Hasta La Ideas

From Gaga to Gober, an exhibit delves into the intersections of art and fashion

Lady Gaga may be the most obvious example to date of someone blurring the borders between art and fashion, but lending intellectual clout to the concept, “Between Skin and Clothing” at Germany’s Kunstmuseum Wolfsburg demonstrates how this connection has been continuously evolving since the 1960s.

Curated by journalist and fashion doyenne José Teunissen, the investigative exhibit shows how the two disciplines “share the same avant garde feeling” through the works of designers like Walter Van Beirendonck, Hussein Chalayan, Martin Margiela and more, set alongside pieces from artists such as Salvador Dali, Louise Bourgeois and Robert Gober.

Stating that “fashion no longer expresses power, money and social class,” the exhibition studies fashion as an articulation of creativity and its influence on visual culture. Beginning with Andy Warhol and the Pop Art crowd and followed by Yohji Yamamoto and Comme des Garçons in the ’80s, clothing and runway shows are often abstract works of art more than necessary adornment.

First on display in Rotterdam at the Museum Boijmans Van Beuningen, the exhibition has been slightly adapted for its new Kunstmuseum location. “Art & Fashion: Between Skin and Clothing” runs through 7 August 2011.

Images courtesy of the Kunstmuseum Wolfsburg, by Peter Stigler, Charlie le Mindu, Bob Goedewaagen. Installation shots by Claudia Mucha.