Artist Book Ideas

Some of you know that I'm very much into fashion, but it is not only how clothing and garments fit together that inspire me. What inspires me the most about fashion is the material the garment is made out of, most of my original works are made out of unconventional materials such as straws, magnetic spray painted fabric, and handmade paper. So originally on the one project for Orientation to Art and Design I wanted to do an artist I could really get into and use a material I love to work with.

Finding a fashion designer that has shown at the

Walker Art Center was impossible so I went with a material I would like to explore more, being felt. The artist I chose is Robert Morris. He does wall hangings out of felt that exhibit very dramatic drapery. His pieces are usually done in one to two dull colors, but his work at the Walker explores layering using four pieces of felt on top of each other in primary colors. Although his work is minimalistic it captures your attention with its unconventional shapes found in this style of art. I also chose Morris because I felt I could really incorporate his style into my own artwork in the future.

The main idea I had for the artist book was to sew the front cover making a miniture copy of Morris' artwork at the Walker, and then when open it have his different styles using them with my own. Using different fabrics with patterns and colors and comparing the two. For the text I was thinking about using iron on transfers to the fabric. I am going to try and make the book out of as much fabric as possible. I would like to use notions to bind the book and add other little elements.

While searching Carlo Mollino’s apartment after his death, searchers found a drawer full of 200 polaroids or more, each picturing women in an explicit poses. None knew about the photos until then. Two of these photos were shown at the Midway during their show, The Secret Life of Objects.

This series of two Polaroids are shown at eye level, framed, and approximately half an inch apart. Pictured on the left is a woman in about her mid-twenties, with shoulder length blonde hair. Scantly posed in a blue dress, her left hand is slowly pulling up the hem, as if to seduce the viewer. Her right hand is placed on the wall behind her with a background of a black curtain with a lacey curtain to the side. The woman pictured on the right is also in her mid-twenties, and has shoulder length blonde hair. She is scantly posed in a revealing black long fringed top, and nude underneath. Her expression is hard to ignore, seducing the viewer/cameraman with all of her being. Both women are wearing the same pair of shoes and against relatively the same background.

I chose to blog about this series because both works intrigued me. They strike me as sleazy fashion photography on the edge of pornography, and left me, as a viewer wanting to know what provoked Mollino to take these photographs. Especially since they weren’t shown or known about to the public until after his death. Even though he was known as a designer and architect before his death, these pieces go further to show that an artist is not truly appreciated for his or her artwork until after his or her death.

* I wasn't able to find the photographs from the exhibition at the Midway. The ones shown on this page are some of the other 200 found

http://www.postmedia.net/06/mollino.htm

Isabel Toledo: Fashion from the Inside Out

Isabel Toledo’s exhibition at the Museum at the Fashion Institute of Technology(FIT) is very comprehensive. Her designs have themes of Organic Geometry, shadow, suspension, liquid architecture, shape, manipulated surfaces, and origami. The Cornflower Dress from Organic Geometry, I feel is the most striking. In this piece every detail is considered, from the material to the drapery on the silhouette. Not only does the piece look fashionable but also functional.

I chose this piece because of my love for the initial shock of simplicity but as the viewer looks closer one is able to see the complexity of each individual fold. The color just relates to enhance to effect further by creating unity in the line and shifting the focus from the color and texture of the material to what the material can do.

After finding this really amazing dress I, I wanted to look further and begin to understand the artist. I found that I really identify with her ways of working and share her same struggles with fashion designing. Toledo values the process of making a garment from the inside out. I, as an artist agree with her, when I create something I want the inside to be as beautiful and look as well made as the interior of the garment. Toledo imagines and idea the same way I do; envisioning the garment spinning in a 3-demensional space. She also is challenge with the connection between 3-D concept to putting it on paper as an illustration. Which I find interesting, and its nice to know I’m not the only one who struggles with this.