Kusama in Self-Obliteration, Horse Play, 1967
Speaking honestly, dots are not the most flattering pattern to wear for most people. It's the equivalent experience of wearing wide stripes or yellow or lilac--most people can't get away with it without looking like they ran away from a sanitorium or finished work at a hideous fast food chain, circa 1978.
Enter one of the most interesting and surprising influences in a current hot fashion trend: dots courtesy of renowned Japanese artist Yayoi Kusama.
Admittedly dots by themselves, look very silly and kind of inexplicably random. However when its rationale is supported by art, it lends a certain refinement and undeniable revitalization to fashion that's refreshing and vibrant.
Kusama made her mark in the New York art scene during the late 1950s to 1960s, a time when the art scene exploded into the public consciousness and 'happenings' became more commonly created and publicly viewed. Her film Self-Obliteration (1967) was reflective of this period of avant garde artistic experimentation. In the film, she is seen covering any surface she sees in spots: a horse, a lake, her body. Visually, the footage becomes entrancing as the dots take a life and form of their own. Psychologically, it becomes disturbingly frightening when you realise that Kusama wants to disappear under a litany of spotty objects and surfaces.
There is also a playful naivete that accompanies many of Kusama's art installations, her most memorable being her stuffed 'penis' chair, filled with stuffed phallic shapes taking form in a chair. As with the dots, shapes expand the old form into something new.
It is this obsession with repetition that gained her the respect of such artists such as Claes Oldenburg and Andy Warhol, so much so even to the point where she accuses them of copying her ideas in their own work.
Interest in Kusama has been renewed through a current retrospective exhibition at the Tate Modern in London and a collaboration with Marc Jacobs of Louis Vuitton.
Says Jacobs of the Kusama collaboration:
"I hope with her collaborations This will bring the work of Kusama to still yet another audience and that's the audience of Louis Vuitton and it continues something I began when I came here which is the idea of art and collaboration... it's a wonderful thing the way contemporary art sort of premiers the environment and changes the environment, and for many people who don't look at art or go to galleries or maybe they are not aware of Kusama's work, there will be a new venue, a new place to see this work and to come to appreciate it through the eyes of Louis Vuitton."
I don't think there's a better compliment to an artist than to display their art in fashion, and transforms fashion into a form of art. Louis Vuitton's new Kusama inspired fashion line as well as Marc Jacob's new fragrance 'Dot' speak for themselves.
Louis Vuitton
Marc Jacobs 'Dot' fragrance and accessories
For more footage on the Louis Vuitton and Kusama collaboration, visit http://louisvuittonkusama.com/en_AU/home.
No comments:
Post a Comment