Haider Ackermann consistenly works to redefine the erogenous zones. Here is a perfect example how the decision to place importance on something (in this scenario, the side of the thigh)is enough to give it actual or real importance. By ascending the heirarchy of conciousness through simply being presented to the audience, the area's meaning becomes charged and magnified by the gaze and focus of the other
This taps into the difference between being shown something and seeing something. A good way to explain what I mean is to describe the way my mother taught the concept to her media students: she brought a girl to the front of the class and sat her on a stool. Then she set up a video camera that streamed her onto a screen.
If it was just a girl sitting on a stool it would not be significant. What is significant is the image: she has been chosen to be presented to you in this pose, with this lighting, in this situation. She is a representation of something, imbued with meaning. She is no longer a girl sitting on a stool.
Similarly, if the woman dressed in Ackermann was wearing nothing, or covered completely, there would be no significance, no erotic sensitivity attached to the thigh area. It is because the area has been framed by intent that it is so.
References:
img1 Fall/Winter '11 www.style.com
Here is the short film I made for the task 'ephemeral'. Drag the bar along to make it go faster as it is very boring 1x.
My boyfriend told me about an artist doing something very related to my work (hopefully) but couldn't remember their name! And the interwebs is not being very helpful. So unfortunately I cannot provide any images of their work - I can describe it though.
The artist produced palimsests: they would create an image or artwork, and then inkjet print another image over the top. Then, as time wore on, the inkjet print would fade and reveal the image layered beneath. Artwork that evolves over time, slowly revealing more and more of itself.
Beautiful.
And the idea translates so well to garments: clothing that you get to know over time, garments constantly changing and offering you more.
Mark Fast's signature cobweb knits experiment with tensions and restricting the body. By building areas of opaque and transparency the garment both acknowledges the body that it is strangulating but continues to do so. This acknowledgement of the body is something I hope to look at with my own work - reminding the wearer and viewer of the animal visceralness hidden behind the veneer of the garment.
References:
img1 Mark Fast Spring/Summer '11 www. Style.com
Gwendolyn Huskens produced this collection whilst studying at the Design Academy in Eindhoven. It is called 'Medic Esthetic'. Made from materials such as plaster bandages, steel and band-aids, the collection addresses the restrictive and painful incarnation of women's fashion so common today - providing a cheeky 'solution'.
References:
img1 www.blackbookmag.com/article/the-new-skyscraper-heel-now-injury-equipped/4862
Shadi Ghadirian's work 'Untitled 1' from the series Like Everyday explores issues of identity, gender and social and physical restrictions. What I see as familiar between this artists work and my own is the desire to investigate the relationship between the natural body and the covered body - the tension.
Also interesting in this piece is that the garment or covering is restricting by being loose, rather than tight. The covering invokes a feeling of stifling or suffocation, the body inside seemingly entombed, possibly a cadaver covered in the sheets of death.
References:
img1 dunedin.art.museum/exhibitions.asp?p_3&y=2009
Helmut Newton's work explores both excessive sumptuousness and harsh restriction. This dichotomic approach to the presentation of the female body results in photographs of sensuous bondage - the body is constrained but the sexuality isn't.
References:
img1 'The Empowered Woman' - Vogue (1995) www.trenddelacreme.com
img2 yujinyohe.blogspot.com
What prompted me to included Poell in my index was something the owner of Eastern Market said a few years ago concerning his work: that Poell deliberately cut jacket shoulders very small, and that he loved the feeling of it. He loved the pressure, restriction, and effect it had on his posture and the heightened awareness of his body.
References:
img1 http://ffffound.com/image/357d98c2ffeb02f9af3df9e1af530d1982faa526
img2 http://darklandsberlin.com
