ArtDiction September/October 2016

Volume 2 September/October 2016 www.artdictionmagazine.com

Fashion’s Architectural Marvels 18 The Great Work 28 Nostalgic

www.avondalekids.com

ArtDiction Habitual. Art.

ArtDiction is a platform for artists to display their work and a resource for the habitual art lover.

Staff

Devika A. Strother, Editor-in-Chief devika@artdictionmagazine.com Phillip Utterback, Creative Director phillip@artdictionmagazine.com Isabella Chow, Writer/Editor bella@artdictionmagazine.com DeShanta Strother, Director of Editorial Partnerships deshanta@artdictionmagazine.com Marcus Palmore, Director of Marketing marcus@artdictionmagazine.com

Contributing Writers and Editors Nate Barkley, Jr. Joshua Griffin Victor Isaac

Devika Akeise Publishing assumes no responsibility for the opinions expressed by authors in this publication. Š2016 of Devika Akeise Publishing. All rights reserved. No portion of this publication may be reproduced or utilized in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or by any information storage or retrieval system without permission in writing from the publisher.

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artdictionmag

FEATURES

3

It’s Okay To Stare

12

Introspective Perspective

Jonathan DeDecker creates images that taunt the imagination.

Anu Oro paints from a place of absolute certainty, creating strong images of a powerful subject.

18

The Great Work An interview with Olney Theatre Center Artistic Director, Jason Loewith, who has taken on Part One of Tony Kushner’s Angels in America.

22

Fashion’s Archtiectural Marvels While most focus on the designers’ new clothing lines during Fashion Week, we explore the work behind the set designs and those that construct them.

28 43

Nostalgic

Photographs of an old world seen through the eyes of photographer, Remo Fioroni.

From the Creative Director

Phillip Utterback’s Wrap-up

In Each Issue 2 Small Talk 8 Art News 9 Bella's Books 10 Music 11 Exhibits 43 Artist Index

Photo courtesy of Anu Oro

Image from Louis Vuitton Fall 2012 designs inspired by the 2012 Fashion Week set design.

Go to page 21 to review some of the most memorable set designs in recent fashion week history.

©2016 by Devika Akeise Publishing

ArtDiction | 1 | September/October 2016

small talk

©Remo Fioroni

E

ven though art is said to be subjective, even objective, I am convinced that the best art makes you think. I’ve never been drawn to literal, force-fed interpretations of anything, especially not art. Afterall, it is an interpretation, right?

In this issue, we put together a collection of artists that, through their creativity, allow you to draw your own conclusion. Jonathan DeDecker’s work is often based on images of the imagination that emerged from unmeasured space and time (page 3); your thoughts will wander. Anu Oro (page 12) takes an introspective approach to art that parallels a spiritual experience that’s interwoven throughout her paintings; it will make you think. Creative Director, Phillip Utterback interviewed Olney Theatre

Center Artistic Director, Jason Loewith, who directed Part One of Angels in America: Millennium Approaches (page 18). “With so many themes and ideas to conquer to successfully produce this play, how does one even begin the creative process?” Phillip asked; a question to ponder. Finally, photographer Remo Fioroni gives us even more to think about from the images he captured on his journey through Europe (page 28).

As a habitual art lover, I am also convinced that the dose of art between these pages will inspire you just as it has me. Use the art to engage your mind and discover the things it will inspire you to accomplish. Happy reading!

ArtDiction | 2 | September/October 2016

It’s Okay To Stare I always know I like a piece of art when I can’t pry my eyes away from it. Such was the case when I came across the work of Jonathan DeDecker. I stared. Then I stared some more. Jonathan graciously allowed me to pick his brain about his work (primarily acrylic on paper), creative process, and more.

AD: What inspired these images?

JD: What inspired these images was drawings; I made a lot of them. I filled three sketch books in a month—very quick and loose drawings. I thought about automatic drawing as a way to become fixated on certain forms and then expand on them; drop [a] smaller, quicker drawing into a little bit large painting.

AD: Do you typically draw the images and them paint them?

JD: I don’t usually draw the images I paint, although sometimes I will. I really have a need to be spontaneous; I cannot improvise. It’s one of the most exciting parts of painting for me! I am usually listening to music [and] I think music has a lot to do with it. I think of painting as an ensemble, and I enjoy thinking about polyrhythms. I started playing drums before I took painting seriously.

AD: Describe your creative process.

JD: My work is like a staring contest between figure and abstraction. It’s driven by a process of disintegration and reintegration. Working primarily on paper and predominantly in black and white, I desire to signify and to erase; [it] needs to be spontaneous. The use of restless movements and forms expresses a need for people. I need to allow the figure to appear and disappear, constantly renegotiating its importance, otherwise allowing an image to exist on its own without the need to ground it in figuration.

When the figure postures itself in an image, it is conflicted with an intense force of light or dark to distort the relationship between the foreground and background. The image is built to become thick with paint or otherwise layered in opposition to that as a way to dictate a sense of both physical and visual weight. My hope is by building every composition on history of layered narratives of boundaries, lines, and glimpses of memories, it communicates my intention of an obscure yet quiet sense of place.

Jonathan will be quite busy from September until the end of the year. He will be part of a three-person show at the Lawton Gallery in Green Bay, Wis., a group show at Left Field Gallery in San Luis Obispo, Cailf., a three-person show at Great Far Beyond gallery in Philadelphia, Pa., and a group show at The New Orleans Center for Art Gallery in La. Read the rest of his interview on www.artdictionmagazine.com.

ArtDiction | 3 | September/October 2016

Jonathan DeDecker, Caroline

Jonathan DeDecker, Nightmares

Jonathan DeDecker, Shadows

Jonathan DeDecker, Untitled

news

P

rince’s renowned home and recording studio compound in Chanhassen, Minn., will likely open to public tours in October. The late musician’s siblings announced in a statement that Paisley Park will be transformed into a museum.

“Opening Paisley Park is something that Prince always wanted to do and was actively working on,” said Prince’s sister, Tyka Nelson. Fans from around the globe will be able to step into the world of Prince Rogers Nelson, she stated.

Paisley Park was built in 1987 for $10 million and covers 65,000 square feet on 9 acres of land, according to reports. A proposal submitted to the city of Chanhassen states that tours of 70 minutes will include the “recording and mixing studios, video

editing rooms, rehearsal rooms, Prince’s private NPG Music Club, and the soundstage and performance hall. “The proposal estimates approximately 2,000 visitors per day with tours that will begin every 10 minutes. The tour will also include displays of his memorabilia, including awards, artwork, clothing, his tour bus, and motorcycles. Additionally, the museum tentatively plans to offer vegetarian food, in honor of Prince’s vegetarian diet. Special sessions and concerts will likely continue to be held at Paisley Park’s recording studio.

The proposal will be reviewed by Chanhassen’s planning commission

© PAISLEY PARK

Paisley Park to Become Museum

in September. If approved, the city council would give it a final vote on October 3rd. “From the documents that I’ve seen and the conversations that I’ve had with family members and close friends, I believe that the plans for Paisley Park are in full accordance with Prince’s wishes,” wrote Chanhassen mayor, Denny Laufenburger.

Arts Standards for California Schools to Receive Makeover

S

tate legislators recently passed a bill to update California’s content standards in the arts for the first time since 2001. California educators have in recent years updated standards for most school subjects to reflect changing technology, research, and educational priorities; however, arts standards have languished.

Lena’s New Project Lena Dunham, star of Girls, and writer of Not That Kind of Girl, has announced on Instagram that she is working on a fiction short story collection, Best and Always (Random House).

As a caption to the drawing, The Mechanic, with strikingly similar features to Dale Gribble of King of the Hill, Dunham clarified, “My book is . . . not about King of the Hill.” But you can read an excerpt from The Mechanic in Dunham’s newsletter at www.lennyletter.com.

“If you even think from just the technology standpoint–how did we access music in the year 2001 and how do students today access music?” said Scott Hedgecock, president of the California Music Education Association.

The bill authorizes the Superintendent of Public Instruction to work with arts educators and the public to align the state objectives with a new set of national standard recommendations introduced two years ago. In 2014, the National Coalition for Core Arts Standards released new standards for music, visual art, dance, and theater. Under the new bill, California will be next to adopt the standards.

The national goals are framed around creating, presenting, responding, and connecting in music, visual art, dance, theater, and the newly added media arts. The new standards “suggest that there is certain learning, knowledge, and skill that can happen at each grade level and it is sequential,” said Jim Palmarini of the Educational Theatre Association, who participated in writing the national standards. “That’s important when a school district or a school begins to build a curriculum, as it allows them to more deliberately think about what students learn . . and how it fits into a well-rounded curriculum.”

ArtDiction | 8 | September/October 2016

bella’s books

L

aurie Notaro’s first essay collection in 2002, The Idiot Girl’s Action-Adventure Club, was mainly composed of the hilarious misadventures of Notaro’s youth that she chronicled in her Phoenix newspaper column.

Each of her subsequent books has brought updated tales of her life– from dating to marriage to relocating from Phoenix to Eugene, Oregon–told with her unique blend of witty indignation and matter-of-fact sarcasm.

Housebroken: Admissions of an Untidy Life opens a window into her life now, a woman in her fifties still confronting life with humor (and occasional outrage), mixing stories of her life in Eugene along with anecdotes from her past and a few family recipes because, according to Notaro, “The next time my nephews ask for penne in pink sauce, they’re going to have to roll out a meatball first.”

As a fan of Notaro’s previous works, I found myself in the strange position of feeling that, in Housebroken, she’s reached a stage that I can’t fully comprehend; at least, not yet. I found myself wondering, “Can an author outgrow you?” The “Idiot Girl” has grown up, and with this book, I distinctly felt a shift from being talked with to being talked to. Unlike her first collections, Housebroken feels more like a story told by your favorite aunt – a glimpse into your future that may feel comforting or rather foreboding – depending on your feelings about Spanx.

I

loved Ernest Cline’s first book, Ready Player One. So much so that I bought multiple copies.

So much so that I regularly check for casting updates for the upcoming movie (directed by Steven Spielberg, no less) on IMBD. So when Cline’s new book, Armada, was released, I was in Barnes and Noble on release day purchasing my copy,

find this book an enjoyable bit of nostalgia, the rest of us are left hoping Cline’s next book might be a little more inclusive. lot has been said of late regarding the lack of books featuring people of color. As both a multiracial person and an avid reader, I have always felt the contrast most sharply; the diversity in my daily life was never reflected in my reading material, mostly because diversity was so hard to find. Jason Hough’s choice, then, to make the assassin protagonist of his latest novel, Zero World, Korean was particularly fascinating to me. In a time period currently awash with James Bonds and Jason Bournes, having an Asian action hero (without a heavy focus on martial arts) feels fresh and inspired. Of course, Hough’s story–a mile-a-minute adventure that starts on an abandoned space ship that vanished years before that leads to a tear in the fabric of space, a twin Earth, and a race to complete a dangerous operation that could affect the lives of everyone on both Earths–is the main attraction, and a thoroughly good read.

A

eagerly anticipating another sci-fi dive into pop culture’s past. I was ready to add another book to my list of favorites.

Unfortunately, Armada didn’t quite meet up to expectations. Like Ready Player One, Armada’s lead character, Zack Lightman, is a high-school boy thrown together with a diverse, quirky group of friends and strangers on an epic quest where knowledge of the past plays a huge roll. But where the wide spectrum of 80’s pop culture was the central theme of Ready Player One, the highlight of Armada focuses more on the specific history of video games and gamer culture.

With the tagline “When the game ends, the battle begins”, the book tries to answer the question of what would happen if the aliens from your favorite video game were real…and showed up on Earth.

I am not the target audience for this story, as my knowledge of video games pretty much begins and ends with Super Mario Brothers and Tetris.

But even with my general lack of video game comprehension, the story itself was still predictable; the arcs and twists could be seen coming a mile away, and the ending could almost be described as cheesy. While gamers (especially older ones) might

While Caswell’s racial heritage is mentioned in the book more than once, it doesn’t pull focus from the story, or even really affect it, which feels a statement in itself.

Instead, it makes an already stellar read even more interesting…and gives me hope that the next action hero we see on the screen might look a little less like Matt Damon and a little more like Daniel Dae Kim or Will Yun Lee.

Isabella Chow ArtDiction | 9 | September/October 2016

music Brave Enough

approach. “In Love With A Boy”

Lindsey Sterling

and “Everything I do is Worng” are the strongest tracks on the album.

Violinist, Lindsey Sterling has played

Perhaps because they seem the

her way into mainstream music with

most sincere. But over production

this album. What is noteworthy is

and lyrical clichés simply feel like

the balance between the lyrics and

bad ideas. Adding Brooke Candy as a

instrumentations. With slow and

guest rapper was an equally horrific

up-tempo songs, the strings are at

idea.

the heart of each song. It is a strong

Glory

follow-up to Shatter Me.

Britney Spears

Blonde Frank Ocean

It may be hard to believe, but this is the ninth album recording by Britney

Blonde is full of mellow splendor and

spears. On Glory, Britney tried

raw emotion that altogether makes

something new and it seems to have

trio, but add to their authentic sound.

a great sound. There is nothing

worked. Although her lyrics are at

With drops of rock, funk, soul, and

conventional about the album; it’s

times overly reliant on sexual topics,

pop you will be entertained and your

composed of peculiar instrumentals

the blend of techno, pop, dance, and

thoughts will be provoked.

and some segments of very odd

R&B is a formula that works for the

arrangements. It even an features a

“Princess of Pop”. There are tracks

mom warning a teenaged Ocean to

for her original and new fans to love.

La Femme

And the Anonymous Nobody

The indie pop band has put together

stay away from drugs. It is more than unorthodox. It is masterful.

Kaya Stewart

De La Soul

Kaya Stewart

Mystère

another album (although lengthy) that is worth listening to. There are variations in style that include strong

This is refreshing hip hop album

guitar and psychedelic sounds that

Kaya Stewart’s self-titled shows

with meaningful, discernable lyrics

flow from track to track. Lyrics sung

off her vocal talent, but overall the

you can rap along to. Tracks are

in French and Arabic add to the

project screams of a 16-year-old

creatively orchestrated, and guest

synthpop sound the French band has

who hasn’t figured out her musical

appearances do not overshadow the

mastered.

ArtDiction | 10 | September/October 2016

exhibits

The NMAAHC is located on the National Mall of the United States.

The NMAAHC’s building and presence on the National Mall is symbolic within themselves. Lead designer, David Adjaye, and lead architect, Philip Freelon and their respective teams won the international competition seven years ago to design and construct the museum on the five-acre site.

Mr. Adjaye, son of a Ghanaian diplomat, has lived in Egypt, England, Lebanon, and Tanzania. He has visited all 54 independent nations of Africa. Mr. Freelon is the leading designer for African American museums today. Before his death in February 2009, J. Max Bond Jr. was the designer for African American historic sites, museum, and archives around the world. The architects have merged various elements from Africa

found at www.moca.org.

Windows on the City: The School of Paris, 1900–1945 During the early part of the 20th century, artists from around the migrated to the City of Light, creating new forms of art and literature and responding to what was transforming urban life. Pablo Picasso and Georges Braque drastically overturned the conventions of painting;

and the Americas into the building’s design and structure.

For more details, go to https:// nmaahc.si.edu/.

Electric Earth The Museum of Contemporary Art (Los Angeles) is hosting Doug Aitken’s Electric Earth. The exhibition is a multi-room, multi-screen video installation that immerses the viewer in a loosely structured narrative about a young man in a big city. Walking along the deserted outskirts of Los Angeles at night, the protagonist seems emotionally and physically overwhelmed by various sights—a blinking streetlight, a wheel spinning on a shopping cart, the motions of a bill stuck in the Image from the installation of Electric Earth by Doug

The National Museum of African American History & Culture’s (NMAAHC) dedication and grand opening will take place on September 24w in Washington, D.C. NMAAHC’s exhibition Through the African American Lens, will preview the museum’s permanent collection.

Highlights will include a history lesson on families and individuals who have found success in spite of trying circumstances; an examination of how African Americans used formal and informal institutions as beacons of strength and hope to improve circumstances; and a celebration of literature, music, and visual art that has influenced society. NMAAHC owns nearly 37,000 artifacts due to institutional support and the generosity of many donors. For easy online exploring, collections are categorized into the following: American South; American West; Civil Rights; Clothing and Dress; Communities; Education; Family; Literature; Military; Music; Photography; Politics; Religious Groups; Segregation; and Slavery.

Collection of the Smithsonian National Museum of African American History and Culture, © Magnum Photos

Through the African American Lens

slot of a soda machine, a car window, flickering fluorescent lights, and airplanes flying overhead. The main character uses his body to mimic the motions and rhythms of objects, absorbing their energy throughout his exploration. The installation surrounds the viewer with synchronized, large-scale video images as it depicts an obsession and alienation from contemporary society. Details can be

The Soldier Drinks (Le Soldat boit), Marc Chagall © 2007 Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York/ADAGP, Paris

Robert Delaunay composed visions of harmonious color; Vasily Kandinsky drastically and undoubtedly changed the direction of abstraction; and Constantin Brancusi thoroughly rearranged how sculptures could be presented in space. This Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum (New York) exhibit brings together the masterpieces and most influential pieces of art that occured during the early 1900s. The diverse presentation spans the first years of the 20th century through World War II, while charting key movements of modernism—from Cubism to Orphism to Surrealism—and the artists who came to be known as the École de Paris (School of Paris). Visit www.guggenheim.org for more information.

ArtDiction | 11 | September/October 2016

Call for Artists!

Become a featured artist in ArtDiction by submitting artwork to submission@artdictionmagazine. To request additional details, send an email to info@artdictionmagazine.com.

Introspective Perspective

Anu Oro is building a following (ArtDiction included) for her dynamic watercolor and acrylic paintings that consistently portray what she knows best—the feminine aspect of life. “I believe that women have an immense degree of power and this can be seen through hundreds of years of artwork. The female energy/body have been glorified in this manner by artists who are able to identify and appreciate this.”

Anu draws inspiration from her personal perspective of the world and form the creative and spiritual process that she believes are intertwined. “Spirituality is inseparable from creating, whether one realizes it or not,”she says. “All of my pieces honor that, and the process is essentially a form of self-worship.”

Anu will soon begin working with pastels and oils and plans to take on sculpting in the future. But first, she is currently in the West Indies working on an upcoming series entitled Oro Island.

Anu Oro, CEO.000.000 ArtDiction |12 | September/October 2016

©GRAPHICSTOCK / TUNGPHOTO

Anu Oro, Thought Form

©GRAPHICSTOCK / TUNGPHOTO

Anu Oro, & All Things Shall Become Anu

The Great Work Phillip Utterback

A

fter its world premiere in San Francisco in 1991, Angels in America swept the theatre scene as one of the most powerful and important plays of the late twentieth century, garnering Drama Desk and Tony awards for Best Play and the Pulitzer Prize for Drama. The HBO miniseries released in 2003 would go on to be nominated for 21 Emmys, winning 11, including all four acting categories and Outstanding Miniseries.

Tony Kushner’s Angels in America weaves a complicated story that forces the audience to question politics, religion, sexuality, gender, human growth, and reality. Revealed through interconnected characters, Angels in America tears from scene to scene in short bursts that pull the viewer into moments that continually force them to examine their understanding of the play and the world around them. Kushner’s words effortlessly flow out of the characters’ mouths with a sense of raw emotion and “visceral” responses to “existential experience[s].” Set in New York City in 1985, Angels in America combines AIDS, Reaganite politics, couples fighting for survival, homosexuality, and the existential question of what purpose humans have in the grand scheme of the universe. The full, two-part play that runs over six hours, is an epic, which despite its subtitle “A Gay Fantasia on National

ArtDiction | 18| September/October 2016

The Great Work Themes,” handles far more than sexuality and issues facing the nation. It continually traps the characters into situations where the audience, as much as the characters themselves, are forced to question their values and instincts, and what to do when it seems like you have lost everything you hold dear.

With so many themes and ideas to conquer to successfully produce this play, how does one even begin the creative process? To answer that question, we spoke with Olney Theatre Center Artistic Director, Jason Loewith. Mr. Loewith directed Part One of Angels in America: Millennium Approaches as part of a two-year relationship with the Round House Theatre; the Round House’s Producing Artistic Director, Ryan Rilette is directing Part Two: Perestroika.

Mr. Loewith compared the beginning process of directing to dating; you “read the play over and over again” and “instinctively, thoughts and ideas start to rise to the surface.”

Mr. Loewith described his experience with reading Angels in America as “incredibly visceral.” On the one hand, you have this “stately and elegant” play with music guiding you from one scene to another, and on the other hand you have “brash jump cuts” that “ripsaw” from scene to scene in “jarring lurches” that never allow you any rest. Through cooperation between the two directors, they balance the play’s blend of personal and political; build and develop the characters to withstand the length of the play; and leave the play

resonating with the audience long after the show has ended.

Directing a play generally allows the director and actors to create and develop the characters from start to finish. But with a two-part play and two different directors, this process is forced to slightly change. With only the beginning of the play to truly work with, how did the process change to ensure the characters could reach their final development?

Mr. Jason Loewith: Ryan was very smart. Our first week of rehearsal was all table work for both plays to build common vocabulary; he came in as a producer would for a design run and as a co-director to come in.

I feel like he took the role an actor; we did a lot of talking of where [the characters] are going. One character that we had a great discussion about that was starting in a place where [the character] couldn’t grow in Perestroika. I’m too close to see where it will go. If you are only direct-

Sarah Marshall (Hannah) in rehearsal for Angels in America.

What aspects of the play do you feel is the most important to portray?

Mr. Jason Loewith: It’s like the Mount Everest of American theater,

"I went in design runs and had conversations to see the journey looking back to see forward echoes." ing one part [the character] goes from trying vainly to hold it together to really losing it. In the first play the evolution is very quick but [the character] has a lot more [to develop in Part Two]. It was a really helpful note; we needed to be more careful to see the play as a whole. I went in design runs and had conversations to see the journey looking back to see forward echoes.

Director Ryan Rilette in rehearsal for Angels in America.

ArtDiction | 20 | September/October 2016

or at least it’s one of the highest peaks. It was perfect for the coproduction; the way we view plays is very similar. It’s what Showboat was in its time; like A Chorus Line, what Hamilton is now, Death of a Salesman - five pieces of American theater that are the perfect blending of the personal and political. What is most important is that you get wrapped up in the emotional lives of these characters. And the genius of the play is that the politics go right along, but you don’t have to sit there and think. After you leave the theatre, the play doesn’t leave you; it continues to resonate and creeps up on you and becomes a part of you without you ever knowing. What is really interesting is many in the cast grew up in the late 90s and 2000s; their impression of AIDS is that it is a treatable thing. At the time of the play, you were terrified because it

was a death sentence. It will be inter- and runs at the Round House Theatre esting to see what young people’s (4545 East-West Highway Bethesda, experience will be.

MD 20814) until September 18th.

Angels in America: Perestroika With so much depth, the play unfolds opens September 25 and runs until itself as a tapestry of a very speOctober 2. The plays are running in cific moment in American life; an rotating repertory from October 5 to homage to the people who dealt with October 30. For more information, go life during this time. But it’s also a to http://www.roundhousetheatre. chance to connect to characters in org/ or http://www.olneytheatre.org/ the way that all playwrights desire. shows-a-events/angels-in-americaMr. Loewith’s words on this issue? parts-i-a-ii.

“This is like an Old Testament play: angels breaking through walls and Special thanks to Mr. Jason Loewith, the Olney Theatre Center, and the ghosts appearing and people trying Round House Theatre for the interview to love each other.”

Angels in America: Millennium Approaches opened September 7 Front cover of program for the 1992 production of play at the Royal National Theatre, London.

(and photographs) on September 2, 2016 . Full interview notes available at www.artdictionmagazine.com.

"This is like an Old Testament play: angels breaking through walls and ghosts appearing and people trying to love each other."

Jon Hudson Odom (Mr. Lies) & Kimberly Gilbert (Harper) in rehearsal for Angels in America.

ArtDiction | 21 | September/October 2016

Louis Vuitton’s Fall 2012 campaigned inspired by the runway show that featured a locomotive, models, and porters.

ArtDiction | 22| September/October 2016

Fashion’s Architectural Marvels Joshua Griffin, Devika Strother

F

ashion Week (New York) is upon us. Top fashion designers unveil their collections draped across models making their way down the runway; makeup artists masterfully bake and contour; hairstylists straighten, pin, tease, and spray. It’s somewhat of a frenzy. And we love it! But there is another feature of Fashion Week that’s just as important as the clothing— set designs.

Companies and set designers that specialize in the construction of fashion sets will spend months before a show. During this time, they will design, choose, and build a set that is as immersive as it is exciting. What is more, they often have to ensure that their designs are actually in keeping with the brand as well as the feel of the collection to be showcased.

For instance, Miuccia Prada has worked with the AMO design studio since 2004. The familiarity and trust of the partnership has allowed the two to constantly continue pushing into new and unchartered waters in the set design world. In 2012, AMO and Prada converted the fashion runway into an indoor golf course. By so doing, they were able to channel the sport that might be as far

ArtDiction | 23 | September/October 2016

Fashion’s Architectural Marvels from the typically avant-garde ethos of the haute couture world as one can get. What is more, the companies lined the entire floor of a spacious vaulted building with sky-blue cubes and AstroTurf for seating. The models, on the other hand, walked the spare stadium-lit set in sparkly bejeweled golf shoes.

While most fashion weeks focus on clothing, one cannot help but notice the inspiring over-the-top set design backdrops. Without these backdrops, in fact, the fashion weeks and shows would not be what they are. Here is a look back at some highly creative catwalks in recent fashion history.

Fendi, Fall 2007 Fendi held a fashion show right on the Great Wall of China (Figure 1).

During the event, the set design effectively transformed a section of the 4500-mile-long structure into the oldest and most historically significant fashion catwalk. The set design was so effective that a minimum of 500 people flew from around the world to

converge at Beijing before driving 90 miles out of the city to climb a great number of steps just to see the show.

Put on by Karl Lagerfeld, this was one of the most profound of all set designs in fashion history.

Ralph Lauren, Spring 2008 In 2008, Ralph Lauren took center stage with their ingenious set design backdrops. The company marked their 40th anniversary with a triumphant party and show at the Conservatory Garden at New York’s Central Park. The theme was a scene resembling Royal Ascot and reminiscent of the styles in the classic musical, My Fair Lady. The set design backdrops were painted with horse races and filled with pictures of elegantly attired spectators (Figure 2).

The backdrops also included arched lattice, as well as black and white piped cushions for the audience to sit in.

Figure 1—Karl Lagerfeld’s Fendi production at the Great Wall of China.

ArtDiction | 24 | Septermber/October 2016

Chanel, Fall 2012 At the Chanel Fall 2012 show, the backdrops were filled with imposing shards of what looked like smoky quartz and amethyst. As such, they looked like they were erupting right from the Palais Royal grounds.At the same time, smaller crystal and sparkling sand was used to lay the ground. These set design facets were designed to reinforce the metallic leitmotif that Chanel was going with that year. Additionally, there were mineral-shaped geometric shapes as well as rough-cut jewelry while the models’ eyes were sprinkled with small stones. According to Lagerfeld,

Figure 2—Ralph Lauren Spring 2008 set design.

Lois Vuitton, Fall 2012

nature was the best designer that season.

Dior, Fall 2012 Monsieur Dior is widely known in the fashion world for his deep love for botanicals. Perhaps this is because he grew up in Les Rhumbs, the sprawling villa in Granville, France, which is filled with greenery that he and his mother plotted. After creating the New Look collection in 1947, Dior is said to have mentioned that he went into the fashion industry to design flower women. More than half

For their Fall 2012 show, Louis Vuitton was inspired to have a locomotive built for his fashion set (Figure 4). The locomotive pulled into the Cour Carree at the Louvre, blowing real steam. The train was painted navy blue with the house’s name in signature gold lettering on the side and it transported models who were met by adorned porters who carried their bags. This move was in keeping with LV’s beginnings in the trunk industry.

Figure 3—Dior’s blossom-filled set for the Fall 2012 show.

wondrous glamor that marked travel in ages past. Using these set design backdrops, Louis Vuitton’s Marc Jacobs intended to recreate a time period that would recall thoughts of a better life, literature, and cinema. This was further extended by the fall print ads the company released, which featured recreations of the train’s interiors.

Marc Jacobs, Fall 2012

Figure 4—Louis Vuitton staged a locomotive for his set for the Fall 2012 show.

a century later, Mark Colle (a florist working out of Antwerp) used the gardens of Les Rhumbs as his inspiration. He proceeded to use flowers as set design backdrops in the Dior Fall 2012 couture show (Figure 3).

The collection, as well as the models and the porters, were all meant to evoke the romantic notions of the

For the fall 2012 show, designer Marc Jacobs called in a close friend, artist Rachel Feinstein, to work on the set design backdrops. Jacobs had been admiring portraits of Rachel created by her husband, the famed high painter, John Currin as well as Puritan’s Delight, a sculpture she made of a spooky and warped horseless carriage. These works of art inspired Jacobs to think of pilgrims Figure 5—Marc Jacob’s Fall 2012 show.

Mark covered the walls of five rooms in a mansion in Paris with blossoms for the show. The flowers included dahlias, roses, and pink and yellow zinnias. Mr. Colle also filled another room from wall to wall with blue delphiniums while another room was completely adorned in goldenrod.

White orchids took center stage in yet another room.

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Fashion’s Architectural Marvles when he started working on that season’s collection. So, he called in Feinstein who set her sights on leafless trees, dark grottoes and crumbling ruins. Within a fortnight, she was done with her design, which was later implemented by Stefan Beckman and a studious team of carpenters. The team worked on building the surreal

backdrops entirely out of wood and paper (Figure 5).

Modern fashion shows are about so much more than clothing and haute couture accessories. This is largely due to the set designers who create more than ambitious spectacles that pop lights and brighten the runways.

Whether meticulously constructed artificial worlds or architectural treasures reimaged into catwalks, the high fashion set goes a long way.

It pulls these often otherworldly, thoughtfully designed, and immense backgrounds right into the foreground.

Top-rated Set Designers The most famous set designers can also be considered the best. This is because perfection typically tends to go with fame in the fashion industry. Here’s a list of the top five fashion designers.

1. Bureau Betak Bureau Betak ranks among the most famous of set designers in the world. The firm was founded by Alexandre de Betak 15 years ago when he moved from his post at Sybilla’s Communications in Paris. After shifting to New York, Betak took up art production and directing for the worlds of beauty, luxury, and fashion. He also delved a bit in designing limited edition furniture for Swarovski, Artcurial, and Domeau and Peres, as well as the design of light installations.

Today, Bureau Betak is one of the few set designers dedicated to translating designers’ and houses’ collections, ideas, and products to the general public and to the press. In the course of its work, the firm creates the visual identity and language of the fashion world and communicates it through events and shows that are famed for their newsworthiness, memorability, and emotion.

2. OBO LLC OBO LCC is an international production and event management agency with offices in London and New York. The company was created to serve various clients within the luxury sector, particularly those who prefer single-sounding global event production, coordination and design. Since 2000, OBO LLC has been providing these services in Zurich, Stockholm, Moscow, Milan, Miami, Las Vegas, Hong Kong, Cannes, Beijing and Amsterdam. Its shows have included YSL Tokyo, Moncler, Chloé, Armani Privé, Boss Black, Valentino, and Y-3.

3. YO Events Designers, Paris YO Events Designers is a creative production and direction agency for audiovisual communication and events. The company provides production, creative direction, and set design services. It also offers project management, consultation, and analysis from design all the way to installation. The group of highly talented set designers also produces dinner receptions, product launches, parties, and fashion shows. YO Events has produced shows for Karl Lagerfeld, Jean Paul Gaultier, Givenchy, Fendi and Celine.

4. Villa Eugenie, Brussels Villa Eugenie is an events management company that develops long- and short-term strategies for top luxury brands.

The company was originally dedicated to the fashion world. However, today it is involved in every sector touching on perfume, high jewelry, art and luxury.Recognized initially for its fashion catwalk events, magazine launches, institutional presentations, product launches, and installations, the company now works on many other things as well. As such, it has not limited itself to any particular interest or geographical location. Villa Eugenie operates from Tokyo to Paris, Hong Kong to Florence, and New York to Miami. Most recently, these set designers produced shows for Dries Van Noten, Hermès, Lanvin, Miu Miu, Maison Martin Margiela, and Chanel.

5. Sun Design Group, Tokyo Sun Design Group of Tokyo was established by Kazuhiro Oide in 1967. His mission was to introduce beautiful haute couture fashion to the greatest number of people. At the time, Japanese fashion shows were limited to the people within the industry. By selling fashion show tickets to the general public, Kazuhiro Oide popularized fashion shows in Japan and made more people know about them. His direction of fashion events and shows have also won him high international acclaim from top designers around the world, and introduced Japanese designers to the rest of the globe.

The Sun Design Group has produced fashion shows for Jun Ashida, Marc Jacobs, Issey Miyake, Tom Ford, Missoni, and Giorgio Armani.

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www.theartistcierralynn.com

Nostalgic

California-based photographer, Remo Fioroni, began taking pictures at 8 years old. His first camera was from his father, a taxi driver, who traded a camera and 3 lenses in exchange for transporting someone who lost all their money to the airport. Years later, Remo used an AE-1 Canon and two rolls of film to shoot this series, Old World New Eyes.

In a world where digital photography has taken over, Remo’s film series is nostalgic, in the best way possible. The images have a distinct and desired effect that only film photography can create. “My film photography is inspired by the stark contrast the process provides to the superfluous capturing of images that exist in these digitally obsessive times. A roll of film provides only a handful of opportunities to forever capture a moment.”

These moments were captured on Remo’s first trip to Europe where as he traveled to Rome, Italy, and Paris France. “I was in Europe for the first time, alone, and a bit lonely. I felt very much a stranger in this new, exciting environment so I wandered the streets constantly. I took photos when I found a situation I felt was interesting.”

Photographers who have used both film and digital can attest to the fact that shooting on film forces one to slow down and capture the right shot the first time; this was Remo’s method. “This more tangible approach suited me in particular for my first trip to Europe, where I preferred to live the experience and spend only a small amount of time recording it.”

Remo is currently working on a series of comedic video PSAs. Stay tuned.

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©GRAPHICSTOCK / TUNGPHOTO

artist index

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Jonathan DeDecker

Anu Oro

Remo Fioroni

from the creative director Art is a part of life I think each of us take advantage of. We see and hear it daily; the music we love; the images we see.

But it is so much more that many times we fail to recognize it. The bike leaning against the wall. The woman running in the rain. The ephemeral feelings that every brief moment of beauty in our day to day can bring us. That's what art is.

Moments of beauty. And that's everything we tried to capture in this issue. Different people’s moments of beauty. We hope you enjoyed it and look forward to more moments of beauty, as we do.

Phillip Utterback, Creative Director ArtDiction

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