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Monday, February 27, 2012

YINKA SHONIBARE MBE: Addio del Passato

Over the past decade, Yinka Shonibare MBE has become well-known for his exploration of Colonialism and Post-Colonialism within the contemporary context of Globalization. Using the richly patterned Dutch wax fabric influenced by Indonesian batiks in costumed dioramas to explore race and colonialism, the British-born Nigerian artist also employs painting, sculpture, photography, film and performance in work that challenges our notions of cultural identity.

Following the installation of the artist's widely acclaimed work Nelson's Ship in a Bottle on the Fourth Plinth in Trafalgar Square, London, Shonibare continues his explorations of Lord Nelson, the figurehead of the British Empire at its apotheosis. In Addio del Passato, Shonibare explores the concept of destiny as it relates to themes of desire, yearning, love, power and sexual repression.

This multi-part exhibition features a series of new photo works entitled Fake Death Pictures in which Shonibare imagines a dramatized vision of the tragic event of Nelson's death as played out over a series of five photographic allegories based on classic scenes in paintings.

Also on display are two large installations of costumes constructed in period details along with sculptures of fetish objects and sex aids from bygone eras, and the film Addio del Passato ("so closes my sad story") in which the character of Frances Nisbet, Lord Nelson's estranged wife, sings the eponymous aria from the last act of Verdi's opera.

Yinka Shonibare MBE lives and works in London, UK. He received the decoration of Member of the "Most Excellent Order of the British Empire" in 2005, a title which he has officially added to his professional name.

YINKA SHONIBARE MBE: Addio del Passato is currently on view at James Cohan Gallery, New York
February 16 - March 24, 2012

Addio del Passato

Yinka Shonibare MBE, Fake Death Picture (the Death of Chatterton - Henry Wallis), 2011

Yinka Shonibare MBE, Fake Death Picture (The Death of Leonardo da Vinci in the Arms of Francis I - Francois-Guillaume Menageot)

Yinka Shonibare MBE, Fake Death Picture (The Death of St Francis - Bartolome Carducho)

Yinka Shonibare MBE, Fake Death Picture (The Suicide - Leonardo Alenza)

Yinka Shonibare MBE, Fake Death Picture (The Suicide - Manet)

Yinka Shonibare MBE, Addio del Passato Film Still I, 2011

Yinka Shonibare MBE, Addio del Passato Film Still 2, 2011

Yinka Shonibare MBE, Addio del Passato Film Still 3, 2011

Yinka Shonibare MBE, Nelson's Jacket, 2011, photograph Jason Mandella

Yinka Shonibare MBE, Fanny's Dress, 2011, photograph Jason Mandella

Yinka Shonibare MBE, Fetish Boots, 2011, photograph Stephen White

Click here to see the digital video Addio del Passato

Courtesy of the artist and James Cohan Gallery, New York

Yinka Shonibare MBE: Addio del Passato

February 16 - March 24, 2012
This post is featured on the Huffington Post

Saturday, February 25, 2012

Elevating the Mundane to the Sublime; Mary Katrantzou A/W 2012

A pencil, a spoon, a hanger, a chess piece, a typewriter, an hedge: for autumn/winter 2012 Mary Katrantzou discovers the beauty in the everyday, transforming the banal into a stunning collection where product placement becomes placement print.

As always with Katrantzou, a simple concept becomes dazzling in execution: engineered around complex shapes, lavishly embellished or knitted into the fabric of the dresses themselves. No sequin is left unturned. With the collaboration of the Parisian couture embroidery house Lesage, a selection of one-of-a kind pieces is produced. Victorian bustles, hints of Elizabethan corsetry and elaborate, intricately shapes offer ample canvas for decorative exuberance. Pencils and erasers jump from print to starling reality.

Consistently, continually pushing her visionary technique forward, Mary Katrantzou creates a paen to pure color, potent print, and the wildest reaches of the human imagination. As she pointed out "Color is the fruit of life," a quote from Guillaume Apollinaire.

Mary Katrantzou

Autumn / Winter 2012

View more on the slideshow

Courtesy of Mary Katrantzou

Images Catwalking

Thursday, February 23, 2012

OVERWORLD; Fashion Follies meet Mario Bros

Inspired by Mario Bros, the two mascots of Nintendo, "Overworld" is a fun animated collages from the duo fashion photographers Pamela Reed and Matthew Rader (AKA Reed + Rader). Enjoy this playful show!

Overworld

Cushnie et Ochs's Dress, Y-3's Stripe Dress and Cardigan

Louis Vuitton

Rick Owen's Coat

Giorgio Armani's Jacket, Balenciaga's Dress

Thom Browne

Jean Paul Gaultier's Jacket and Shorts, Christian Siriano's Coat

Manish Arora's Jacket, Blumarine's Dress

Thom Browne's Fringe Jacket, Max Mara's Jacket, Sonia Rykiel's Top and Skirt

Courtesy of Reed + Rader / VMagazine
This post is featured on the Huffington Post

Tuesday, February 21, 2012

Leonora Hamill: " Art in Progress "

Winner of the 2012 HSBC Prize for Photography, the Franco-British artist Leonora Hamill started Art in Progress three years ago while she was doing an artist's residency at the Academy of Fine-Arts in Guangzhou, China.

Art in Progress features a selection of images from Hamill's extensive exploration of art schools across Europe, Asia, Africa and the Americas. Her photographic series of empty studios contributes to a greater understanding of the vital role contemporary art plays in an ever more global cultural dialogue. Her images, shot with a large format camera, allow the viewer to imagine the artistic experimentations that took place in these schools.

Art in Progress will be on exhibit at Podbielski Contemporary, Berlin
From March 10 to May 5, 2012
Leonora Hamill's first monograph published by Editions Actes Sud, will be launched during the opening week of the Rencontres Photographiques d'Arles in July 2012.

Leonora Hamill lives and works in London and Milan.

Art in Progress