silly in a serious way. My work also has a caricature, cartoony, child-like humour coming through; it’s very Dr. Seuss, whose work I’m totally influenced by visually and conceptually. Speaking of your kids, how does being an artist carry over to your everyday life? Creativity is a complete life philosophy and close to being a religion by now. I think it is the primal force of being. That a lot of people are not nurturing it is very upsetting to me. In my daily life it absolutely melds into everyday life. I have a studio in the same building I live in with my family so it’s going back and forth and it’s very much tangled together. You mentioned using hair in costumes and you were also involved in the Nordic Fashion Biennale. That’s another part of me, I always end up flirting a little
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bit with fashion. It’s just fun and inspiring for me to let the artwork put on another mask and another format and exist outside the gallery space. Hair comes from the body and it feels very natural to put it back on the body. It also brings back into my studio new perspectives and inspires the artwork in different ways. I was invited to be the curator of the Nordic Fashion Biennale and I had never taken on such a large curatorial job, especially in a field that was not entirely my own. But what I was able to bring, what they were looking for was exactly that – not a fashion person but still someone who has a sensibility for fashion. I didn’t know I had been preparing all of my life for this show because so many elements of my interests came into play – the theatrical, fashion, costumes, art, sculpture, installation, and also collaboration; bringing together people and identities. These are elements that I work with already on a more abstract level in the artworld.
b r o m b e a r
Photography – Justin Winz Hair – Hauke Krause | Artlist Models – Paulina & Ewa | Studio KLRP Anastasia S | City-models Yana | MajorParis
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Photography – Justin Winz Hair – Hauke Krause | Artlist Models – Paulina + Ewa | StudioKLRP Anastasia S. | City-models Yana | MajorParis
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Photograph by: Robyn Beeche, Pinkane Portrait 1985 Gene Nocon (Right)
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CHAOTIC BEAUTY Text – Shiying T.
BRITISH FASHION LEGEND ZANDRA RHODES RETURNS FOR A RETROSPECTIVE AT PARIS FASHION WEEK WITH COLOURS IN HER HAIR.
In her heyday, British fashion designer, Zandra Rhodes, was famous for sending a riot of colour down the runway. Even now, her collections are a visual splendour that assault and overwhelm the senses with oversized prints, exuberant hues, anarchic forms, and extensive cultural references. It was high time then, in 1997, that Rhodes was made a Commander of the British Empire by the Queen. She subsequently founded the Fashion and Textile Museum in 2003. Zandra Rhodes became a heated topic again after her retrospective show at Paris Fashion Week last February, returning from a 40-year hiatus from showing in that city.
upon graduation. When she did, she was displeased by how her textiles were used. Her first boutique, the Fulham Road Clothes Shop, opened with fashion designer Sylvia Ayton, came to an end for the same reason. Rhodes was an egalitarian when it came to the treatment of print and cut – to her, the printed dress fabric should direct the design of the garment and not to be cut at will by designers; the print and the garment should work together as a singular organic entity. Her simple but innovative technique of cutting along fabric prints instead of cutting across and through was used in the Chevron Collection and many other individual pieces across her collections. It exemplifies how the print shapes her designs. Her iconic Chevron shawl waistcoat from 1970 is laced with a fluid and tribal exoticism precisely due to the way the irregularly-shaped edges moves along with the body. The v-shaped body of the piece formed by the edge of the print is a deliberate yet seemingly effortless choice to enhance the proportions of the female body. Rhodes’s attempt to retain the sanctity of the print allows her to use the cut of the garment as a medium for the body to interact seamlessly with the print.
Her successes and influence in the fashion industry not withstanding, Rhodes did not begin by wanting to be part of it. Born to a mother who was a fitter in a Paris fashion house and who later became a lecturer at Medway College of Art where Rhodes attended, Rhodes resisted studying anything related to fashion futilly. She studied textile design for furnishing for a year before she finally took up fashion textile design. As a textile designer who produced prints that were unapologetically garish and “consciously badly drawn”, Rhodes had little luck selling her textile designs to manufacturers and designers
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Rhodes’s expertise was not pattern cutting or dressmaking because she never studied. But this never hindered her. “I am tired of good taste. I want to do everything wrong and get a result that is of value and valid as well.” Beneath the outlandish and maximalist veneer, there is an honesty about her designs that gives it its timelessness. Her hand-drawn and hand-printed prints do not pretend to be polished or perfect and neither do her treatment of fabric presumptuous.
There is a freshness about Rhodes’s works. Like a skilled painter who paints like he is encountering and experimenting with his medium for the very first time, Rhodes’s designs seem to be a constant investigation and exploration of the materiality of fabric. This is why she is able to constantly invent and reinvent tropes and appropriate cultural references, re-presenting them in inventive ways. Recurrent colour combinations are reworked by altering the print and familiar prints are likewise reanimated by unexpected colours. A change in fabric from chiffon to felt to wool creates a cacophony of textures and a new dimension to her clothes. Rhodes’s most popular chiffon dress, style number 73/44, has been produced every season since 1973, novel and original every time it reappears.
Unsullied by the rules of fashion design, there is little that Rhodes could not do with fabric. Inspired by slashed Elizabethan silk, she first featured hand-slashed printed silk for her designs in 1971, the most remarkable being the Sparkle print where the slashes and zigzags of the repeated pattern are matched by cut-outs of the same shape. In the same year, she played with the idea of using the interior construction of clothes and sewing detail as part of the decorative design. Her signature dinosaur coat is characterised by its dramatic zigzagged external seams. Rhodes has set off a trend that quickly trickled down other designers’ collections and has become a staple for the deconstructed look.
Unfortunately, the emphasis on tailoring, power dressing, and shift to minimalism in the eighties saw a decline in demand for Rhodes’s designs and she only worked with her private clienta. It was not until the recent neo-punk redux that the world’s interest in Zandra Rhodes resurfaced. Above all, far and beyond her rebellious use of colours and prints, and brow raising cuts, it boils down to very few things that truly set Rhodes apart. For one, she uses herself instead of a mannequin in her design process. If what most designers do is to dictate over the human body – to constantly mask the ‘imperfections’ and force it into the ideal form – Rhodes looks the other way and celebrates its quirks and eccentricities. This is arguably her biggest contribution to the world of fashion, and one that certainly justifies her spot at the Victoria & Albert.
This deconstructive experimentation was a prescient move as it predated the deconstructionist school of design by two decades and reached its pinnacle in her 1977 Conceptual Chic collection that earned her the title of “Priestess of Punk”. She shifted away from feminine flows and printed textiles to stay relevant to the trends of mid-seventies. It was clearly influenced by and also stretched the potential of the British punk style. This collection married both of her innovative techniques, and featured slashed jersey fabric and external seams of uneven hems, finally embellished with jewels, chains and safety pins. She infused the punk style with elegance as she employed gold thread and adorned the pieces with exquisite embroidery.
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Truth in Excess A COLUMN Text – Shawn C.
The vibratory world of classical Greek tragedies is born from the discordance between the phantom harp-sound of Apollo and the demonic folk-song of Dionysus. These divine forces, both phantom and demonic, palpitate the human realm while exceeding it. In The Birth of Tragedy, Nietzsche distinguishes the “separate art worlds of dreams and intoxication” where the former is ruled by Apollo, the god of form, and the latter is led by Dionysus, the god of excess. Apollo is presented to us as the apotheosis of principum individuation is, the principle of individuation and self-identity, which coagulates and fortifies the self against the liquefying threat of a primal unity. This armour of identity is forged through the delimitating of the boundaries of the individual and welded by measure. Apollo demands that his disciples “know thyself” to recognise the limits within which they must measure themselves, lest they fall into corrosive excess. Yet this order is mere illusion. Apollo creates the hallucinatory world of visions to veil the primordial chaos that Dionysus represents. In the
state of Dionysian frenzy, one’s faculties are excited to excess and the boundaries of the individual are obliterated, revealing the terrors and ecstasies of existence. Thus it is excess, not form, which revealed itself as truth. In Nietzsche’s analytical framework, form is the necessary illusion that insulates us against the schizophrenic forces of primal chaos. The assumed unity of the “individual” must therefore be a constructed idealisation rather than a natural fact. The Argentinian writer Jorge Luis Borges contemplates the inherent heterogeneity of the self in an autobiographical piece “Borges and I”. He begins in a curiously self-subversive way: “The other one, the one called Borges, is the one things happen to.” At the outset, Borges swiftly splinters the unity of the self into the embalmed form of “Borges”, referred to in third person, and “I”, the active firstperson who constantly seeks to exceed the formalised identity of “Borges”. He acknowledges Spinoza’s conundrum, that all things long to persist in their being, and
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“I shall remain in Borges, not in myself”. This implies that there will always be a remainder, that “I” will always exceed the third-person form. “Borges”, and “I” can never be completely subsumed into the constructed identity of “Borges”. Yet, “I” can also never be completely free of this identity. Considering Nietzsche’s proposition, the relation between “Borges” and “I” might be constructed thus; while “I” am embedded in the Dionysian primordial chaos, negotiating new boundaries the self, “Borges” is the consolidated repository of Apollonian order to which those actions belong. The two selves are intermingled “but those games belong to Borges now and I shall have to imagine other things. Thus my life is a flight and I lose everything and everything belongs to oblivion, or to him.” In this piece, Borges destabilises the Apollonian illusion of a closed, stable and unified identity, and demonstrates how the boundaries of the self are merely illusions that are predicated on the primordial chaos of Dionysus. Borges only arrives
Hermann Nitsch, 20, Painting Action, 1987, Secession, Vienna, Installation, MZM 2008, Courtesy Hermann Nitsch, Photo: Liesl Biber
at this truth by constantly negotiating against and exceeding the limits of the illusory self known as “Borges”. In the ambivalence of identity, excess liberates the truth of the dynamic ‘self’ from the illusion of fixity. In Order of Things, Foucault examines excess in a passage also by Borges, the Celestial Emporium of Benevolent Knowledge’s Taxonomy, in which a bizarre classification system of animals is recounted. The list divides all animals into one of the following fourteen categories: (a) those that belong to the emperor, (b) embalmed ones, (c) those that are trained, (d) suckling pigs, (e) mermaids (or sirens), (f) fabulous ones, (g) stray dogs, (h) those that are included in this classification, (i) those that tremble as if they were mad, (j) innumerable ones, (k) those drawn with a very fine camel hair brush, (l) et cetera, (m) those that have just broken the flower vase, (n) those that, at a distance, resemble flies. Foucault laughs at this list but he also notes a profound uneasiness evoked by the excess of this list. The excess he refers to is not
the trivial abundance of categories, but that it exceeded the order of common sense and opened new vistas to other possibilities. Cultures prefer the Apollonian order of enclosed, stable forms where it is sure of its own identity, but an excessive list like Borges’s which defies and exceeds the limits of these orders arouse a deeper suspicion when it gestures towards the primordial strata of Dionysian chaos. In this confused, obscure, and frenzied state, one is sufficiently freed to discover that the prescribed orders are perhaps not the only possible ones or the best ones. It is this radical excess in what Umberto Eco calls “chaotic enumeration” that exposes the arbitrary confines of order and offers us the option to reshuffle the world. In a secular culture that valorises measure and calculation, we must aspire to exceed and dare to defy boundaries. I do not mean the petty excess of capitalistic accumulation. That merely constitutes the “coherent excess” in Umberto Eco’s Infinity of Lists. It does not reveal the arbitrary illusion of order, but instead
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enforces that regime. We must instead aspire to be monstrous in our excess, monsters that Allen Weiss stipulates as “variously characterised by accident, indetermination, formlessness; by material incompleteness, categorical ambiguity, ontological instability. One may create monsters through hybridisation, hypertrophy, or hypotrophy; through lack, excess, or multiplication; through the substitution of elements, the confusion of species, or the conflation of genders and genres.” We must heed Nietzsche’s call: “Yes, my friends, believe with me in Dionysian life and the rebirth of tragedy. The age of the Socratic man is over; put on wreaths of ivy, put the thyrsus into your hand, and do not be surprised when tigers and panthers lie down, fawning at your feet. Only dare to be tragic men; for you are to be redeemed. You shall accompany the Dionysian pageant from India to Greece. Prepare yourselves for hard strife, but believe in the miracles of our god.”
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Romance Was Born www.romancewasborn.com
Alexander McQueen www.alexandermcqueen.com
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Mandy Wu www.mandywu.com
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Bulgari www.bulgari.com
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Marc Jacobs www.marcjacobs.com
V Ave Shoe Repair www.vave-shoerepair.com
Christophe Lemaire www.christophelemaire.com
Hermès www.hermes.com
Marilyn Tan www.doorstepluxury.com/ designers/marilyn-tan
Vega Wang www.vegawang.com
Club 21 www.club21global.com
Issey Miyake www.isseymiyake.com
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Dior www.dior.com
Junya Watanabe www.junyawatanabe.ln-cc.com
Dolce & Gabanna www.dolcegabbana.com
Karen Walker www.shop.karenwalker.com
Marni www.marni.com Miu Miu www.miumiu.com Mr Porter www.mrporter.com Prada www.prada.com
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YSL www.ysl.com
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