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.

A backstage look at the Mulleavy sisters’ sculptural exhibition with MoCA curator Rebecca Morse

Since launching their label Rodarte in 2005, sisters Laura and Kate Mulleavy have proven themselves to be rare birds within the fashion industry, producing work that blurs the line between fine art and fashion design. There are very few designers today who are able to comfortably inhabit both realms—and to such critical acclaim. In 2009 Rodarte won the CFDA Womenswear Designer of the Year award and became the first fashion house to receive a United States Artists grant, the following year the sisters were honored with a National Arts Award in the young artist category. Now they find themselves the focus of MoCA‘s latest exhibition “Rodarte: States of Matter”—a show featuring more than 20 pieces from the Mulleavys’ various collections, including tutus the pair created for the film Black Swan.

Further conflating art and fashion, MoCA and Rodarte enlisted Alexandre de Betak to help conceive the show. Best known for his work designing elaborate runway show sets, de Betak added heightened drama to the installation, showing the garments as sculptural objects freed from clothing’s traditionally reliant relationship to the human form.

“Rodarte: States of Matter” runs from 4 March 2011 through June 5 2011 at MoCA’s Pacific Design Center. We recently caught up with the show’s organizer, Associate Curator Rebecca Morse as she readies the show for its debut.

Are the dresses in the show presented on bodies?

There aren’t traditional mannequins. We had made forms from a cord plastic material that are then hanging from a wire in the ceiling. So the bodies are filled out a little bit. The forms are also cut to mimic the shape of the dress or the tutu, so there is a bit of a hardness behind the fabric, but there’s not a traditional mannequin.

How were you able to accomplish showing motion without bodies?

The tutus are the ones that are in motion. They are hung from wire—everything is hung from wire, but that wire’s hung to a motor. They’re spinning at one revolution per minute.

How many ballet costumes from Black Swan are in the show?

The only costumes from Black Swan are tutus, and there are three black ones downstairs, and three white ones upstairs. And one of the white ones upstairs has a blood stain in it.

Ballet costumes are very sculptural by nature. Was the show’s theme influenced by your knowledge that Laura and Kate Mulleavy were already collaborating on ballet costumes for Black Swan?

I think it sort of simultaneously occurred. In the exhibition the tutus are sandwiched chronologically between the black dresses and the white ones. And so I think what happens is you see their method of working, which in part leads to the tutus, and then what they do after that. So I think the sculptural component, I think it’s very easy to see in the tutus because they’re made with layers of tulle and they literally stick out, but their other work as well—you can see their attention to details in so far as the materials they use and the way they’re layered over each other. So we’re talking about those too in terms of having sculptural components—really looking at them as three-dimensional objects.

How deliberate was the color scheme?

Very. The idea was to have it be these monochromatic vignettes. You have the black, the white, and then there are two dresses from the [Fall] 2008 collection and those are white and red, and so those two dresses are hung actually with the white tutu with the red blood stain on it.

Laura and Kate’s influences vary so wildly from collection to collection—from Japanese horror films to California condors. Are any of these original references visually demonstrated in the show’s presentation?

I think definitely, because the black collection is based on the California condor—they talk about the narrative influence on that work—and so it’s really interesting to see those garments hung with the Black Swan tutus, because there’s some feathers used in the black dresses that are then used again in the tutus. So it does double back, and their interest in Japanese anime and their overall interest in film as a source—I think it was interesting that they were then asked to do the costumes for Black Swan, the film.

Is this MOCA’s first collaboration with Alexandre de Betak?

Yes. He’s worked with [the Mulleavys] for quite some time so they have a very good relationship. He’s done some museum exhibitions before, but he’s generally a runway set designer and producer. It was great to get his input on this installation. It’s very different from our usual way of showing work. It’s very dramatic and narrative.

Does sound accompany the show?

In the end we decided not to have any sound. But the lights have a sequence that [de Betak] took from Swan Lake—the aural cue for timing that. I don’t know how one-to-one it is, but he did use that as a way of coming up with the patterning and beats for the lights.

Images by Autumn de Wilde

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A Canadian artist’s technical take on the fantasy world

In a slick demonstration of hybrid creativity, Toronto-based artist Alex McLeod fuses his mastery of computer-generated imagery with a background in painting to create fantasy landscapes where fluid, hyperreal topography gel with glossy colors and a tactile sheen. Using a number of different graphics and 3D programs, McLeod builds ethereal sculptures that are then rendered and printed using the typical digital photography methods.

His latest works—on view at the upcoming Pulse NY art fair—project an intense scenery of gooey forms in candy colors, floating fortresses and otherworldly geometric shapes. As the eye settles, it becomes clear that there are no people in the pieces. McLeod purposely omits any sign of life in his emotional landscapes, toying with the notion that a stillness emerges in the aftermath of cataclysmic events. This tension between the enticing visual elements and the underlying darker elements give the work a challenging context despite its playful appearance.

From the wiry mountains and powerful contrasting colors in “Blackyellow” to the dazzling candy rainbow of “Daylight Mystery,” the consummate attention to detail and wildly imaginative environments leave the audience with an astounding amount to take in, but breaking down the work from this exciting young talent is all part of entertaining experience.

McLeod’s work will be on view at the Angell Gallery at Pulse NY from 3-6 March 2011.

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Smooth or crunchy? This eternal question, known to excite strong opinions in choosy moms, is rarely debated in art musems and galleries, but change is afoot—and just in time for New York’s Armory Arts Week. The peanut butter perfectionists at Peanut Butter & Co. are teaming with the National Peanut Board (March is its poster legume’s designated month) to launch the Nutropolitan Museum of Art, a pop-up art gallery devoted to the peanut butter and jelly sandwich. Lee Zalben, founder and president of Peanut Butter & Co., worked with food photographer Theresa Raffetto and food stylist Patty White to create 365 exciting new takes on the PB&J. A selection of the photos will be exhibited at the Nutropolitan, a three-day affair that opens to the public next Friday, March 4, at Openhouse Gallery in Manhattan. All proceeds from sales of the prints will be donated to the Food Bank For New York City. The city’s hub for integrated food poverty assistance should also clear plenty of shelf space for gourmet peanut butter, because everyone who pops into the gallery will receive a a free jar of Peanut Butter & Co. peanut butter (one per family) and a second jar will be donated to the Food Bank in their honor. PB&J nuts not in New York should check out the event’s soon-to-debut Tumblr here. And did we mention that a jar of PB & Co. Dark Chocolate Dreams—think peanut butter cup in a jar—can be yours for a few clicks and $6?
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After a rough patch there the last couple of months for the Smithsonian, it’s nice to read a press release with something a bit more positive; and it doesn’t get much more lighthearted than video games. The American Art Museum has announced an exhibition to launch in mid-March of next year called The Art of Video Games, which will highlight both background art and interactive, moving pieces as well. Beginning this week, the museum has asked for a bit of curatorial help, launching a site for the exhibition and asking visitors to vote for eighty games from a collection of 240 currently considered titles, presumably with the interest of floating the most popular to the top, which will then find a home in the show itself. A fun idea, though we’re guessing the museum didn’t think it would be as wildly popular as it has apparently gotten. As of this writing (and observed last night), the exhibition’s site is still up, but with a note reading “Eek! Your enthusiasm has overwhelmed us and we’re experiencing technical difficulties! Please have patience while we fix this.” Assuming they’re able to get all those overloaded servers back up and running, you’ll have until April 7th to pick your favorites. Here are the details on the exhibition itself:

The Art of Video Games is the first exhibition to explore the forty-year evolution of video games as an artistic medium, with a focus on striking visual effects and the creative use of new technologies. The exhibition will feature some of the most influential artists and designers during five eras of game technology, from early developers such as David Crane and Warren Robinett to contemporary designers like Kellee Santiago and David Jaffe. It also will explore the many influences on game designers, and the pervasive presence video games have in the broader popular culture, with new relationships to video art, film and television, educational practices, and professional skill training. Chris Melissinos, founder of Past Pixels and collector of video games and gaming systems, is the curator of the exhibition.

New Career Opportunities Daily: The best jobs in media.