Beauty in the grotesque

Christopher Kane appropriates The Flintstones dinosaur scales and Planet of the Apes gorilla nightmares in his 2009 Spring/Summer collection.

A fitting companion to John Galliano's 2007 Fall/Winter rags-and-yarn cavemen from the time of the mammoths. I'm sure there can be something equally Freudian interpreted from the sheer organza dresses.



The forwardness of both collections conceal a bleakness uncovered by Jean-Michel Basquiat's graffiti paintings.



There is something visceral about the associations and references, something intrinsically raw and animalistic, which is frozen in formalin or captured in sculpture by contemporary artist Damien Hirst.



Kane's new collection may border on the tacky. But restraint and visionary punch lift concept to wearability.

Galliano takes the opposite tack by dusting and greasing up wearable items with modern mythology.



Either way, the outcome stares at you straight at the face. Both succeed in selling their ideas.



For Hirst, the element of shock found in his works draws audiences to the maw of disconcertment.

Is it because of the works' scale?



Or the encounter with sheer physicality and objectivity, which jar the sensibility of city and internet inhabitants?

Whether Damien Hirst is a revolutionary artist or merely a swindler of both ideas and auction patrons, true art shall continue to strive to represent current conditions.



Honesty is a fragile thing.



On the canvas or in the flesh.



Good thing for fashion, the evolution of art shall provide an an ever-expanding portofolio of cultural references, from painting and architecture to cinema and music.



Life in all its beauty and ugliness.



Its pretensions and emptiness.



Anything can be a source of inspiration.



Everything is pregnant with meaning. It is only a matter of dissecting.



Photos from men.style.com and style.com

Change and the art of Helmut Lang

Why does a successful and influential designer suddenly sell his business and abandon the fashion industry?



What drives him to seek solitude and embrace the vibrant silence of the earth?



In his presumable search for the self, where does he look? To which horizon?



His art installation presented in 2008 in Hanover, Germany and Paris is entitled "Alles Gleich Schwer" or "Everything Equally Difficult" ("Equal Weight"?)



These first several images take different views of his work entitled Arbor, 2007.

"Arbor" means several things: a shady place formed by trees or shrubs or often by vines growing on latticework, the main shaft or axle of a machine which transmits mechanical force to other moving parts, or simply: a tree.



The installation piece does look like the main shaft of an axle, but it can also appear as the pin of a compass, pointing somewhere, navigating viewers.



The use of materials tells of the urgency and simplicity of a single message.



Guiding the lost? Reducing ideas to their bare physical minimum?





Focus on the materials on show



Photographer Juergen Teller presents snapshots from the designer's shows - on the runway and backstage



Three, 2008, made of mahogany and tar, shows what appears like three decapitated eagles, not unlike the damaged statue of the Greek goddess Nike at the Louvre.



They may stand for pure or suspended flight, or spurned authority, as the eagle is the bird of Zeus in Greek and Roman mythologies.



There is something haunting about it. It reeks of power made effete.



Or does it speak more of genesis?





Lang produced this series of pieces called Surrogate Skin, numbered separately.



It is a study in texture, thickness, and transparency.



They remind you not just of soil, sand, and minerals, but also of peel and bandages. Scars?





A quick overview across the pieces of the installation





Life forms, 2008



Are these germination beds?





Setting up of the installation



Untitled, 2008







Seance de Travail



This seems a jump from materials to the spirit.







A broken disco ball: Next Ever After, 2007. What do wrecked illusions reflect?



Is Helmut Lang healing from wounds? Redefining his direction in life?

Amidst the clamor of the fashion world for his return, he bides his time and sinks his hands in the thick fabric of memory and the elements.



Waves can wash away old priorities. What is it that glitters for him?

Images from absolut.com/helmutlang, absolut insert in Fantastic Man No. 8 Fall/Winter 2008, Wallpaper 115 October 2008, and Arena Homme Plus 30: Hard Times Winter 2008/Spring 2009

Back issue magazine Monday

Dropped by Booksale and grabbed six items from the used books and magazines shop. First is 10 men's Summer Autumn 2010 issue, which opens with more pictures from Lanvin men's campaign with/by Vinoodh Matadin and contains an interesting article on "Ten London boys you should meet".




Next is the Summer Autumn 2010 issue of 10 magazine, also its 10th-year anniversary issue. I got the one with Azzedine Alaïa on the cover, who is joined by nine other designers interviewed to mark the event: Alber Elbaz, Dolce & Gabbana (11 and not 10?), Donatella Versace, Helmut Lang, John Galliano, Karl Lagerfeld, Ralph Lauren, Tom Ford, and Vivienne Westwood.




Third on the list is Dazed & Confused's Volume II/85 issue with Tilda Swinton on the cover, who starred in the much-anticipated I Am Love and was also recently featured in ads by Pringle of Scotland. At first sight I thought Swinton posed nude for the magazine. Turns out the main piece was about artists' and photographers' expression of what "naked" meant to them.




Then fourth is Wallpaper's September 2010 issue with booty on the cover. (No, I did not place glare on purpose.) "Butts, boobs, and blonde ambition" means more nudity inside.




Maybe I should have adjusted the glare on this one, the fifth thing I bought: a February 2010 issue of Art Review, which came with a supplement on Paul McCarthy's collaboration with Havaianas: mainly sculptures of naked men, including a depiction of George W. Bush, with pigs. Don't ask what they were doing. "Warm" reading for a rainy November afternoon?




Lastly, I bought a real book. By Proust: volume III of his masterpiece. Been meaning to read In Search of Lost Time. This first purchase, at less than P200, is a good start.