THURSDAY, JULY 26, 2012
Hussein Chalayan
Chalayan
is an artist and designer, working in film, dress and installation art.
Research Chalayan’s work, and then consider these questions in some thoughtful
reflective writing.
1. Chalayan’s works in clothing, like Afterwords (2000)
and Burka (1996) , are often challenging to both the viewer
and the wearer. What are your personal responses to these works? Are Afterwords and Burka
fashion, or are they art? What is the difference?
My personal responses to these works are, I feel as
though the artist Chalayan, is trying to
make a statement through the use of Clothing. I would consider these more art
than fashion pieces as, people would not be drawn to buy or wear items like
this in public. They are pieces of art that are very controversial, especially
the ‘Burka.’ I imagine that this would offend the Muslim community as there
traditional dress has been altered and nudity has been used. The work "Afterwords" was created by a story of refugees. The
idea behind the work is packing up your home and leaving in times of trouble.
The work itself has been created by recycled furniture. This again I would not
class as fashion, the model is simply a coat hanger for the, almost sculpture.
This could be classed as wearable arts, where a piece of work is created by
something recycled or obviously something else., this garment is a prime
example.
Fashion is where garments are made that appeal to a
large, or in some cases a small, group of people. You get very generic items
that appeal to most fashion tastes, but fashion is about creating your own ‘style.’
People find a designer or particular item of clothing or ‘look’ that they fancy
and begin to create their own fashion sense. Fashion can be defined as "for a popular style or practice, especially in clothing,
footwear, accessories, makeup, or furniture." With art you are taking an idea or inspiration and creating something
not for any ‘group’ in particular. It’s difficult to determine what is ‘art’
and what is ‘fashion’ because they are both very similar. I guess the main difference
would be the materials used and the audience it is appealing to.
2. Chalayan has strong links to industry. Pieces
like The Level Tunnel (2006) and Repose (2006)
are made in collaboration with, and paid for by, commercial business; in these
cases, a vodka company and a crystal manufacturer. How does this impact on the
nature of Chalayan’s work? Does the meaning of art change when it is used to
sell products? Is it still art?
Just because a person’s art
is being used to sell or promote products does not take the fact away that it
is still art. I can be a huge advantage in an artist’s Carrier. It not only
sells the product it sells their name. The art simply becomes commercialised, instead
of designing things that carry her view, it would be for the company instead.
Being an artist, she would automatically add and create subtle meanings within
the design.
3. Chalayan’s film Absent Presence screened
at the 2005 Venice Biennale. It features the process of caring for worn
clothes, and retrieving and analysing the traces of the wearer, in the form of
DNA. This work has been influenced by many different art movements; can you
think of some, and in what ways they might have inspired Chalayan’s approach?
4. Many of
Chalayan’s pieces are physically designed and constructed by someone else; for
example, sculptor Lone Sigurdsson made some works from Chalayan’s Echoform (1999)
and Before Minus Now(2000) fashion ranges. In fashion design this
is standard practice, but in art it remains unexpected. Work by artists such as
Jackson Pollock hold their value in the fact that he personally made the
painting. Contrastingly, Andy Warhol’s pop art was largely produced in a New
York collective called The Factory, and many of his silk-screened works were
produced by assistants. Contemporarily, Damien Hirst doesn’t personally build
his vitrines or preserve the sharks himself. So when and why is it important
that the artist personally made the piece?
I
feel as though it is important that the artist makes the piece of art
themselves rather than a group of people putting together your ideas. It gives
more emotion to the art work. When creating art, you have a distinct image or
idea that you want to see come to life, when a group of people are doing this
for you, it’s a huge risk that it might not be finished or put together the way
you envisioned. Of course if it was a big sculpture or something that needed to
be mass produced it would be vital to have others as a part of it. Otherwise,
if you are able to do it yourself, Why not?
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