Whitewall Fall 2016

CONTEMPORARY ART AND LIFESTYLE MAGAZINE

FALL 2016

CHANEL HAUTE COUTURE F/W 2016

Picture by Stéphane Gallois

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THE LETTER

THE FASHION ISSUE It has been a busier summer than we had anticipated, with not enough time off and lots of very warm days at our desks, so we find ourselves looking forward to the crisper weather ahead, the shortening days. It’s time to get a bit cozy (and less sweaty!).

September, although we have been out of school for more time than we care to admit, always feels like a fresh start, the beginning of something new. And for the art and fashion worlds, at least, it truly is, with New York Fashion Week kicking off soon after Labor Day, and the holiday week playing host to scores of new exhibition openings, and the like.

This fall, we’ve created a very fashion-focused issue for you—looking at haute couture, women’s ready-to-wear, and menswear. In July we were in Paris for Couture Week, and we’ve pulled for you some of our favorite looks from Valentino, Maison Margiela, Chanel, Dior, Giambattista Valli, and more. That week we also saw some stunning pieces for high jewelry presented around the city from Boucheron, Bulgari, De Beers, Giampiero Bodino, and Louis Vuitton.

In terms of ready-to-wear, we were struck by some very technical creations from threeASFOUR and Issey Miyake, and utterly avant-garde and totally covetable designs by Adeam and Delpozo. We caught up with menswear designer Carlos Garciavelez, as well as Kris Van Assche, who has been putting men’s fashion on the map for close to a decade. In our pages, you’ll see a special shoot done by Virginia Arcaro entitled “The Art of Falling Apart,” for the Dior Homme’s Fall/Winter 2016 collection.

In Chicago, we sat down with Virgil Abloh, the creative director behind a new idea of contemporary luxury—one focused on inclusion—who is currently using his fashion label OffWhite as a vehicle for his cultural theory.

Special in this issue is a full-length feature story on Vacheron Constantin’s commissioned body of work by Steve McCurry for its new “Overseas” collection, where the photographer captured 12 different locations from around the world. And we are yet again showcasing TWO x TWO for AIDS and Art’s annual artist honoree, who is Laura Owens this year.

Perhaps you, unlike us, aren’t ready to let the summer days go. If so, these pages are sure to get you geared up for fall.

KATY DONOGHUE EDITOR IN CHIEF

WHITEWALL 04

HERMÈS BY NATURE

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THE LETTER

PUBLISHER’S NOTE While we are always sad to see our summer come to an end, we’re looking forward to what the fall season will bring this year. Whitewall had a busy summer, which kicked off with Frieze New York, and moved on to visiting fairs, exhibitions, and biennials in Basel, Berlin, Zurich, Rome, London, Paris, and then back to the Hamptons.

We launched Whitewaller Basel for Art Basel, with special sections on Zurich for Gallery Weekend and Berlin for the Berlin Biennale. We celebrated the launch of our summer Design Issue, featuring a cover story with Amar’e Stoudemire shot by artist Daniel Arsham.

This fall, we’ll be connecting in New York for Fashion Week, which starts right after Labor Day, before heading to Chicago to cover the EXPO CHICAGO fair. And all summer long we’ve been working on our further European expansion for Whitewaller, with a special edition out for October and November for Frieze London and FIAC in Paris. We’re thrilled to have worked with special guest editors for both, Lauren Prakke for London and Judith Benhamou-Huet for Paris. Our eyes are now turned toward 2017, when we have plans for an even greater presence in Europe.

Events and partnerships for Miami this December are also on our minds, but for now we’re focusing on a series of talks, events, and a new curatorial project this fall in New York. As always, stay tuned!

Michael Klug FOUNDER, CEO, AND EDITOR AT LARGE

WHITEWALL 08

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THE LETTER

WHITEWALLER LETTER I hope you all had a great summer, whether in Europe, the United States, or elsewhere, and that you are just as excited as we about the art world getting back to business this fall. There is a lot to look forward to!

This year, in particular, we are welcoming the arrival of the season with open arms for many reasons. We are excited to be partnering with the EXPO CHICAGO art fair for the second year in a row through our Whitewaller app. This optimized app will not only help fairgoers navigate their way inside the fair but also help them discover all that the city of Chicago has to offer. Whitewaller will provide all the key information you will need to maximize your stay in the Windy City this September.

We are also very happy to continue our exploration of Europe after our first venture at Basel (with supplements on Zurich and Berlin). We will return to Europe with a redesigned and improved version of Whitewaller to be launched for Frieze in London and FIAC in Paris this October and November.

This new edition will combine London and Paris for the first time and will give you all the insider access you need. We know it will become your most trusted guide for these two great European capitals.

I am truly impressed, and even humbled, by our team’s dedication and hard work. They have made this issue the best Whitewaller yet by offering the most discerning content on the fairs to create the most compelling and comprehensive lifestyle guides to date. As always, we will be celebrating the launch of this new Whitewaller with bespoke events, and I hope to see you there.

So keep an eye on our social media and make sure to ask for your invitation!

Summer gave us a unique opportunity to reflect on the next phases of Whitewaller. We are preparing for our most ambitious year so far by focusing not just on Europe and the U.S. but with new plans to be there for you from Mexico to Hong Kong!

Laurent MoĂŻsi COO & ASSOCIATE PUBLISHER

WHITEWALL 10

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ISSUE 43 - CONTENTS

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40

NEWS PROFILES TO WATCH ATELIER SPOTLIGHT FOCUS

Chanel’s haute couture Fall/Winter 2016 collection.

GIOVANNI RIBOTTA, NICOLE DURLING, ROSARIO DAWSON, KATIE RODGERS, MICHAEL DARLING, ASHLEY WHEATER, ALESSANDRO CAJRATI CRIVELLI, CINZIA CUMINI

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ELIAS HANSEN

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A GLANCE AT THE COUTURE FASHION COLLECTIONS AND HIGH JEWELRY PRESENTATIONS IN PARIS THIS SUMMER.

VACHERON CONSTANTIN DEBUTS ITS NEW “OVERSEAS” COLLABORATION WITH A ROUND-THE-WORLD COMMISSION FOR PHOTOGRAPHER STEVE MCCURRY.

CARLOS GARCIAVELEZ, HANAKO MAEDA, YOSHIYUKI MIYAMAE, THREEASFOUR, JOSEP FONT

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WHITEWALL 24

ISSUE 43 - CONTENTS

Dior Homme’s Fall/Winter 2016 collection, photographed by Virginia Arcaro.

86

KRIS VAN ASSCHE ANGELA MISSONI VIRGIL ABLOH LAURA OWENS WE CATCH UP WITH THE CREATIVE DIRECTOR ON THE EVE OF 10 YEARS AT DIOR HOMME.

94

THE DESIGNER OPENS UP HER MODERN HOME FILLED WITH BRIGHT AND BOLD CONTEMPORARY ART.

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THE CREATIVE DIRECTOR TALKS ABOUT USING FASHION AS A VEHICLE FOR A LARGER MESSAGE.

112

THE DALLAS MUSEUM OF ART’S GAVIN DELAHUNTY IN CONVERSATION WITH THIS YEAR’S TWO X TWO HONOREE, LAURA OWENS.

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WHITEWALL 26

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FOUNDER, CEO, EDITOR AT LARGE Michael Klug – michael@whitewallmag.com

EDITOR IN CHIEF

Katy Donoghue – katy@whitewallmag.com

COO & BUSINESS DEVELOPMENT

Laurent Moïsi – laurent@whitewallmag.com

ARTISTIC DIRECTOR TARA GHAZANFAR

MARKETING & EDITORIAL MANAGER – margaux@whitewallmag.com

Margaux Cerruti

MARKETING ASSISTANT

Hermine Adrian – hermine@whitewallmag.com

ART & DESIGN EDITOR

Charlotte Boutboul – charlotte.b@whitewallmag.com

CULTURE & LIFESTYLE EDITOR

Eliza JordaN – eliza@whitewallmag.com

COPY EDITOR Kristin M. Jones

WORDS

Charlotte Boutboul - Katy Donoghue - Gavin Delahunty - Eliza Jordan Michael Klug - Emory Lopiccolo - Anna Sansom

IMAGES

Virginia Arcaro - Rafael Y. Herman - Johan Sandberg

EDITOR AT LARGE Thomas Rom

ADVISORS

Renaud Dutreil, Veronique Gabai, Patrice Klug, Thomas Mondo, Stuart Sundlun

EDITORIAL INTERN Allison Merchant

MARKETING INTERN LISETTE LAZARUS

DESIGN ASSISTANT Danae Gosset

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Whitewall Magazine is published by Sky Art Media, Inc. Michael Klug, Founder, Chairman, CEO 175 Varick St. 8th Floor New York, NY 10014 www.whitewallmag.com © WHITEWALL MAGAZINE. REPRODUCTION WITHOUT WRITTEN PERMISSION OF WHITEWALL IS PROHIBITED.

Whitewall does not assume any responsibility for any inaccuracy of information contained herein. Whitewall magazine contains facts, views, opinions, and statements of third parties, visitors, and other organizations. Sky Art Media, Inc., its parents, affiliates, and subsidiaries do not represent or endorse the accuracy or reliability of any advice, opinion, statement, or other information, displayed or distributed through Whitewall magazine. You acknowledge that any reliance upon any such advice, opinions, statement, or other information shall be at your sole risk and you agree that Sky Art Media, Inc., its parents, affiliates, and subsidiaries shall not be held responsible or liable, directly or indirectly, for any loss or damage caused or alleged to have been caused in any way whatsoever related to any advice, opinions, statements, or other information displayed or distributed in Whitewall magazine.

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WHITEWALL 28

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CONTRIBUTORS

Rafael Y. Herman

Rafael Y. Herman has been one of Whitewall’s featured collaborating artists since 2007. The winner of the 2015 Prague Fotosféra Award, Herman made his international debut in 2006 at Milan’s Palazzo Reale museum. In 2013, Herman was invited by TED to speak on his artistic language with his talk “Alternative Reality.” His upcoming solo exhibition at the Museum of Contemporary Art of Rome addresses two main themes: metaphysical curiosity and a tale of what lies beyond, and the investigation of light as a physical element and protagonist of space-time.

RAFAEL Y. HERMAN ANNA SANSOM EMORY LOPICCOLO

Anna Sansom

Anna Sansom is a British-born, Paris-based journalist who writes about art, design, and architecture for Damn, Frame and The Hour in Europe and Modern Weekly in China. For this issue, she visited the Salone Internazionale del Mobile in Milan.

Emory Lopiccolo

Emory Lopiccolo is a graduate of New York University’s Media, Culture, and Communication program. She has been contributing to Whitewall since the fall of 2014. Her work experience includes fashion public relations with BPMW, editorial contributions to Grey Magazine, Whitewall, and The WILD, and set design for fashion editorials and advertisements with Mary Howard Studio. She currently lives in Austin, Texas, where she works as the website and social media coordinator for Art Alliance Austin in addition to volunteering for the Blanton Museum of Art and Preservation Austin.

WHITEWALL 30

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WHITEWALL 34

1. Sperone Westwater in New York will present “Bruce Nauman: Contrapposto Studies, i through vii” on view through October 29.

2. Ian Davenport’s new show at Paul Kasmin Gallery will be on view through October 22. (Pictured: Light Blue, The Marriage, 2016, courtesy of Paul Kasmin Gallery.)

3. Wangechi Mutu has partnered with Home Grown Books to launch the children’s book What Do You See? Five percent of profits will be donated to Every Mother Counts, a nonprofit organization dedicated to making pregnancy and birth safe for every mother.

4. Ryan Gander’s “I see straight through you” is on view at Lisson Gallery in New York through October 15. (Pictured: Fieldwork 2016, 2016, © Ryan Gander, courtesy of Lisson Gallery.)

5. Almine Rech Gallery will open in New York this October with a show of work by Alexander Calder and Pablo Picasso.

(Pictured: Alexander Calder, Untitled, c. 1942, photo courtesy of the Calder Foundation, New York / Art Resource, New York © 2016 Calder Foundation, New York / Artist Rights Society (ARS), New York, photo © Tom Powel Imaging.)

6. The Denver Art Museum will present “Shock Wave: Japanese Fashion Design, 1980s–90s” this fall. (Pictured: Kenzo Takada, 1986, photo © Jean-Luce Huré.)

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NEWS

2.

1.

3.

CLASSICS REINVENTED 4.

1. Louis Vuitton introduces a collection of new rolling luggage designed

by Marc Newson.

2. Max Mara is relaunching its iconic 101801 coat this fall in different colorways for the first time ever.

In celebration, the brand will host a series of events with a traveling exhibition of archive photographs

by Roxanne Lowit. (Pictured: photo

by Roxanne Lowit, courtesy of Max Mara.)

3. A plate from L’Objet’s Alchimie Black earthenware dinnerware for fall 2016.

4. The Magellan Development Group has tapped Jeanne Gang’s Studio Gang to design the Vista Tower in Chicago.

5. The new Repossi flagship boutique opened recently, designed by OMA/Rem Koolhaas.

6. The Contour chair from Paul Mathieu’s signature collection for Salone Internazionale del Mobile, designed with Luxury Living Group.

7. A two-door cabinet designed by Christian Lacroix Maison for Roche Bobois.

5.

6.

7.

WHITEWALL 36

NEWS

3.

1.

1. This fall Akris celebrates its iconic Ai bag with the customizing service “Create your Aidentity.”

2. Breguet and Versailles will present “Marie Antoinette, a Queen in Versailles,” at the Mori Arts Center in Tokyo from October 25, 2016— February 26, 2017.

3. Jaeger-LeCoultre’s second series of the Reverso watch in tribute to Vincent van Gogh, in partnership with the Van Gogh Museum. The Reverso à Eclipse is a unique reversible watch featuring a platinum case equipped with the in-house JaegerLeCoultre Calibre 849, and a miniature enamel painting.

4. Bell & Ross’s Vintage BR Aéronavale three-hand small seconds model.

5. On view this fall through January 8, 2017, the Ca’ Pesaro International Gallery of Modern Art in Venice showcase “The woman who reads,” an exhibition that evokes Gabrielle Chanel’s creative world, presented

by Culture Chanel. (Pictured: portrait of Gabrielle Chanel, 1962, © DOUGLAS KIRKLAND.) 6. DISARONNO has created a limitededition bottle design with fashion house ETRO for the holidays to benefit Fashion 4 Development.

7. The Bottega Veneta eyewear collection for Karing Eyewear is heavily influenced by creative director Tomas Maier.

2.

4.

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WHITEWALL 38

S TAR TR E K design roberto lazzeroni

PROFILE

GIOVANNI RIBOTTA

CHIEF EXTERIOR DESIGNER AT MASERATI

BY ELIZA JORDAN

In March during the New York International Auto Show, Whitewall met with Giovanni Ribotta, the chief designer for all of Maserati’s exterior programs, to discuss the company’s newest model and first SUV—the Levante. Available this fall in a luxury or sport package, the sharp Q4 design gains bits of inspiration from two previous Maserati models, the Ghibli and the Quattroporte.

With Poltrona Frau leather interiors stitched with Ermenegildo Zegna silk, the Levante’s offers technical prowess, optimum performance, and distinct all-Italian style that is sure to stun prospective car buyers—and not just those looking for a family car.

WHITEWALL: Tell us about your role as the chief exterior designer of Maserati.

GIOVANNI RIBOTTA: I’ve worked for Maserati

since 2009 as a designer. I designed the front of the Quattroporte and the exterior of the Ghibli. I know as a designer for Maserati what the process is. Then, I became chief in 2011, and I manage five guys that come from our international team. I did the Kubang in 2011 in Frankfurt, then worked during the Centennial dell’Alfieri in 2014. And then, the same time we did the dell’Alfieri, we worked also on the Levante.

WW: As an automotive designer, you design vehicles that won’t be on the market for several years. What are some key points of inspiration for you when designing, essentially, for the future?

GR: For Maserati’s design point, we have some inspiration from the past and have some iconic elements of the cars. The GT shape, for example, the main shape of the car is made by the

intersection between a centerpiece and the four fenders, which is inspired by the sporty car of the past. I think that Maserati is one of the few brands where the sportiness can play with the elegance.

So the design is born from a contrast between the sporty and the elegant; classic elements and technical elements. In the interior, we played with the contrast in materials: leather, wood, silk.

The Levante, in the front, is very quick and dynamic, and elegant and real with the shape.

Another guideline is that the design is always related to the performance. On the exterior, we keep many targets for our aerodynamic point of view. For example, the car will have proficient aerodynamics that is 0.31. You can see many element designs for the function.

We follow some trends, maybe looking at architecture or fashion design, especially for interior and industrial design.

WW: You debuted the Levante at the Geneva

International Motor Show earlier this month.

What was the reaction?

GR: The reaction was good. From the design point of view, the challenge was to keep our distinctive identity, combining the main SUV features with our brand’s identity. I think the reaction was, for the first time, a bit strange because, if you look, this is not a boxy SUV. This is a sport gran turismo—a very sporty car. And inside, you can see all of the features, and the overall sensation of specialness. Many people were worried about the SUV for Maserati, but this is a Maserati SUV. The Maserati of SUVs. They said, “Wow!” WW: In regard to designing Maserati’s SUV, you

gained inspiration from two previous models.

WHITEWALL 40

What was important for you to include in this new style?

GR: It was very important for us to have this coupe style. And so we worked with engineering to have this without compromise, but, again, keeping the main roomy SUV features. The other step was the design related to the performance, so that design didn’t change. It evolved in aerodynamic shape, in the teamwork to achieve the performance of the car, the visual elements that show the on-road ability, and the elements that show the off-road ability. You can see the GranTurismo shape—a body that is powerful but light, and gives the dynamic perception and the reality of the car. For the off-road perception, there is something that is under the skin. It is not described by style.

Italian design is not only from an Italian designer. It’s from the mood, the brand, the kind of work. When we do sketches, we use emotion, but it’s important to put the emotion back into the shape. From when you work with the 3-D model, when you keep the correct line, the volume of the cars needs to speak the same language.

WW: What type of drivers will drive in a Maserati Levante?

GR: I think there is a Maserati-oriented customer.

Who drives a Maserati? A gentleman driver.

Someone that looks at his car every day, and wants to keep a certain feel. The customer of Maserati is one that, I think, knows that his car can go fast and can perform, but is not interested in showing it.

The 2017 Maserati Levante.

PROFILE

NICOLE DURLING

CO-DIRECTOR OF EXHIBITIONS & COLLECTIONS AND SENIOR CURATOR AT MONA

BY EMORY LOPICCOLO

On a perfectly clear fall day like the one on which I visited, the Museum of Old and New Art (MONA) in Tasmania, Australia, appears to be a picturesque venue offering a leisurely afternoon of art viewing and wine tasting at the onsite vineyard.

It’s only when you descend beneath the depths of the subterranean museum that you realize there is an entire world of weird and wonderful creations lurking 20 meters below the surface.

The museum recently celebrated its fifth anniversary, and David Walsh and his team have no intentions of slowing down. I sat down with Nicole Durling, one of the chief curators, who has been with MONA since its inception, to learn more about its increasing popularity and what’s on for the future.

WHITEWALL: How would you describe MONA’s collection compared to more traditional museums?

NICOLE DURLING: MONA is basically at the

bottom of the world, out of people’s geographical mindsets, but we always say that the interesting ideas happen on the periphery. That’s certainly where we are geographically located, and it’s also where we philosophically locate ourselves—at the periphery, at the edge. I guess that’s potentially where more risks would be taken. We don’t have the spotlight of big cities and the pressures to conform. The collection goes back to Neolithic arrow tips and spear points through to brand-new commissioned works. In no way is it the best example of every area that we collect in, it is in no way exhaustive of all types of creative human pursuits, but it is very eclectic and in a true sense a connoisseur’s collection. We collect in areas where we are interested, that have some sort of personal—whether it’s to the owner or to the ideas

WHITEWALL 42

we are exploring—meaning.

The collection is really the core of what we do. The objects are from antiquity through to modern video works, and the way that we think is that all art is contemporary. Something from 10,000 years ago has survived and is here in the world now, and the way that we look upon it and view it has as much relevance as something being created today. The core approach to how MONA tries to display our collection and present exhibitions revolves around human creativity, what interests us, what motivates us, and what makes us who we are.

WW: What are some of the things you’ve found most surprising within these first five years?

ND: There have been quite a few surprises along

the way. When we were first proposing what

Portrait of the Museum of Old and New Art’s curators Nicole Durling and Olivier Varenne.

This page: Installation views of “Monanism,” an evolving exhibition.

MONA might be, we certainly didn’t have an end goal in mind. It was very much a process of learning, and it still to this day is a site for learning for us. David Walsh says the one thing that really surprised him was how the museum was embraced by people. He was always an outsider, and always considered himself an outsider, so the fact that he was doing something that interested himself as well as attracted the foundational team that came on board and had previously held more traditional or formulaic art-historical careers was a surprise to him.

WW: What are some of the projects you are looking forward to?

WW: What is the curation process like?

ND: We have a very big exhibition coming up

ND: There are two directors of the museum, myself

and Olivier Varenne, who is based in London. We have both been working with David for ten years.

Mostly, Olivier and I will generate the selection

of exhibitions; however, we’ve assembled a long list of artists and different areas of interest after ten years of working very closely with David, plus other colleagues within the curatorial team.

Sometimes it’s just fortuitous that an artist is ready to go with a particular project, and the stars align.

For us, it’s all about the ideas behind the work, and if the ideas are interesting to us, we will pursue that project.

in November titled “On the Origin of Art” and that is the biggest exhibition we will have ever done—the most ambitious and the most complex.

This is the quintessential MONA exhibition. It is curated by four guest curators who aren’t artists or

WHITEWALL 43

art historians. They are specialists in their different fields but all have theories around Darwinian evolutionary theory, about why we do what we do.

That exhibition has been something we have been working on since the museum opened. One of the joys of the exhibition is having that group dialogue together, but also at the same time it’s incredibly tricky to be working with four individuals outside the museum.

PROFILE

ROSARIO DAWSON ACTRESS AND PHILANTHROPIST

BY ELIZA JORDAN Aron Belka and Rosario Dawson at the 6th Annual Bombay Sapphire Artisan Series Grand Finale cohosted by Russell Simmons and Dawson during Art Basel Miami Beach. Photo by Jamie McCarthy/ Getty Images for Bombay.

You may have seen her on the big screen, stealing scenes in movies like Rent, Sin City, and 25th Hour, or maybe on the news introducing Bernie Sanders during his campaign rallies earlier this year. Perhaps you’ve seen her pitching in at one of her near-and-dear nonprofits such as the Lower Eastside Girls Club, Save the Children, the National Geographic Society, Conservation International, and Doctors Without Borders.

In December 2015, we first connected with the 37-year-old Dawson at Art Basel Miami Beach, as she was invited to return as guest judge and mentor for the 6th Annual Bombay Sapphire Gin Artisan Series after she attended for the first time in 2014. In collaboration with Russell and Danny Simmons’s Rush Philanthropic Art Foundation, Dawson’s role was to assist in selecting one overall winner out of 12 finalists—alongside the tent-full of attendees who were given a chip to place in their favorite artist’s voting bank.

“I’m grateful for Russell’s vision to be able to create space like that for so many people to come together, to do what they love, and support each other in that,” said Dawson. That night, the New Orleans–based artist Aron Belka was awarded first place for his large-scale artistic creation—a heartfelt painting of a woman in Africa, Belka’s wife, assisting with emergency medicine during the Ebola outbreak.

“For me, as an actor, emotion is a key part of my creativity and a key element to storytelling.

It’s really beautiful when you can look at a static visual and feel emotion, and feel like it’s being captured as well,” said Dawson of the work.

“There’s an intensity to it that I think people really gravitated to.

“For me, his piece was just so personal,” she continued. “You could feel that there was this

intense emotion in it. There was a lot of love, there was a lot of pain as well, and it was really stirring.”

Belka went on to show a solo presentation at SCOPE New York last March with Bombay Sapphire, and after months of plotting with the help of Dawson to create his large-scale mural to appear, he debuted it in June in New York City.

Allen Toussaint, now painted on the side of a building at 188 Lafayette Street, shines in front of a sophisticated blue.

“I strive to collaborate with programs that are personally meaningful to me and that will make a significant impact on the next generation of artists,” said Dawson. At a young age, she developed an interest in art while growing up in New York, when her community and family were an “an interesting mix where you really didn’t think about people being an actor, dancer, painter, or artist—everybody came together in this big city, this cauldron of spirit and energy and creativity and poverty and wealth, and it was just so much that I think I’ve always had an eye on it.”

Her grandmother, Pena Bonita, originally from New Mexico, was an inspiration for her, as Bonita has been involved with many museums and organizations such as the Wilmer Jennings Gallery, the American Indian Community House Gallery, and the Smithsonian Institution. Dawson’s uncle, Shannon Dawson, also had a band named KONK, in which Madonna was his go-go dancer, and her uncle Frank Jump created photographs that represented New York as a city that was a fading advertisement—some of which she still owns.

Over the phone a few months ago, Dawson told us about the art she has boxed up, ready to hang on her new home’s walls. She’s a big proponent and collector of her friends’ and

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family’s work, and she has a variety of interactive pieces, photographs, and tidbits from unknown artists. “It’s interesting. My friend Weston Woolley is an artist and he gave me a piece, and also my friend Jordan Betten, who does paintings and huge murals in the city, as well as individual pieces using old snakeskins and all types of different things for people like Lenny Kravitz and Sheryl Crow,” said Dawson humbly. She says that she has also commissioned pieces from the artist Guillermo Bert, who created two six-foot-tall horses and a three-dimensional elephant made of six elephants and a poem—an homage to her grandmother. She also gathers pieces from around the world when she travels to “places like Africa and the islands,” she said. “I really like to get stuff that is very natural—made with natural things that tend to have multiple uses, like instruments.”

Dawson is making art, too, but for her, it’s a bit different. Along with co-founder Abrima Erwiah, Dawson is the originator of Studio 189—a social enterprise that is headquartered in Ghana, West Africa, and the United States that uses fashion for social change. Studio 189 works with artists who work in varying disciplines like cloth weaving, glass beadwork, and sewing, and who may not have otherwise had an opportunity to create something for profit.

And just before the end of our conversation, Dawson divulged her favorite art fairs, including Frieze London, Art Basel Miami Beach, and SCOPE. She says you’re able to see artists that are possibly “on their way up in the ranks, so it’s an opportunity to maybe buy a piece that is affordable at the moment that might not be in the nearby future.”

PROFILE

KATIE RODGERS

BY CHARLOTTE BOUTBOUL

Katie Rodgers, the artist behind the blog Paper Fashion and an illustrator who has collaborated with Armani, Cartier, Saks Fifth Avenue, and American Express, among other clients, is partnering for the second time with the house of horology nearing 400 patents: Jaeger-LeCoultre.

Rodgers created an inspiring gouache series for the Swiss watchmaker’s 2016 Reverso One Lady’s Collection. She shared with Whitewall her current inspirations and also discussed how she perceives the role of illustration by hand in an increasingly digitized world.

WHITEWALL: What were the themes and elements that inspired you for the paintings accompanying the 2016 Reverso One Collection?

KATIE RODGERS: The paintings were direct

responses to specific Jaeger-LeCoultre women’s timepieces. I tried to capture the essence and feeling of the inspiration behind each piece in a whimsical and elegant way that reflects both Jaeger-LeCoultre and myself. For example, creating a mood of space and time with a crescent

moon for the Reverso One Duetto Moon watches.

WW: This is your second time working with Jaeger

LeCoultre. What have you connected with within the world of watchmaking? Were you familiar with mechanical watchmaking prior to these projects?

KR: I have grown to love and appreciate Jaeger-

LeCoultre’s story and the amount of craft and delicate detail that goes into each piece. Their pieces are truly wearable works of art, and I find that very aspirational. They are so much more than just luxury. I was familiar with watchmaking prior to working with Jaeger-LeCoultre, although not in depth. I spent some time working as an intern at New York City’s Hermès store as a student and learned a bit about the art of watchmaking there.

WW: Your blog suggests that anything for you is an inspiration leading to drawing. How vital or compulsive is drawing for you?

KR: The simplest things we often take for granted—or contrastingly, the complex beauty within fashion, culture, and dance—constantly

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inspire me. Ever since I can remember, I have felt a connection with speaking visually. I communicate when creating artworks; I let my mind speak through my pencil or paintbrush. That connection has never faded and continues to grow stronger as I get older. I find art to be a therapeutic way of explaining ideas and thoughts.

WW: With the advent of the digital age, the way in which illustration is executed is dramatically changing. How do you foresee this evolution?

KR: I think of this in a similar way to how I see

watchmaking (non-smart watches). I appreciate simplicity even more so as the world is moving at a faster pace. I think there’s so much beauty in wearing a piece of art on your wrist that serves one purpose: telling time. Yet, when you think about time within a life, it is so much more complex and beautiful than just “What time is it?”

Similarly, with illustration, I appreciate the art of someone creating an image by hand.

Taking what’s within one’s imagination and translating it visually for the world to see. Creating a line with one’s hands, with the possibility of

making human errors. There is something beautiful about that, rather than having an algorithm create that line for you. I believe people will continue to appreciate fine arts and illustration by hand forever. Especially in a digitized world, people long to see human touch.

WW: What do you find compelling in the role

illustration plays in fashion, both in the past and today?

KR: I believe the role of fashion illustration has

changed quite dramatically since its earlier days.

Initially, it was a way for a designer to show their designs before they were made, or to create an image for advertising prior to photography.

Nowadays, illustration serves a different purpose.

It has become more of a fine art, something that isn’t used for technical reasons (as most fashion concepts are created digitally these days).

People appreciate seeing an artist’s interpretation of fashion through their fine art medium . . . or to create something visually pleasing that tells the story of fashion.

This page and opposite: Katie Rodgers’s gouache series for Jaeger-LeCoultre’s 2016 Reverso One Lady’s Collection

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PROFILE

MICHAEL DARLING JAMES W. ALSDORF CHIEF CURATOR AT MCA CHICAGO

BY KATY DONOGHUE

Portrait by Maria Ponce.

Takashi Murakami Tan Tan Bo Puking - a.k.a. Gero Tan, 2002 Courtesy of Galerie Perrotin ©2002 Takashi Murakami/Kaikai Kiki Co., Ltd. All Rights Reserved Courtesy of of MCA Chicago

WHITEWALL: When you came to the MCA in 2010, did you have any specific goals in mind, in terms of filling gaps in the collection or new kinds of programming?

MICHAEL DARLING: I wanted to try to build a

reputation in a few different areas. It felt like the MCA was vital, it had its role, but it was hard to say that we were known for doing this or that.

So I was really excited about stringing together a whole bunch of emerging artist solo shows over time, which we’ve been doing on the second floor.

And after two or three years of doing those, we’ve created a niche for ourselves and reoriented the museum back to a steady commitment to younger artists, career-wise.

I’m a bit more inclined toward underdogs and problems with how history has been written and who is written out of history. Female artists have traditionally been left behind in so many ways, and it’s a place in the art world that needs correction. So making sure we have a really strong focus on female artists has been important and goes back to shows we did with Isa Genzken, Doris Salcedo, we have Diana Thater [October 29, 2016–January 8, 2017]. We are definitely always on the lookout to make sure that we are keeping gender in check. And even if it swings more toward female artists, I think it would be high time to do that because there are so many great stories there that need to be told.

WW: Which is something you’ll get to tell in

terms of painting in the show later this year, “Riot Grrrls” [December 17, 2016–June 4, 2017], with works by Mary Heilmann, Judy Ledgerwood, Amy Feldman, and Joyce Pensanto.

MD: There have just been so many great female

painters, and we have limited funds and their work is cheap in comparison to so many of their male

counterparts, so I’ve been telling our collection committee we need to buy a Mary Heilmann . . . that is being strategic with the collection. It’s definitely an area where in trying to bring the story that our collection tells up to the present date, it needs to be more internationalized; it needs to have more female artists.

It’s still a real problem, and I think an area where we feel like we can really lead. And in some ways, it’s not just leading our public and educating them on these great artists, but even leading our collectors in a new direction. I think we can help change and lead the market and counter some of the narratives that are coming out of the market with our shows, with our acquisitions. We’re kind of competitive in that way. We can use our museum as a bully pulpit to argue for some of these alternate stories.

WW: And your team of curators this year has seen

some new additions, which seems to be aimed at telling different stories, as well, with Manilow Senior Curator Omar Kholief and Pamela Alper Associate Curator José Esparza. What were you looking for with the new additions to your team?

MD: My decisions on the team have really been

guided by trying to diversify and not bringing people in that have the same ideas and interests that I do, so that we can build this broader network of minds that really look all over the world from different viewpoints. It was about stretching beyond Western Europe and North America, because that’s traditionally been our strength historically. Omar brings this whole knowledge of the Middle East and North Africa, which is an untapped territory for American audiences.

We’ve been really interested in Latin America for a while—we’ve done shows and bought works— but that’s also an area that is so rich and needs to be understood better. So we’re continuing to

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program in that area, which is one reason we brought in José Esparza from Mexico City. And Naomi Beckwith continues to do amazing work.

She’s just about to hit her fifth-year anniversary.

And then our performance programs have really been a focus. Together we start to cover a lot of ground, and I think that’s really what I was after, something where we can start to suggest a bigger broader new history of art.

WW: Performance is something you don’t seem to shy away from, from the stage to exhibitions like “David Bowie Is” in 2014 and “The Freedom Principle” in 2015.

MD: Yes, and we’re presenting a Merce Cunningham

show next spring, which is interesting to us because it has dance, music, fashion, art, looking at a bigger picture of contemporary creativity. It feels so MCA to present something like that.

WW: And in 2017 you’ll do a big retrospective of Takashi Murakami. Can you tell us a bit more about that?

MD: That goes back to the longstanding friendship

that I’ve had with him since the early 2000s when I did a show with him called “Superflat” in L.A. [at LA MOCA in 2001] that traveled.

I’ve been in touch with him ever since then and have always been a big fan of his work, but I’ve always been frustrated with the reception of his work within the art world. It seems to me like he’s been misunderstood and characterized as superficial and flashy, and I think that there’s so much more depth to his work. I’ve wanted to do a corrective exhibition. One idea I came up with was to primarily focus on his paintings and show the evolution of his painting through the years and how much tradition and history is embedded in his practice.

PROFILE

ASHLEY WHEATER ARTISTIC DIRECTOR OF THE JOFFREY BALLET

BY KATY DONOGHUE

WHITEWALL: This year, the Joffrey Ballet, found-

ed in 1956 by Robert Joffrey and Gerald Arpino, celebrated its 60th anniversary. You joined the Joffrey Ballet in 1985 as a dancer, and after time at the San Francisco Ballet you came back to the Joffrey as artistic director in 2007. How would you describe your role as an artistic director of a ballet company?

ASHLEY WHEATER: I would say that I’m respon-

sible for every dancer in the company, for everything that we dance, for the commissions that we have created here, and for the collaborations within those commissions. I ask, “What is the lighting of the ballet? What is the design for ballet? What is our feeling of live music? What is the creative path that we want to create? And How do we retain that and keep developing them as artists?”

And then we have a lot of long-range plans, and as an artistic director you have to be involved in fundraising.

WW: This winter, there’s an exciting change to the seasonal classic The Nutcracker. The Joffrey will hold a world premiere of Tony Award–winning choreographer Christopher Wheeldon’s reimagined The Nutcracker, which is set in Chicago’s 1893 World’s Fair with set and costume design by Julian Crouch.

AW: The reimagining of The Nutcracker is huge!

We had this conversation ten years ago. And I’ve never lost the sight of it. Chris Wheeldon and I spoke about it [and wondered], what does the story look like today? The way we access narrative has changed a lot. And I wanted to make it a gift to Chicago, setting it in the World’s Fair. It was an interesting time in Chicago, rebuilding the city but also bringing the world to Chicago after the Great Fire. There was a lot of hope.

We looked at what the Nutcracker represents for family today, because family has changed. We are multiracial, we’re interconnected, there are lots of single parents out there . . . There’s no really traditional sense of family anymore, which I think is beautiful. So Brian Selznick has rewritten the story of The Nutcracker. And he’s really an amazing man. He sent a first draft, and I read through it and it was just so moving. When people come to The Nutcracker, I hope they see it as not just entertainment or ballet but as a deeper story that that can speak to all of us.

WW: How do you work with bringing in new choreographers like Christopher Wheeldon or Alexander Ekman, who will premiere a work in the spring of 2017?

AW: I travel around to places like New York or

London, San Francisco, L.A., and you hear about people or see things. I would say, though, with Alexander, with Myles Thatcher, with Annabelle Lopez Ochoa, we connected in a really organic way, and I love their work. With Alex we have done two of his works, and we really wanted him to create a full evening work.

I think what happens sometimes in the ballet world is you have a choreographer who brings something and then you bring in everyone else. But actually, if you start it at the other end, it’s really is about starting with the visual artists to

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be the momentum for creativity.

WW: Ballet is full of artistic visual and choreography collaborations, like Merce Cunningham and John Cage and Robert Rauschenberg. Are those kinds of collaborations something that you are looking to explore further at the Joffrey?

AW: Definitely. Even coming up next year [in

February] we are bringing back Infra by Wayne McGregor, with music by Max Richter. And it was done with artist Julian Opie. I love Julian’s work and it is truly an amazing piece. And Justin Peck is going to come in and do a new work for us for 2017. I think that once that people come in the door, they find that this is a very open creative space.

I think that is where the Joffrey has succeeded where other companies maybe have felt beholden [to past choreographers]. Robert Joffrey was a choreographer, but he wanted to be a director. The company never had to attach itself to 19thcentury classical ballet or the idea of George Balanchine or Paul Taylor. It’s been able to float within all of it, so it’s refreshing.

There are things that I’d love to do. How do we discover young artists that probably want an opportunity to create on the stage? I’ve always wanted James Turrell to come and do something. It would be amazing.

Left: Infra, photo by Herbert Migdoll, courtesy of The Joffrey Ballet.

Right: Portrait courtesy of The Joffrey Ballet.

PROFILE

ALESSANDRO CAJRATI CRIVELLI

FOUNDER & MANAGING PARTNER OF EST4TE FOUR

BY KATY DONOGHUE

will be part of the next stage of the club. We know where we want to go, but it depends on the building and neighborhood. I calculated that at the moment we can open 35 clubs around the world.

With a few cities could have two, or even three.

It’s really driven by the city. In Milan, with Zona Tortona, the initial drive was design, and then came fashion. In the fashion industry, I’ve met some of the most brilliant minds in terms of creativity and business sense. The people in the fashion industry are, frankly, some of the most sophisticated people I’ve been lucky enough to work with and become friends with.

Other cities, like New York, host a variety of players. Fashion will always be our anchor, because it’s sophisticated, it’s glamorous, it’s dynamic, it’s an international language. But New York is the best city to do the club because you have the art, you have the media, the music, you have entertainment.

WW: The Red Hook project in Brooklyn you mentioned is named Innovation Studios, so, with that, will you see more of an engagement with the tech industry?

ACC: Because I was privileged enough to be part WHITEWALL: As a real estate developer for close

to 20 years, you’ve been responsible for creating Zona Tortona in Milan, one of the largest fashion districts in the world. You recently launched the workspace membership club Spring Place, which first opened in Tribeca in New York and will soon see sites in cities around the world. By recognizing the connections between industries like fashion, art, and design, and the change in the way that we work within those industries, what cities are you drawn to for future locations of the club?

ALESSANDRO CAJRATI CRIVELLI: We will do one in Los Angeles and one in Red Hook, Brooklyn. We have a few others we’re working on. I’m negotiating a property in Shanghai, which

of the creation of a district in Milan, to be part of or responsible for the creation of a district in New York City from the real estate point of view is one of the most exciting opportunities. We want to use the idea of working with some of the most sophisticated minds to create an ideal village where a lot of creative players and companies can mingle, work, and have fun together. In this specific place, it is called Innovation because there is no doubt that the high-tech industry is the new player in every sector. It is probably the most exciting industry right now. And, for example, there is this interconnection between high tech and the fashion industry with new designs incorporating high-tech fabrics, or accessories like the Apple Watch, for example. I’m looking more for these integrations between the real innovation and application that is a bit more glamorous and

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fun than pure technology.

The fashion and art worlds are very much interconnected. Some of the biggest collectors in the art world are people who were originally in the fashion world: Bernard Arnault, Miuccia Prada, François Pinault.

WW: The plan for Red Hook is over thirteen acres and one million square feet. That’s a big undertaking!

ACC: It’s big, but not that big. I hope to grow

further than the initial plan. Listen, every project needs to be successful, but when you have the opportunity to develop a project like this one, I think there’s a responsibility to go well beyond the management. That is where I think we are, frankly, different from most real estate players. Because I work only with friends—by the way, nobody is there to lose money, but, as long as we do well, by doing something beautiful, that contributes locally and beyond, we are happy. Red Hook is a magic place where can really make an amazing, wonderful district that would be unique not only in New York, but in the U.S.

The Tribeca building could have been one of I don’t know how many hundreds of residential buildings in New York. But we did something that is unique. I don’t know any other building that has such a strong character and strong heart for the creative industry. I’m very proud of what’s there.

Could I make more money by doing something residential? Oh, yes! That’s why with Red Hook we want it to grow. If you really want to make a dent and do something beyond the border of Brooklyn, that causes an effect on a larger scale, you need more square feet. That’s where I hope we can engage other players to follow us.

Above: Red Hook Innovation Studios, courtesy of EST4TE FOUR. Below: Portrait courtesy of EST4TE FOUR.

PROFILE

CINZIA CUMINI

CO-FOUNDER OF GARCÍA CUMINI, DESIGNER FOR POLTRONA FRAU

BY MICHAEL KLUG Portrait of Cinzia Cumini and partner Vicente García Jiménez, courtesy of Poltrona Frau.

García Cumini’s Almo sofa for Poltrona Frau.

WHITEWALL: You founded the design firm García

Cumini along with Vicente García Jiménez in 2012. The Almo sofa is your first collaboration with Poltrona Frau. Can you tell us about the initial inspiration?

CINZIA CUMINI: We had a brief at first, and we presented a concept of ours to the company. We had a different inspiration, we can say. This is a high back sofa. It’s quite difficult to do a high back sofa with these proportions, but we played around and we used a first concept with this back pillow.

It was inspired by a typical Spanish pillow from the fifties, more or less, a long Iberian pillow. In Spain it is used in a bed. When couples go to sleep, they have only one pillow that looks kind of like a long sausage. It’s very comfortable, but long, and you can move it as you want. We thought that it was nice to use it as a support for the back and as a support for the arm. So the real arm in the sofa is the pillow, actually, and then the backrest is higher.

It’s like a crib, in a certain way. But it’s open, like a shirt collar. It’s very comfortable.

WW: Can you tell us about the technical aspects and the material—the Pelle Frau leather that it’s upholstered in?

leather and fabric. In our opinion, we prefer this version in leather and fabric. I think it’s younger, fresher, more contemporary.

CC: The pillow is not fixed. It’s not moveable,

WW: Is there a limited edition for this piece?

but it’s flexible. It’s better for the back because it is more comfortable with all the proportions. We have sort of three layers, the two for the back and the one for the seat. We were given the proportions of the height of the seat, the depth of the seat, and the proportion between the seat and the tube back. It has a double back, somewhat—one for the lower part and the other part for the neck.

Today, of course, the trend in furniture is to create a sofa with a very low back. And they are very nice and comfortable, too, but they need many pillows. When you want to relax, you end up looking at the ceiling. You can’t watch TV or read without many, many pillows for support. This sofa is so supportive for the neck.

And as for materials, Poltrona Frau is a specialist in leather, so we had to work in leather.

But they have now introduced a new mix of

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CC: No, it’s available in three sizes for now. It’s not a system, though. They are unique pieces.

WW: And after this first collaboration, do you have plans to work with Poltrona Frau again?

CC: We don’t know yet. Now that we have an open door with the company, it’s time for us to propose new ideas, and we will see what happens. This year, Poltrona Frau has changed a lot. They have turned a new page. They’ve introduced many new names to their list of designers. In a certain way, it’s part of a new philosophy for the company that is younger and more international.

TO WATCH

ELIAS HANSEN

BY KATY DONOGHUE

In the spring, Whitewall took the train up from New York to Ancramdale in the Hudson Valley to visit the studio of Elias Hansen. The artist, who is represented by Maccarone in the city, had been preparing for a show at Take Ninagawa in Tokyo and also making work that would be shown at Art Basel Hong Kong in March.

Hansen had been creating tableaux of handmade shelves, glass vessels, tubes, strings of light, and other found and sourced objects on the walls of the studio, plotting out small installations and settings. They look like a cross between a chemistry set and a scene from an old-time apothecary. Immediately, we started to wonder about the story behind each beaker or test tube. Was it meant to allude to a lab of some sort? Or something more nefarious? What was the backstory? (There is one, but we’re not telling.)

Metal shelves in another corner held handblown small horses created for practice, sanded glass bottles, hurricane glass, tins, mortar and pestles, cheesy porn playing cards, and other gathered objects that might pique the curiosity of a teenage boy. And while we found ourselves smiling at a few items in his studio, the scenes and sculptures Hansen creates feel delicate, poised, and not at all silly. There is an overt appreciation for the object and the handmade. They feel respectful and even elegant, even in the mysterious settings you’ll find them amid in gallery exhibitions. This

to put these works on the wall so they can exist for a longer period of time. I make them by slowly plotting along the way. I’ll put them on the shelf and I’ll label them with all their parts that exist with the photograph of the work. I’m trying to get some sort of system because this work is so crazy, all this assembly stuff. I have to keep track of it.

just show up and start finding stuff to make the work. His two weeks of install was going in and making the work. He had this crazy [method] where he shows up at the gallery and is like, “So what I need is some stuff to make a wall that fills with water.” He did it and filled it with water. It leaked and filled the gallery, but they really loved it. It was awesome.

He kind of gave me this tool of how to make a show—you use the gallery space as a studio rather than show up with all your work in a crate. I did a couple of shows like that and they were really exciting, but they were really a lot of work.

My first show at the Maccarone I sent all my stuff and brought a couple guests from the Northwest. We ordered a bunch of steel and got a welder and these tools and I was like, “Okay, we’re going to make an art show.” It was amazing but really crazy. You spend two weeks living in the gallery. It’s great, but then when you’re married and then you have kids, you can’t do that because it burns you out.

WW: So this is a bit new for you, finding a method

WW: When did you start turning away from that

EH: My brother really taught me how to make

EH: It has limitations that are exciting at first,

fall, he is part of a two-person show with The Reader at Arthur Roger Gallery in New Orleans (November 5–December 24).

We spent the afternoon with Hansen, discussing how he grew up in the Northwest, apprenticed with glassmakers, learned how to create beautiful objects with his hands before making art alongside his brother, Oscar Tuazon, and how his assemblage work has come together.

WHITEWALL: Can you tell us about the work we’re seeing on shelves here on the walls of your studio?

ELIAS HANSEN: Having this studio, I am able

and organization in your work?

crazy things out of nothing. He would do these things where he would have a show and he would

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way of working?

but then I think the limitations dictate too much how to work. So I transitioned into this way of

making the work, putting it on the shelf, getting it prepared, getting ready. I was working with glass. I would make things out of glass because I had access to that. It takes so much time and it’s really a fascinating material to work with.

WW: When did you start working with glass?

EH: In shops in the Northwest there’s a lot of

glass studios there. So there’s Dale Chihuly. He is in his seventies and he went to Italy, met some Italians, started making glass, and then brought the Italians over to America to make his glass with him. So essentially his studio trained workers, but then they build their own studios and they trained more workers and they built more studios. Seattle has kind of become this new center for glass.

My parents were bookbinders, so I was trained as a bookbinder. I studied printmaking in school, but there’s really not a bunch of bookshops in the Northwest, but there are a lot of glass shops. I started bugging one guy to apprentice me and he did. I did that for three years, and then I moved to Tacoma to start working in all the production shops there in Seattle and in Tacoma.

WW: So when you were apprenticing, was the idea always to eventually be making your own work?

EH: I worked for this metalworker right at the

beginning. His lesson to me was to work for thirty different artists before you start making your own work. And I was just like, “Okay.” It was really great to get this clear crisp directive.

WW: Did that take the pressure off, just learning the craft of the material?

EH: It totally does. I was like, no wonder everything I make is shit—because I don’t know how to do it. I can’t do it, so I don’t have to worry about it. So I stopped even thinking of making my own stuff. When I started, I wouldn’t even use any color in my glass. I was just using clear because color can often make it more difficult. I was just like, “I’m going to make a cup,” and I made the same cup for like three years. Any time I had time I’d just make this one cup. And then if you stay on one thing, you can understand the larger thing. You can dial in the specifics of that.

how to blow glass, but you also have to learn to be really humble, and it just takes a long time.

You’ve got to be cocky enough to think that you can do it, but you also have to be humble enough to spend years fucking up and watching it fail.

To get weird you have to learn to do it right, and so that was years. You can spend hours on something, and in the last move the whole thing breaks.

WW: So at what point were you ready to make your own work?

EH: I think around 2007, 2008, when I started

working with Oscar. I was starting to feel pretty skilled. But I think the more you learn, the more you see that you don’t know it all. There’s kind of this inside joke of glass being the great humbler. It takes this hotheaded person to learn

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All images: Photographs of Elias Hansen’s studio by Sarah Blodgett.

ATELIER

e r u t u o C e t u Ha 016 2 Fall/Winter 2016–17 Haute Couture week took place in Paris in early July. There, we saw a handful of jaw-dropping collections, including a sexy range of shapes through Alexandre Vauthier’s sequins, mesh, feathers, bows, belts, leather, silk, and fur; sleek silhouettes in stand-up structured sleeves, widecut trousers, and accordion, cone, and sunray pleats from Chanel; contrasts of black and white through a reimaged Bar suit, light organza volumes, and fixed gold embellishment from the house of Christian Dior; pouf sleeves, empire waistlines, and tulle confections by Giambattista Valli; artisanal garments with bridge textiles, knotted wools, and inverted, never-ending volumes from Maison Margiela; and elegant Swarovski crystal–adorned cashmere evening coats, alluring draped dresses, and extravagant gowns by Versace.

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DIOR WHITEWALL 55

ATELIER

MAISON MARGIELA WHITEWALL 56

GIAMBATTISTA VALLI

VERSACE WHITEWALL 57

ATELIER

ALEXANDRE VAUTHIER

VALENTINO

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CHANEL WHITEWALL 59

ATELIER

y r l e w e J h Hig 016 2 Diamonds, rubies, and emeralds—are just the beginning! The high jewelry collections shown during Paris Couture Week this summer left us speechless. There was Boucheron’s jeweled interpretation and ode to nature with radiant lilies, peacock feathers, and majestic animals (including a deer, a hawk, and a wolf); Bulgari’s natural and sophisticated Italian inspiration in “Italian Extravaganza,” “Mediterranean Eden,” and “Roman Heritage”; Chanel’s “Les Blés de CHANEL” collection, full of fine necklaces, watches, earrings, rings, brooches, and matching sets with diamonds, yellow sapphires, Japanese cultured pearls, and colored gemstones; De Beers’s “London” collection, showing inspiration from landmarks like Big Ben, Battersea Power Station, and Thames Path in an array of decadently undressed diamonds; Christian Dior’s homage to the interiors of the Château de Versailles (such as the Hall of Mirrors, Rococo-style furniture, and more) with a selection of illuminating gems and diamonds set in oxidized silver; Louis Vuitton’s “Blossom” collection, with the house’s four-petal flower as the ingénue; and Giampiero Bodino’s colorful collection, including a 38.08-carat garnet necklace—the beloved Rosa dei Venti necklace.

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DIOR The Appartements de Mesdames Arabesque ring.

CHANEL Fête des Moissons bracelet from the “Les Blés de Chanel” collection.

GIAMPIERO BODINO The Rosa dei Venti earrings.

BOUCHERON The Vendôme Argentique necklace from the “26 Vendôme” collection.

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ATELIER

LOUIS VUITTON Earrings from the “Blossom” collection.

DE BEERS The Albert bridge ring from the “London” collection.

BULGARI The Serpenti High Jewellery watch.

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A Neo-Classical arch at Dulwich Picture Gallery. Image selection: Pablo Bronstein. Photography Luke Hayes.

London

Regent’s Park 6–9 October 2016 New Preview Day Wednesday 5 October frieze.com

SPOTLIGHT

VACHERON CONSTANTIN TAKES US OVERSEAS

Russia—Moscow’s Red Square seen from the GUM roof, ©Steve McCurry/Vacheron Constantin.

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A

t 8:30 a.m. one day in May, we boarded a helicopter on the east side of Manhattan with Vacheron Constantin. We were headed to Rhode Island for lunch at the Vanderbilt Grace mansion. There, after we ate, we took a yacht ride on the Mariner III to Sag Harbor in the Hamptons. After a four-hour cruise and a workshop in the vessel’s cabin with Christian Selmoni from the watchmaker’s design team, we finally reached our destination with new watches on our wrists—for a two-day try-on of the new “Overseas” collection (a revamp of the original collection that launched in 1996).

The next morning, after we awoke at Baron’s Cove, we set off on a two-hour classic car ride, with a pit stop in Port Jefferson, before getting back on the yacht for a final cruise to Manhattan that included a workshop with photographer Steve McCurry. He had been commissioned by Vacheron Constantin to photograph 12 global locations in celebration of the reimagined collection. Our three-day journey by land, air, and sea was just a taste of his recent around-the-world overseas adventures.

Speaking to him on board, we asked if he had a favorite location to shoot. It was challenging for him to pick one, but he spoke highly of New York’s iconic Grand Central Station, saying, “In my mind, the most interesting piece of architecture in New York City is Grand Central Station. I think with the grand ceilings and the artwork and the sculptures, it’s really a thing of beauty. In fact, if you compare that with Penn Station, which is very functional and ugly, you have a feeling of grandeur and poetry. It’s a place you want to go and just be.” After motioning to the next printed photograph, a striking image from China, he added, “I think I’ve been to almost every Buddhist country in the world, but I had never been to this—the largest sitting Buddha in the world. This is a 2,000-year-old sculpture and it’s just incredible. The magnitude of this thing! So that was great fun to go up there and see that.”

When we finally arrived back in Manhattan, we returned our lovely borrowed timepieces to the brand and would later find them on display at Vacheron Constantin’s celebratory event at the High Line Park in Chelsea that night. It was time for the official global debut of the “Overseas” collection. The timepiece has three interchangeable straps that do not require the use of any tools; a built-in comfort system that allows you to expand your watch without taking it off; and an entirely new world time zone feature. Aside from the bedazzled ring of diamonds around the face, the oscillating weights inside, or its Hallmark of Geneva certification, this new release revisits Vacheron Constantin’s dedication to time and travel—the true MVPs of this trip.

A few days later we sat down with Juan-Carlos Torres, CEO of the watchmaker. He reflected on our recent whirlwind of a few days, saying, “You know, Vacheron is a really quiet, old company, but when we have to go fast, we go really fast.”

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SPOTLIGHT

JUAN-CARLOS TORRES CEO OF VACHERON CONSTANTIN

BY ELIZA JORDAN

Juan-Carlos Torres and Steve McCurry, photo courtesy of Vacheron Constantin.

Above: The new brown dial version of the Overseas world time watch by Vacheron Constantin.

WHITEWALL: François Constantin once said, “Do better if possible, and that is always possible.” How is the new Overseas model better than the first?

JUAN-CARLOS TORRES: A lot of things. We learned a lot. First of all,

there is the possibility to have three different watches in one. That’s really important. The size of the watches, the case—it’s a little bit different. The design, I would say, is a little more aggressive than before. Technically, you have this totally new model with a level of finish and technicality inside—a little bit better than before. We have this product range, which was totally different than before. We have this comfort system, world-time, or ladies watches. You can set, change, or do whatever you want without any tool.

That’s important. And then, a lot of engineering inside that we don’t see, but to achieve those features, it was years and years and years of studies. For it is better than before.

And why did we link to the world of travel? Constantin wrote that sentence . . . you know when? It was in 1819 from Italy. He was traveling in Italy when he met the customer and the customer made a request. And he wrote it to the people to say, “I know we are the best in Geneva, and I know we have the best watchmakers, but doing better is always possible.” And they wrote that traveling.

WW: Tell us about your partnership with Steve McCurry. How did that begin?

JCT: We met 18 months ago. First of all, the most important was to catch the extent of the travel, and the speed of the travel—that was very important.

To find somebody who regards this vision and who’s respective of the world is very important. And there are different photographers worldwide, but we were looking for a mature photographer that has photographed different things, and having this kind of neutral but really intense vision of the world is why we chose Steve McCurry.

My first job was as a photographer. It’s why I’ve always followed Steve McCurry. And finally, 40 years after . . . You know, we spent a lot of time speaking with him about his vision of the world. But also, for his part, he was asking us about our vision of the world, if our spirit fits his spirit.

WW: How did you choose the 12 locations for McCurry to photograph?

JCT: It was mixed between our team and Steve. I don’t interfere at all. My

favorite? For the moment, I like Japan. When I say I like Japan out of all of them, I also say, “Oh, Mexico is very good also. And New York is good! Oh, New York.” So it’s hard to choose. There’s a lot of travel spirit.

WW: Tell us about the Overseas Traveler. How did you come up with the unusual locations and time zones to feature?

JCT: You know, there are 39 worldwide times zones in total. It’s tradition to

have certain ones, like Cairo and New York, because they were locations for old travelers. When people traveled at that time, they would put their point there. Maybe now, it’s not Cairo, maybe it’s now Dubai. So it’s for the new traveler. But if you are somebody who wants to make your own dial with your own cities, you can do that. A lot of people are doing that. They want to put their own town, their own village.

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Behind-the-scenes shot in India of the Overseas watch, photo by Raphael Creton.

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SPOTLIGHT

STEVE MCCURRY PHOTOGRAPHER

BY ELIZA JORDAN

India—Chand Baori Stepwell, ©Steve McCurry/ Vacheron Constantin.

WHITEWALL: What initially drew you in this exciting project with Vacheron

WW: Tell us about your favorite location from the twelve you visited for the

STEVE McCURRY: I was intrigued because the premise of the project was

SM: I enjoyed all of the locations, but Japan was special. The contrast of hot

Constantin?

to photograph iconic works of architecture as a celebration of beauty, human ingenuity, creativity, and invention. The challenge was to identify and photograph locations that served utilitarian needs, but whose builders had made them beautiful, which is a basic human instinct across time and space.

My motivation was to discover a new métier and to meet the people who make the Vacheron Constantin timepieces. It was a real privilege to observe their work and admire their know-how. The precision and patience it takes to create a timepiece is fascinating. I never would have imagined that such passion goes into each watch.

The collaboration with Vacheron Constantin allowed me to capture human achievements in twelve locations around the world.

“Overseas” journey.

springs, bitter temperatures, and the deep snow provided the perfect aesthetic for the project.

WW: Which locations had you not been to before? What was special about traveling to those places as a first-timer?

SM: During the Vacheron Constantin shoot we decided to photograph an

aqueduct in Mexico. It’s a fascinating piece of architecture dating back five hundred years. I thought that location would produce maybe one or two interesting pictures, but was amazed and delighted by how many incredible situations we were able to find. There were shepherds with their flocks of sheep, boys playing football, and a lot of community activities, which helped

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“The challenge was to identify and photograph locations that served utilitarian needs, but whose builders had made them beautiful, which is a basic human instinct across time and space�

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SPOTLIGHT

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Opposite page: Morocco—Chefchaouen, ©Steve McCurry/ Vacheron Constantin.

This page: Japan—Tsurunoyu Onsen, ©Steve McCurry/ Vacheron Constantin.

to show the life around the aqueduct.

I was also fascinated by the Leshan Giant Buddha in Sichuan, China.

It’s an enormous 71-meter stone statue that I have always wanted to visit, and to imagine seeing it two thousand years ago is incredible. The roof of GUM in Moscow was a great experience as well; it offers a spectacular view of Red Square, the Kremlin, and St. Basil Cathedral. It was a unique vantage point in Moscow that I had not experienced before.

WW: You discussed some images where you were in strenuous climate conditions. Can you tell us about the preparation it takes to shoot in a location, perhaps dangerous, like this?

SM: Some places are inaccessible because they’re remote and difficult to

access. Some places are designated as off limits because of government restrictions and political upheaval. To gain access to these places takes

patience, fortitude, and an unwavering determination to achieve what at first seems impossible.

WW: Your work is very artistic and encompasses a kind of storytelling. What

is important to show the audience when telling a story through photographs?

How is this project different for you than your previous work?

SM: The most important element to me in my photography is storytell-

ing. Most of my images are grounded in people. I look for that unguarded moment and try to convey some part of what it is like to be that person, or in a broader sense, to relate their life to the human experience as a whole. We humans connect to one another via eye contact—there is a real power in that shared moment of attention, when you catch a glimpse of what it must be like to be in their shoes. I think this is one of the most powerful things about photography.

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SPOTLIGHT

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SPOTLIGHT

WW: Is there anything in particular that automatically draws you in when you’re in the field shooting images? Landscapes, architecture, people, animals? Or what do you personally enjoy photographing?

SM: I try to get beyond the postcard view to capture the flavor of a place. It’s

about the people, so I look at that more than landscapes.

I go to places that I’m curious about. I like to go to places I have been before so I can examine them further, but going to new places is exciting and rewarding. I am often asked about which countries I enjoy photographing the most. That’s very hard to answer, but I do enjoy going back again and again to Buddhist countries: Laos, Thailand, Cambodia, Bhutan, Tibet, Sri Lanka, and Burma.

WW: You’ve presented works in group exhibitions and have had solo exhibitions (New York, Hong Kong) across the globe, and have provided countless editorial images for media outlets for at least thirty years. What has been your most rewarding experience to date? Why? SM: Meeting Sharbat Gula again after so many years was an incredible expe-

rience. Her eyes have retained their fire and intensity. I think she’s still quite beautiful despite all the hardship she has endured. She has clearly led a difficult life, but through it, she has a strong and healthy family, and they have managed to thrive and make a better life for their children. Being able to find her and help her and her children after all the intervening years was one of the most incredible and rewarding experiences of my own life.

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Previous page: China—Leshan Giant Buddha, ©Steve McCurry/ Vacheron Constantin.

Opposite page: Uzbekistan—Samarkand, ©Steve McCurry/ Vacheron.

This page: Ethiopia—Lalibela, ©Steve McCurry/Vacheron.

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FOCUS

CARLOS GARCIAVELEZ DESIGNER OF GARCIAVELEZ

BY ELIZA JORDAN

Growing up in Mexico City, Carlos Garciavelez was inspired by a household full of architects—his father, his uncles, and his grandfather were all industry professionals. At a young age, it was clear to Garciavelez that studying architecture was a practical path, and a career that would provide the stability to explore whatever else he chose to pursue in the future—which eventually would be fashion. “It was pretty defined that I wanted to do fashion, but I didn’t have the guts to do it then, and I thought architecture was a great foundation for whatever it was I wanted to do,” he told us recently in New York.

He went on to move to the United States, earning a BFA and a B.Arch. from the Rhode Island School of Design before practicing architecture in New York at Gabellini Sheppard Associates. There he worked on designing retail interiors and commercial and residential spaces, which led to developing a variety of global and local projects.

Thereafter, Garciavelez made his way back to Mexico to work on projects there before returning to the United States to pursue a master of architecture in urban design at Harvard University.

All the while, he followed fashion, but instead of pursuing another specialized degree, he applied for an internship at Alexander McQueen in London. “They took me!” he recalled of his exciting acceptance. “I basically worked on everything. They trained me to be able to do whatever came my way, so I worked there on special projects as well.” Then under the creative

direction of Sarah Burton, the team was completing a Spring/Summer collection, and had just received the wedding dress back from the Duchess of Cambridge, Catherine Middleton, after her big day. “My first assignment was to come in really early and unpack a box—and it was the wedding dress,” he said. He spoke about his duties at McQueen, handling dresses for royalty, celebrities, and supermodels, and “going through the archives, which was the most beautiful part.” That moment of intimacy was when he decided, “Okay.

This is it. I know it.” And it was.

Last year, GARCIAVELEZ—Garciavelez’s own label—introduced its menswear line, quietly debuting a collection for Fall/Winter 2015 the season before New York Fashion Week: Men’s (NYFWM) officially re-launched.

Later that year for Spring/Summer 2016, “Lucent Stasis” deliberately made its mark at NYFWM, sponsored by Cadillac at Industria Superstudios, and nearly everyone was enamored by the variety of vibrant blues and standout neon-centric lines. The dynamic collection shone with a sophisticated spin on florescence, and casual, seemingly unisex pieces were noted, including suits and bombers, and shoes created in collaboration with Diemme. Inspired to explore the ideas of reflecting, concealing, diffusing, and capturing the ephemeral qualities of light, Garciavelez drew this inspiration from two art installations: a Dan Flavin light installation from 1996 and Donald Judd’s 100 untitled works in mill aluminum from 1982–86, both exhibited at the Chinati Foundation in Marfa, Texas.

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“I WANTED TO EXPERIMENT WITH HOW TO SUSPEND THE TEMPORAL QUALITY OF LIGHT WITHIN THE GARMENT”

“I wanted to experiment with how to suspend the temporal quality of light within the garment,” said Garciavelez. “The challenge for me was to capture a finite quality of an incandescent source and how that related to the human body.” He said that instead of drawing inspiration from just art, “It’s more of an idea of art and travel—like the whole situation in regard to Marfa.

Going to see what the space is about. I think that triggered the idea of light.”

He continued, “I see light through architecture, too, like what we do with lighting reveals. How do you wash a surface with light versus how do you paint a garment? I try to manipulate the garment to show that type of reveal.

So it was kind of a translation of that into the garment.”

Since then, GARCIAVELEZ, described as menswear “constructed comfort for the urban nomad,” has translated many of Garciavelez’s inquisitive thoughts, including the deterioration of materials and the many facets and concepts of infrastructure. For its fourth season, GARCIAVELEZ presented its Fall/Winter 2016–17 collection “Verdigris,” which touched on another natural processes as well. Inspired by Peter Zumthor’s Therme Vals spa, carved into a mountainside in Graubünden Canton, Switzerland, Garciavelez explored the rejuvenating, renewing, and sensorial experience of thermal baths. Mirrored by a variety of textured and soft materials, including Italian silk wools and cashmeres, and in an array of pixelated digital prints and neutral color blocking, all of the knit and outerwear mimicked the shapes of the robes worn by the people who populate the hot Alpine springs.

“The collection is about calming and focusing your senses through selfreflection—a departure from the rigidity and rigor of the metropolis,” he said.

Between expanding on interests in interior furnishings, urban landscapes, and open territories, Garciavelez will once again begin traveling from New York to Cambridge, Massachusetts, as a faculty member at Harvard, teaching students architecture and urban design. He may also in the future have a surprise for the ladies, too—a unisex collection that we’ve all been hoping for. “I started with men’s because I’ve been more comfortable with it since the beginning; it’s something that I knew,” said Garciavelez. “But it’s always something we’ve thought to do as a natural progression.”

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Left: Garciavelez with his Fall/Winter 2016 collection.

Right: The Garciavelez Spring/Summer 2016 collection.

FOCUS

Adeam’s Fall/Winter 2016 collection.

HANAKO MAEDA DESIGNER OF ADEAM

BY ELIZA JORDAN

who is sort of putting everything together. You need everyone on the team to do an amazing job in their own role in order for everything to come together.”

After working for Foxey for two years, in 2012 she decided to turn her inspiration from art, her technological know-how from schooling, and her business-savvy fashion sense from her upbringing into a label she could connect to.

WHITEWALL: What ultimately led you to start your own label, Adeam, in 2012?

Portrait courtesy of Adeam.

Since the age of five, Hanako Maeda has spent her time between New York and Tokyo. Growing up with fashionable parents, she moved to New York when she was five, relocated back to Tokyo with her family for middle school, and not long after, was back in the Big Apple for high school, and then college, too. “My parents have a fashion line in Japan,” said Maeda of her parents’ longstanding business, the classic Japanese clothing line named Foxey. “My mother is the designer and my father handles the business side.”

Maeda credits that creative and business-minded upbringing as many industry lessons learned. As a child, she tagged along to her mother’s fittings and factory appointments in Europe. She told us, “Even if you don’t completely understand everything, when you’re in that kind of environment, you’re prone to thinking more creatively. When I was younger, a lot of my friends thought that what I was wearing and what I liked was really weird because I was really influenced by what my mother liked.” She was also influenced by avant-garde Japanese fashion like Comme des Garçons and Yohji Yamamoto.

While studying art history and anthropology at Columbia University and taking pattern-focused classes at Parsons, Maeda also interned with Vogue and Phillip Lim. “Until I started doing all of these internships, I don’t think that I realized that fashion is a team effort,” said Maeda. “It’s not just about the vision of the creative director or the editor-in-chief or the person

HANAKO MAEDA: I felt like there wasn’t really anything in the market that I personally related to and that I personally wanted to wear, and I think that’s true for a lot of female designers. But I felt like there wasn’t a collection that was really creative and really inspiring but also reflected the realities of life as a woman living in the city and having all of these engagements. I think for me, it’s really important to have a balance between creativity and functionality, and that’s something that I really think about throughout the collection. I wanted to create something that’s fun and exciting but also really relatable to women.

I also feel like it is such a shame that there aren’t a lot of Japanese designers now that want to be international and speak to a more global market, so that’s definitely something that I wanted to do with my line.

WW: For your Spring/Summer 2016 collection, you traveled to Kyoto for inspiration, and took antique prints from the Edo Period and collaborated with Italian textile mills to create elegant printed pieces. Are you especially interested in this period?

HM: It came quite organically for that specific collection. It was all because

I took that trip to Kyoto and that was where I saw the prints. For every collection, I’m influenced by where I go—for example, if I go to a gallery and see something. It always depends on what I happen to see at that specific moment.

WW: After that show, you told me that you gained a lot of inspiration from

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specific art pieces, and you personally paint a lot of watercolor, which was “a little bit similar to the prints in the collection.” Do you paint anything in particular?

HM: I usually like to do more abstract work because I’m really interested

in brushstrokes and different colors, and I think it’s tough to do something representational because then it always means something. I think also as a designer, it’s more interesting to look at textures and colors, so I always do something more abstract. And I think it’s up to the viewer’s interpretation. If I drew a dog, then it looks like a dog. But when you look at a [Mark] Rothko painting, it means something different to every single person that looks at it.

I think that’s a little more intellectually stimulating.

WW: Are there any specific artists or pieces of art you’re particularly fond of?

HM: I love a lot of Minimalist works, like the recent Richard Serra exhibit at

and I don’t even know that much about the day-to-day life of people back then, I felt like there was a connection with how people dress now and how that technique came about back in the day. I felt that was really applicable to modern-day dressing.

WW: You also reflected on Kumihimo weaving—a form of braiding, once recognized as a Samurai’s armor lacing—and it appeared on the bustier top and dress in pieces of denim. Was that a difficult traditional technique to work with?

HM: It takes a lot of time because you have to cut all of the fabrics into strips

and weave them—it’s almost like a basket weave. Both denim and cotton are fabrics that are a part of our everyday lives, but I wanted to elevate it in a way that felt more special and intimate. I thought that technique was especially pertinent to bringing out that personal, intimate side of seeing how the hand was really behind the piece.

Gagosian Gallery. I really liked that exhibit because they had all of the pieces laid out in the gallery space and you could walk through the different pieces.

I thought it was super-cool.

WW: Your boyfriend, a pianist, wrote and composed an original piece for one of your shows.

WW: For your Fall/Winter 2016 collection, you were inspired by Japanese

HM: Yeah, he wrote the music for my show at Tokyo Fashion Week. It

arts and crafts techniques, like Boro patchwork, which was created by peasants and artisans in the 18th century who couldn’t afford to wear lavish silk kimonos. Why was that originally intriguing to you?

HM: For fall, I really wanted to focus on this idea of taking something

that came out of necessity and elevating it to a luxury product. That specific technique was really interesting to me because they resorted to these techniques because they didn’t have any access to these luxurious kimono fabrics—but then, actually, that made it more visually interesting.

I thought that was really similar to our culture now—how streetwear is a huge influence in designer clothing, and I feel like something that came out of youth culture, and not really having access to designer clothing is really inspiring. It’s influencing different collections and different designers and the way people dress, so even though the 18th century was three centuries ago,

was really nice because I’ve never really had someone who was a personal connection to me work on the show with me.

WW: Is it important for you to keep an intimate relationship between your personal and professional lives?

HM: I think so. I think that all of my collections are very personal to me,

and I think that even if the relationship started as a professional relationship, I usually end up becoming friends with that person. I think it’s important to really understand the people you are working with because creativity is something that needs to be shared between people, and there needs to be that chemistry when you’re collaborating with someone. So I think I’m really lucky to be surrounded by people that I connect with on a personal as well as a professional level.

“FOR FALL, I REALLY WANTED TO FOCUS ON THIS IDEA OF TAKING SOMETHING THAT CAME OUT OF NECESSITY AND ELEVATING IT TO A LUXURY PRODUCT”

Illustrations by Hanako of the Fall/Winter 2016 collection.

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FOCUS

YOSHIYUKI MIYAMAE DESIGNER AT ISSEY MIYAKE

BY ELIZA JORDAN

Portrait by Olivier Baco.

Issey Miyake’s New York–inspired Holiday Collection.

Issey Miyake has transformed the way we look at, wear, and appreciate clothing’s every fold. Famous for pioneering the creation of intricate pleats in the late 1980s, the team behind the Japanese fashion house has been made up of hard-working, keen-eyed creators of all sorts, deeply invested in the fabrics down to the very last thread. For last year’s Holiday 2015 limitededition series “Record,” women’s designer Yoshiyuki Miyamae visited New York to demonstrate some deliberate decisions that took the brand further into innovating within its 3-D Steam Stretch technology, while offering something quite special for our long-term memories and senses.

Issey Miyake changed how pleats were made by creating them after the fabrics were cut and sewn together. This method, done since 1997, then embraced a custom type of pleat collection known as A-POC (standing for “a piece of cloth”), made into a collection for both men and women presenting one-size fabrics that were machine-pressed and given the option to be cut into various shapes, picked by the end consumer.

Miyamae joined Issey Miyake, working on A-POC in 2011. “Before I entered Issey Miyake, my only experience was actually drawing, or making clothing,” explained Miyamae on a visit last winter to New York. “But with A-POC, with starting from one piece of cloth, I really was able to learn about textiles, and actually making something.”

Just a year later, he began working with the team to create a new type of technology, now widely known as 3-D Steam Stretch, which took three years to develop and perfect. After working with a new type of fabric that contracted into origami-like pleats when exposed to steam, Issey Miyake was ready to present something new to the world. The composition of different polyester and cotton weaves were first tested as paper prototypes, and then computer software was used to create everything from scratch—from yarn into fabric, and from design into three-dimensional patterns. For their Spring/ Summer 2015 collection in Paris last year, the new technologically advanced collection dominated the industry, leaving behind readily available fashion in its wake.

Demonstrating firsthand at Issey Miyake’s Tribeca location to present the “Record” accessories, we were able to get a closer look at the craftsmanship behind 3-D Steam Stretch. On a large contraption, we watched Miyamae present an oversized piece of pre-stitched fabric—one in which he proceeded to cut and shrink with steam from an everyday iron. Before, it was a bright, smooth piece of material that hung slack to the ground. Yet with every bit of released steam from a handheld iron, we watched the fabric come alive, crinkling and shrinking into intricate patterns made of seamless polyhedron pleats. The end result hardly resembled what he started with, as a model slipped the transformed garment on over her head with ease, and swiftly walked away.

Miyamae can also be credited with building off of the idea of the 3-D Steam Stretch technology by using computer programming. The accessories collection “Record” was inspired by staff photos taken in its headquarter cities of New York, Paris, London, and Tokyo. After working with Alexis Andre of Sony Computer Science Laboratories, the team was able to extract the colors seen in the photos—a brand-new technology known as omoiiro—to establish four color schemes to match each city. “It comes from omoide, which is like a memory, so it’s basically memories that you make in the course of different experiences—taking a trip, things like that,” said Miyamae. “So memory collectors.” Each collection includes a whimsical 3-D Steam Stretch pleated bag, necklace, corsage, and an actual vinyl record that encompasses bustling sounds from each designated city “because it’s a memorable sound,” said Miyamae. “Or the memory of the sound.”

The collection is a jubilant inauguration for the future of omoiiro technology, and one that everyone is quite pleased with. “We both wanted to work together,” said Miyamae of working with Andre. “He thought [the program] was something that could contribute to the world, and it happened to be a good match with what we were looking for. But it also made Alexis happy, because it wasn’t just for Sony—it was something that could contribute to the world that this lab would be contributing. That’s part of their purpose.”

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Issey Miyake’s Spring/Summer 2016 collection.

Below, left to right: A look from Issey Miyake’s Spring/Summer 2016 collection.

A look from Issey Miyake’s Fall/Winter 2016 collection.

Detail from Issey Miyake’s Spring/Summer 2016 collection.

“BEFORE I ENTERED ISSEY MIYAKE, MY ONLY EXPERIENCE WAS ACTUALLY DRAWING, OR MAKING CLOTHING”

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threeASFOUR

BY ELIZA JORDAN

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“WE’VE ALWAYS USED TECHNOLOGIES AND HAVE ALWAYS BEEN INTERESTED IN HIGH-TECH FABRICS AND MORE ADVANCED SURFACE TEXTILES” In 1998, friends and creators Gabriel Asfour, Adi Gil, Angela Donhauser, and Kai Khüne made their collaborations known with the use of one name: AsFOUR. “I think the beginning was very innocent,” said Gil. “We were just four friends, creating together—and we still do. But back then we didn’t think much about a long term. It was very spontaneous.” Asfour had his own collection, Donhauser was a photographer, and the foursome began by styling and collaborating as a team.

Officially a corporation in 2000, the group had its first order come from Colette in Paris, and the second from Barneys in New York. “And then it trickled down to international boutiques, so by 2003, we were much more available in Japan and Russia and the Middle East and Canada,” said Asfour when Whitewall visited the team’s New York studio. “It just started spreading in terms of orders and sales, and every season we’d have a new account, or more than one.” By 2004 they were beginning to present fashion shows regularly, and in 2005 the quartet of creators dropped to three members with Khüne’s departure from the brand, and AsFOUR then became threeASFOUR.

“We’ve always used technologies and have always been interested in high-tech fabrics and more advanced surface textiles,” said Asfour, explaining their first experience with using 3-D printed designs in 2013. Designers, such as previous collaborator Mada Design, are sourced to translate their vision with the help of computer programs.

“We’ve been integrating three dimensions with the virtual fourth dimension, which is what would be taking pieces that we’ve done in 3-D real world, and putting them into computer world.

And vice versa. But in order for us to understand that, we need to understand a lot of mathematics and physics,” said Asfour. If you’re looking at a threeASFOUR piece, you can understand the complexity that he’s referring to—a complicated puzzle of wonderful pieces, fit together in three to six months by ways that challenge your imagination.

It’s worth noting that each piece of varying material must be assembled for wearing by hand after the printer is finished with its process, and the parts are shipped back to the studio. “It doesn’t always come out the way as you imagined.

Not yet exact,” said Donhauser.

So it’s understandable when threeASFOUR pieces are seen as both fashion and art. Last year, the Cooper Hewitt, Smithsonian Design Museum awarded threeASFOUR with the National Design Award, and the group’s garments were included in the Metropolitan Museum of Art’s Costume Institute’s exhibition “Manus x Machina: Fashion in an Age of Technology” this summer. threeASFOUR also has pieces in permanent collections around the world, including six pieces in New York’s Metropolitan Museum of Art, one in London’s Victoria and Albert Museum, and one at the Cooper Hewitt, among others. “All of these things validate what we do,” said Asfour. “It also goes on the record for history, so that’s important to us. We’re doing something historically important.”

Both Björk and Performa’s leading lady, Roselee Goldberg, are longtime supporters and personal customers of the brand. In 2010, threeASFOUR collaborated with Yoko Ono, after being invited over to her home to see what she calls “her doodles.”

“We’re friends with John, her son,” said Gil. “He saw the similarity of what we do and some of her artwork, especially those dark drawings that she’s been doing over the years.” Two years ago, they also officially put their clothing on a few male models during their shows to show that their clothing is unisex.

When using a variety of hard and soft materials like wax cotton, latex, neoprene, and different minerals, there are a lot of considerations to take in. “There is something about the material that works better on the body, or works better for the geometry. Stiff or not stiff, flexible or hard, it all depends on what you want to achieve,” said Asfour. Because the image is not a material you’re able to hold and manipulate in your head, and you have to figuratively visualize the garment draping, some are more difficult than others to work with. Those, Asfour said, are always the “softest materials, like the silks and cotton.”

For Fall/Winter 2016, threeASFOUR collaborated with Fitchwork to create special pieces like the Voronoi dress, with simple patterns intricately 3-D printed and laser-cut. “The flat pattern is a full circle and it’s cut into three spirals going in Fibonacci sequence. The inspiration was mainly cauliflower or pine cones. It was this kind of geometry that we were interested in because the whole collection was about biomimicry, so we were biomimicking animals, cells, plants…,” said Asfour. The collection, with sturdy pieces that are flexible to the touch and easy on the eyes, is full of patterns that pop, and an array of looks that look like modern art armor.

Another upcoming project is a line of flexible smart watchbands for the China-based company AmazFit. “It seems like a lot of bigger corporations are interested in fashion. We just found out Cadillac has a lot of interest, and they’re working with the CFDA. So I think these kinds of companies, like Sony or Google or Intel, to merge with a small company like us, is very interesting for us,” said Asfour, before adding that the balance between technology and the environment is also something they are keenly aware of.

Wrapping up our conversation within their workspace, the Silver Cage (named for the shining, semireflective silver ceiling, walls, and floors), I asked what the favorite piece has been so far. “The next one,” said Donhauser. Smiling, they all nodded. Asfour added, “We think like this,” before I realized that the others weren’t speaking for themselves—they’re all in agreement as one, as threeASFOUR.

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Opposite page: ThreeASFOUR’s Fall/Winter 2016 collection, photographs by Schohaja.

This page: Portrait courtesy of threeASFOUR.

FOCUS

JOSEP FONT CREATIVE DIRECTOR AT DELPOZO

BY ELIZA JORDAN

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“MY WORK IS VERY ARCHITECTURAL BECAUSE I LIKE THE STRUCTURES . . . THE INTERIORS OF THE DRESSES”

It was 1974 in Madrid when Jesús del Pozo’s sharp attention to detail and strong commitment to craftsmanship entered the fashion world through his eponymous menswear collection. For 37 years, del Pozo–designed creations graced many opera, theater, and ballet wardrobes, with uniforms and costumes to complement Spain’s vivid colors and creative spirit. Women’s, children’s, tableware, and fragrance lines shortly joined the brand, too, before del Pozo’s untimely passing in 2011. Months later, the legacy of his company began under the creative direction of Josep Font, and the company was reborn as Delpozo.

The Barcelona-born Font’s interest in fashion began at an early age when his mother would ask for his opinion while shopping. “I went with my mother to the boutiques every time,” he told us during a recent visit to New York. “She was a very elegant woman.” While growing up, Font was encouraged by his father to study architecture, but after attending FD Moda and dabbling in personal architecture projects thereafter, Font started in the fashion industry in 1991 with his own label.

“My work is very architectural because I like the structures . . . the interiors of the dresses,” he said. And his work at Delpozo for the past five years has followed that thread, creating luxury prêt-à-couture collections of intricate design and tons of distinct personality. If you are in Madrid (the headquarters), Miami (the store midway between North and South America), or London (the newest store, which opened in May), it’s worth seeing Delpozo’s newest creations in person. You’ll get an eyeful of Delpozo designs, which are geometric and simple, strong and gentle, and emotional yet rational: pointed-toe platform shoes with hand-sewn beads and sequins dripping from the shoe’s top for an intense overhang you can see; multilayer dresses full of tulle underneath; straight-leg trousers with large ripple ruffles strewn above the unseen side pockets; new functional purses and bags, including the Benedetta doctor bag and the Bo satchel; soft commercial knits loosely woven in electric pink and baby blue; and elbow-length gloves stitched to perfection in perhaps the very same beads and sequins we see adorning many of the darling shoes and bags.

At Delpozo fashion shows, attendees will tell you that Font’s exciting demonstration is more of an experience—one complete with a live band of Font’s choice accompanying the dazzling wonderments that pass by in a slow motion, sweeping the toes of fashion figures in the front row.

Regularly playing with surprising juxtapositions, Font finds inspiration in

all sorts of traditional and nontraditional beauty, creating a “very complete collection, naturally for day and night.” For Fall/Winter 2015, we saw references from the palette of the Australian artist Rhys Lee and the Russian painter Andrey Remnev. For Spring/Summer 2016, it was one of Font’s favorite Spanish poets, Federico García Lorca, coupled with his earthy women, the “Gypsy Ballads,” and Gustav Klimt’s young lover Emilie Flöge.

Attention to highlighting differing details in each twofold-inspired collection is something that Font knows how to communicate well, and his Fall/Winter 2016 collection continued to prove his passion for fulfilling that.

In February, within New York’s natural light-flooded Studio 59, we witnessed Victorian and futuristic worlds elegantly colliding in Delpozo’s collection. Inspired by Fritz Lang’s science-fiction film Metropolis and the dreamlike digital illustrations of Daria Petrilli, Font showed an array of treasured garments: elbow-length gloves covered in kaleidoscopic flowers of lilac, burgundy, silver, and bronze; the new Benedetta doctor bag, the Bo satchel, the Tyng flap bag, and the Gret clutch; pointed platform shoes with dangling details; and an array of textured materials like holographic mesh, metallic embroidery, thermo-fixed tulle, and velvet jacquard prints with silver craquelé effects—all joining the rest of the globally sourced materials, exclusive to the house. For each of Delpozo’s collections, rather than seeing direct translations of Font’s inspirations, we see bits and pieces that allow for us to form our own conclusions in addition to outright explanations: colors from the artists’ palettes; futuristic references through materials; and patterns—like splattered polka dots, organized bright and reflective dots, and spaced-out sequins—that are reminiscent of perhaps a past life or a character’s demeanor.

As we sat with the designer in a New York coffee shop in SoHo, wrapping up our discussion, we spoke about all of the additional duties it takes to be a creative director—all those aside from what you may think you’re signing up for. “It’s very stressful,” he said, “but I need this stress for my world, for my life.”

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Portrait courtesy of Delpozo.

All other images: Delpozo’s Fall/Winter 2016 collection.

KRIS VAN ASSCHE

BY KATY DONOGHUE PHOTOGRAPHS BY VIRGINIA ARCARO

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Portrait by Johan Sandberg.

All other images: Virginia Arcaro’s “The Art of Falling Apart” for Dior Homme Fall/Winter 2016.

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Kris Van Assche’s tenure at Dior Homme has coincided with a tidal wave of attention and new brands devoted to menswear. Within a market on the brink of oversaturation, though, van Assche has kept Dior Homme a leader and lightning rod in men’s fashion, carving out a distinct voice for a historic house.

On the eve of his tenth year as creative director, Whitewall spoke with Van Assche about testing the limits of the label and experimenting with a unique urban language he’s employed to create looks like his signature skater suit and efforts to reintroduce florals into men’s fashion.

Van Assche also shared with us how he started collaborating with the ceramicist Kristin McKirdy, an encounter that came out of his growing collection of midcentury French porcelain. We learned that art has always a part of his life, while he was growing up in Antwerp and now in Paris.

WHITEWALL: You’ve now been creative director at Dior Homme for nine

of the house. With that so strongly in place, I can now progress further and test the limits of the fashion collection—taking it in new directions, experimenting with my own urban language in more complex ways.

KRIS VAN ASSCHE: A decade is exciting for me, but I don’t necessarily feel

WW: Your time at Dior Homme has coincided with a real sea change in attention to menswear. What do you think of the increase in attention to men’s fashion? Are there pitfalls to such an exponential expansion of the market?

years. Is there a significance for you in reaching a decade with the fashion house?

nostalgic. It’s more a time to take stock and be thankful to everyone who has supported me for so long, and a chance to evolve what I have been doing at Dior Homme with an even more confident fashion message. Of course, it is a moment of celebration, too!

WW: You’ve said how defining what Dior Homme is was the initial focus for you when you came on in 2007 as creative director. Now that that’s been successfully established, how has your focus changed?

KVA: We have worked very hard to create a foundation for the Dior Homme

wardrobe, to rebuild and reinforce the heritage details and the classic elegance

KVA: Menswear has never been more potent or visible, and that is an exciting

thing as it encourages guys everywhere to pay more attention to their own sense of style. Perhaps it means they will take a chance with a new silhouette, try an innovative material, or mix and match from their wardrobe in a more modern way. The only negative to this expansion of the menswear market is the saturation of similar brands and aesthetics—but it just makes me strive to ensure that Dior Homme stands out even more as a pillar of iconic menswear.

WW: You put your eponymous collection on hold last year. How has that

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“Men have been wearing florals for centuries, so for me it was more about how to make that a relevant statement for today”

KVA: Men have been wearing florals for centuries, so for me it was more

about how to make that a relevant statement for today. I have always personally been inspired by flowers myself, right from my very first Kris Van Assche collections. Of course, the lily of the valley or muguet was Mr. Dior’s favorite flower, which I interpreted as an embroidered corsage and appliqué across pinstripe suiting for Fall 2015. A season later I created the white rose badges as one of my symbols of the Parisian boy and his mash-up of bourgeois and streetwear, and for Fall 2017 that became a darker, New Romantic symbol as intarsia knitwear and a black-and-white photo print.

WW: The Fall/Winter 2016–17 collection was named “The Art of Falling Apart.” Can you tell us about that title?

affected your creative process at Dior Homme? Do you feel a bit freer to show more of your personality in the collections?

KVA: Putting the Kris Van Assche label on hold was a personal decision that

has allowed me to refocus my energy into a single project. I do indeed feel freer to inject more of the urban and sportswear references of my own label into Dior Homme—it has been a natural progression to reveal that side of me season by season without feeling labored or forced.

WW: What made you ultimately feel confident enough to reference Mr. Dior, however conceptually?

KVA: I think that his spirit has always been present in my collections for Dior Homme in one way or another, from the very first formalwear through to my more recent literal homage. In the past few seasons I explored some of the very few existing links that could be drawn between Mr. Dior himself and menswear, considering he never designed any himself. Instead, I took elements like his handwriting and his signature, his favorite flowers, and his sense of bourgeoisie, and I twisted them into something new.

WW: Lately, you’ve been introducing some floral imagery and patterns, like the lily of the valley (a historical Dior reference) in 2014 and in the Fall/ Winter 2016–17 collection several different rose patterns. Can you talk about a bit about introducing floral patterns into menswear, especially in the most recent collection?

KVA: “The Art of Falling Apart” was my way of playing with deconstruction

and formality—how to take the sartorial traditions of Dior Homme and give them a rough edge. It explains the scarlike red topstitching down overcoats and lapels, the fringed checkerboard embroidery, and the frayed, repaired skinny denim. It is also a reference to the skate universe.

WW: We noticed some exposed, frayed stitching, wider-legged pants, lots of leather, and a beaded necklace with several charms. Can you tell us about some of the details in the collection?

KVA: This collection definitely called upon a more rough-and-ready streetwear element that collides with my idea of the Dior Homme archetypal wardrobe. That allowed for exciting contrasts of fabrication and silhouette, from, say, the opulence of a short parka cut in glossy calf hair to the ease of tailored pants finished with a jogging cuff, waistband, and red-laced drawstring. I played with a clash of checks, stripes, and the rose print to bring a sense of chaos to the perfectly executed garments.

WW: Was there any one look or garment that felt really wild for you?

KVA: One of the most important silhouettes in the show was the slim jacket

with a wide, baggy pant. It appeared in various materials, but for me I was excited to show it in black leather. Perhaps it wasn’t the flashiest outfit in the show, but for me it distilled the message of my “skater suit” in the most coherent way.

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“A decade is exciting for me, but I don’t necessarily feel nostalgic”

WW: In the Spring 2016 show models wore or carried a talisman made by ceramicist Kristin McKirdy. How did you first come across Kristin’s work and why did you want to work with her on a talisman for the collection?

KVA: I am a fan and a collector of midcentury French porcelain, and I discov-

ered Kristin’s work in one of my favorite galleries in Paris. It was a pleasant surprise for me to find someone with her aesthetic sensibility who was still working today, and in Paris, even—so it felt natural to approach her to collaborate on a wearable version of her creations.

WW: You’ve said before that menswear is about codes (Wall Street, weekend, skater, punk, sportswear, bourgeois) and that you reinterpret, rethink, and oppose those codes to create something new. The Spring 2017 show is coming up later this month, and we saw on your Instagram a hint at it with a black basketball with blue bedazzled lines. While perhaps you can’t share much about the line, what kind of codes are you playing around with this season?

KVA: For Spring 2017, the collection is an evolution of Fall’s rebellious youth, but channeled through the landscape of a Belgian fun fair in the late afternoon light. It’s an exploration of the kind of industrial, post-punk attitude of the guys that hang out there, and the way they mix sportswear with denim, patches, and other symbols of belonging.

WW: We also noticed on Instagram you post pictures of art (alongside your

cat Diego!), by artists like Katrien De Blauwer, Glenn Ligon, Robert Longo, Robert Mapplethorpe, Robert Irwin, et cetera. We read that you were very into fashion early on, via magazines. How did you interest in contemporary art come about?

KVA: Contemporary art was something that became a part of my life as I grew

up and left the Belgian countryside to discover Antwerp and Paris and the rich art scene in both cities. The more I have traveled, the more opportunities I have had to see exhibitions and meet contemporary artists in all the major capitals, as well as feed my own thirst for knowledge by looking into the past to find certain schools of art practice that inform my design work today.

WW: Are there any artists or mediums you are particularly drawn to?

KVA: I would say that I am quite traditional in the sense that I love painting, photography, and sculpture—even though I have the chance to work on short films as well with Willy Vanderperre for our Dior Homme campaigns, which is an exciting medium as well. I do have an affinity for certain Belgian artists, although there is a great wealth of talent from across the globe that I touch upon when I visit art fairs and shows.

WW: Do you have pieces in your home or studio space that serve as a source of inspiration for you?

KVA: Last year I purchased an older piece from the New York artist Dan Witz—a painting in a pentagonal frame featuring a dark hooded figure, black on black. I like the contrast of darker works like that against Kristen McKirdy’s colorful, brutal ceramics, but both have that feeling of a rough edge that I am always drawn to.

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ANGELA MISSONI

BY KATY DONOGHUE PHOTOGRAPHS BY RAFAEL Y. HERMAN

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Previous page: Angela Missoni in front of Ann Craven’s Pink Thinking of You, 2004.

This page: Ann Craven’s Pink Thinking of You, 2004.

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This year marks the 20th year that Angela Missoni has been the creative director of her family’s brand. Her home in Italy is a modern one, with lots of natural light, clean lines, and bright accents (very Missoni!). It is filled with paintings and pieces by artists like Jenny Holzer, Alessandro Mendini, Graziella Marchi, Pietro Scampini, Tracey Emin, and Francesco Vezzoli.

We visited Missoni in her home to get a sense of her distinct style and taste, and to learn why she considers herself an assembler rather than a collector.

WHITEWALL: We read that you grew up in an environment where friends

of your parents—journalists, athletes, actors, musicians, and artists—were always around, that your parents had art on the walls and it was normal to hear talk about art exhibitions. Did that creative world feel natural to you?

ANGELA MISSONI: It was all very natural, yes. It was very much a mixed, rich environment of special people not only in a creative way or cultural way. I was a child and I was very shy, but I was really an observer and I felt that with everybody so special around that I’d never dare say a word. I was always around just listening.

WW: Do you still feel like some kind of an observer?

AM: No. I remember the day I turned 40 and I thought, “Wow, what a fantastic age.” It’s when you start not caring [what other people think] anymore.

And now after 50, really, it is even more fantastic because you’ve done things and you’re more confident. You know, you don’t care. You might mess up, you might be wrong, but who cares? You might not be perfect, but okay.

WW: That seems to coincide with the time that you started to buy art. It wasn’t until your children were older that you began to buy and acquire art.

What were some of the first pieces that interested you, that made you want to have them in your home?

AM: Actually, I remember my first art piece I asked for from my dad for my 18th birthday.

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“I remember the day I turned 40 and I thought, “Wow, what a fantastic age”

WW: What was that?

AM: It’s a sculpture, like two totems, very colorful and primitive by an American artist showing in Milan. He had an exhibition that I went to with my parents and I fell in love with the two totems.

WW: Do you still have those pieces?

AM: Yes, absolutely. They are in my guest room.

WW: That was when you were 18. So throughout your twenties were you still buying art from time to time?

AM: Yes, but I was very much more into decorating my house at the time.

Then I had my children very young. I did not have much time. So my priorities were decorating with found objects. It’s still the way I’m doing it now.

Then I remember another piece that I bought when I was around maybe in my late thirties. I was in New York and my girlfriends took me to a house and introduced me to a designer artist, Dan Friedman. I fell in love with his work and the pieces that he was making. I bought a fountain and a screen. And those followed me.

WW: How would you describe the style of your home? You mentioned found objects . . .

AM: You know, I work it corner by corner. I’m always making little altars around the house, not because of religion, but I like working with the various objects that I’ve found. I’m completely a maniac for secondhand thrift shops. I love the idea of giving a second life to objects that nobody cares for anymore.

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This page, from left to right: Francesco Vezzoli’s Enjoy the New Fragrance (Georgia O’Keefe for Greed), 2009; and a Pietro Scampini sculpture on floor, 1986.

1970s dining table and 1980 Missoni rug, Graziella Marchi’s Rabbit and Radishes,1988.

WW: Forgotten objects.

AM: Forgotten objects, yes. Like I’m doing some kind of adoption. So I will search the flea markets. My house is like a secondhand shop, but there are very few important pieces by Italian artists and designers that I was lucky enough to buy at the time. I never go looking for something; I go for things that I find. I don’t start with research.

And I approach an art fair in the same way. Even though I might have some artists in mind, you walk and see. My daughter will often walk around with me. I really have to look. I’m not an art collector in the way of it being a full-time job. It’s a full-time job to be an “art collector.” I’m an assembler.

WW: As you assemble in your home, as you call it, do you have a vision in mind?

AM: I now realize that I try to create harmony. And I can make that happen.

I know that everybody who comes to this house feels very good. It’s a very intense modernist house, so very straight and made of glass, and there’s a lot of light with one stone on the floor everywhere and one color on the walls.

The architecture is very pure and minimal.

very tiring. I’m very curious; I need to see everything. So if I’m going there and I’m missing something, it feels bad. There is too much and I miss it and it became too social. You know, I’m not complaining. Everybody can go wherever they like, but I don’t think there is anymore the kind of approach when it was a small event.

So I’ll go if it’s a smaller fair. I love the Turin fair [Artissima] because they work with a lot of young, smaller galleries. The owners will come in from all over the world and do an amazingly good job. I even like the Design Miami/ fair, which is getting better and better. And then, of course, if I happen to be in New York I’ll go see the Armory.

WW: And you have a home in Venice. Do you ever go to the art or architecture biennials?

AM: Yes, yes, of course. And I took my children when they were little. And [my daughter] Margherita studied architecture, so we are both very interested.

And during those weeks it’s easy to come across friends and artists, and it’s a nice feeling.

WW: Do you have any relationships or friendships with some of the artists whose work you own?

WW: But it’s not cold.

AM: I do have artist friends.

AM: Yeah, it’s not cold, because it feels almost like a garden inside. It grows; it’s blooming. It’s blooming inside.

WW: Can you tell us about the Ann Craven painting of the bright yellow bird?

WW: When we last spoke with you it was in Miami during the art fairs a few years ago. Do you still go to the Miami fairs?

AM: I had this painting in my old house, and while I was fixing the new house I knew that this piece would go there. I’m so happy it has found its place.

We saw a show of hers recently in New York at Maccarone gallery.

AM: Oh, yes, for a few years, I might take a day. But I can hardly make it now. There are so many fairs now. It became too big and something that is

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VIRGIL ABLOH

BY KATY DONOGHUE

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Virgil Abloh is a creative director. He likes that title. It acts as an umbrella over the different modes and genres in which he works—music, fashion, design. He sees it all as interconnected, inside a gray area in between, from which the name of his fashion label Off-White is derived. The label launched in 2013 with women’s and men’s collections, and has seen marked success and praise for special projects with Sky Ferreira, Dover Street Market, Colette, and more. The brand has launched pop-ups and stores in London, Beijing, Hong Kong, Shanghai, Seoul, and Tokyo. At the moment for Abloh, fashion is the best vehicle through which to express his vision, but that could change, and probably will.

Whitewall caught up with Abloh at Soho House in Chicago, just a few days after his men’s show premiered in Paris over the summer. One underlying theme of the menswear Spring/Summer 2017 collection was the scorpion, representing potential death. Abloh confessed that he is propelled by a feeling that if he didn’t do all this work, he would die. Which sounded grim, he admitted, but he didn’t see it that way.

WHITEWALL: You’re just back from showing your men’s Spring/Summer 2017 collection in Paris. We saw that you collaborated with the artist Brendan Fowler for it. How do you feel it went?

VIRGIL ABLOH: Off-White is sort of a halo or a communicating device for me. It’s like a diary, and, in hindsight, a clothing brand in a modern context is like a perfect way to do a multidisciplinary journal entry. I make up themes of this collection based on the current times. Each season is unto its own; it’s always a response to something. There’s that element of storytelling.

So the main theme of this collection was showcasing what’s behind the hood, or behind the facade. It’s a “mirror on the wall who’s the fairest of them all”; a blanket statement about all brands. But then I wanted to use the show to showcase underlying themes, one of which was the scorpion motif, which to me represents a potential death. It sounds more grim, but it’s my motivation to do it, to do it all at one time. It takes a lot of work, but I don’t consider it work. I’m sort of triggered by this feeling that if I don’t do it, I would die.

WW: Do you also worry about having done enough before you die? Are you ever concerned about your legacy?

VA: Yeah, there’s the want to create something that lives longer than you.

All those things are, I think, often what distinguishes what artists make from things that are just made. They’re spirited things; they come from someone that feels like they have to get this. I have a philosophy that Off-White isn’t necessarily clothing. My circle of network isn’t about people wearing cloth-

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Previous page: Off-White men’s Fall/Winter 2016.

This page: Portrait by Fabien Montique.

Off-White Tokyo.

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ing. I guess that’s what the point of difference is. There could be a modern context of a brand like clothes that people wear and you’re a follower of that brand or that tribe or whatever.

But my tribe is actually not wearing the clothes. It was more like a handshake on a thought process. It’s like, we think, we move, we think about fashion as an art form; we don’t think about it as an identity, in a way. I wear things that I make, but I also don’t wear a lot of things that I make.

WW: So Off-White is more than fashion?

“The clothing line is a perfect vehicle to have an ongoing dialogue and documentation of the thought process”

VA: That’s what the facade is. It’s the groups of people; it’s an interconnectedness internationally around a particular train of thought. I think that in a way it’s by my design; it’s a premise that clothing in a modern context has gotten to the point where people perceive things by what you’re wearing. And a lot of the Off-White mentality is that clothes don’t really matter. There are things to style yourself and there’s certain motifs and everything, but the DNA in the brand is the interconnectedness of my friends and this thought process. It’s like unofficial official. Varying groups form the wide range of tastes and the wide range of personality, so that the brand isn’t really narrow. It’s not one thing; it’s not one aesthetic. The name itself implies that it’s in between two different things, no matter what. If it’s men’s or women’s, gray or blue, or black or white, I’m attempting to define a different definition of a clothing line. I’m using it as a premise to define a modern way of thinking.

WW: So what was the starting point for this modern way of thinking for you?

VA: I worked in architecture before this. And I’m equally into designing furniture as I am into clothing. And music is, I feel, a huge component of culture. So it’s all that, but then the question of what’s the best device to communicate to people.

There’s music, shows, stores, opportunities to do launches of other creative projects. The clothing line is a perfect vehicle to have an ongoing dialogue and documentation of the thought process. This is one idea that started in one place and, season by season, with the times, it’s evolving into something else. There are new epiphanies.

WW: So fashion at the moment is the best vehicle for you to communicate those new epiphanies.

VA: Like, I’m opening a store in Japan in three days that isn’t a store. It’s an office. I learned these principles from Rem Koolhaas and what he and Michael Rock were doing with 2x4 and thinking of Prada stores not as a flagships, but as epicenters. It kind of sounds facetious to say, “Oh, it’s not about selling clothes, its not about the commodity,” which it obviously is, it’s

underlined. But if you get beat into just focusing on [commodity] you’re missing a huge opportunity. What OffWhite is trying to stand for is thinking about, “What are the takeaways that you get from a product or a brand without which having to consume it?”

There’s much more of an eye-opening, and it’s way more of an art premise than a commerce premise.

WW: So how did you come to work

with Brendan Fowler on the recent collection?

VA: Brendan’s work, his “crash pieces,” are something that I believe that any fashion designer or designer in general would love, because it’s such a simple idea, super well executed and the pieces speak for themselves.

To me, they are some of the greatest artworks of the generation of current artists.

I met him through a friend, and it was just like friends of friends hanging out, forming a relationship and being into music and all these other things and hanging out. And then it was like, “Hey, let’s do something,” and not in a way where it uses the art as an embellishment. It’s a real connection.

He hasn’t revisited the original “crash pieces” since he made them. For me, it was like, “Let’s go to Milan, let’s create them together, let’s think about what a context in clothing looks like, in the same spirit of the theory not the aesthetic.”

Off-White is generally based on everything from Duchamp to modern architecture to Bauhaus International Style. Like one style of clothing or one style of building that is so resolved that it can exist all over the world— Germany, Tokyo, Africa. Social media made everything one. I see a kid in Japan who wants to look like friends of mine in New York. So that is the petri dish that I’m making in.

WW: What did you and Brendan come up with in Milan then?

VA: They are paintings in a frame that are crashed together. They look like they’re thrown together, but they’re meticulously cut and placed and very well thought out and orientated. They sit up off the walls like a sculpture, not a 2-D thing. So our idea was to consider those as finished pieces, [we had them printed on fabric] so they’re all resolved. And then crashing them with the garment. So what happens is when you crash those two things together, it affects the shape of the garment. So everywhere they’re placed, it either creates a new hemline or removes a whole panel outside. It’s a lot of theory and a lot of thought poured into a seemingly simple thing.

WW: That is wearable.

VA: Yeah, considering that they’re art pieces. I buy clothing as art. Like a Raf Simons piece, to me it’s the same, it’s art. Obviously, [Brendan’s] paintings

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Opposite page: Off-White men’s Fall/Winter 2016 and Moncler’s collaboration with Off-White, Moncler O.

“Off-White is generally based on everything from Duchamp to modern architecture to Bauhaus International Style”

are insanely expensive and you can’t buy them. But what opportunity can you ever have to own a piece of clothing that’s made by the artist and a designer? We come together and we make these things.

And they’re in a whole collection, in a whole different context.

WW: The women’s Fall/Winter 2016 col-

lection had a few looks that looked like they were made out of a painting canvas.

VA: Yeah, those were my favorite pieces that I’ve ever made. The Giorgio de Chirico paintings that I found/stole from a fabric store in Paris days before the show. So just in the same way that a couture person thinks about making couture clothes, I think about things from a ready-made or more graffiti perspective. One of my favorite artist friends in my circle of artists is named Jim Joe from New York. He, to me, transcends the art form of public art or graffiti or whatever. To me, he’s like Warhol of our time. Last year he was working on some de Chirico pieces, that’s how I learned about de Chirico. And when I was shopping [in Paris], I walked in and saw these two de Chiricos on a wall, and I was like, “I’m going to buy those and make dresses out of those as if they were expensive lace fabric.”

WW: You also recently launched a printed publication at Colette in Paris.

We read that you wanted to create something more affordable for Off-White, since not everyone can afford the clothes.

VA: The thoughts are less expensive. The clothes are more expensive to

make. The brand is now three years old and I’m able to unroll the original ideas I had. Off-White is not about the clothes. In the same way it’s all about the thoughts and allowing entry points into the thought process. The books, the published things, the words, these interviews are more to the point of what I want people to receive than just the aesthetic of the clothing. Than, “Hey, do you need another jacket? Do you need another printed T-shirt?”

It’s a vocabulary. The point is the books, it’s the publishing, it’s the Instagram, it’s the website, the first advertising campaign for Off-White.

WW: Was there a point at which you felt that idea for Off-White crystalized?

VA: No, what I’ve learned is that you try to hit a home run with every statement. That’s why I’m glad I started this process. And something that I’ve learned with artists is that it takes a lot of hindsight to make something that’s seemingly crystalized. That’s what the world is, that’s what life is.

I started Off-White as just a gut feeling to legitimize the style of clothing that my friends and I were making. I’m a student of design, self-taught. I’m a student of Raf Simons, of Ralph Lauren, of Kanye West, the same as everyone who grew up watching the “Second Hand Smoke” influential skateboard video or watching Michael Jordan. You mix these things.

I’ve learned that once you start going back in your own unique histories, then you can offer something that’s new. My background is architecture, so that’s what I was dialing into. My mom has been a tailor for like 50 years of her life. So I was seeing and growing up around clothing in a specific way.

Everything I’ve said up to now is a foundation of finding and gathering more pieces to prove my concept. And the concept is that fashion as we’ve previously known it, before three years ago, was still vague. But we’ve seen it almost fully transgress into something completely different. It is is not only shaking up High Street, Topshop, Zara, H&M, it’s also changing Balenciaga, Gucci, Brioni. It’s about that dialogue with incredible design and commercial design. But fashion is not some sort of rogue thing that’s trying to make an upheaval and make high fashion irrelevant. If anything, I’m trying to extend the life of high fashion as a relevancy toward the younger generation that don’t necessarily perceive luxury in the same way that my parents did.

Inclusion is part of the new luxury.

WW: Do you think that’s why people have responded so well to Off-White in just three years?

VA: I have this weird chip in my brain where I don’t know what people are responding to. I get that [they are] but I don’t get any validity out of it. The same way I don’t read any articles after I do them because, could you imagine how crazy that would make you?

It’s hard for me to gauge because right now I’m doing what I’m doing if no one’s looking at it or if everyone is. It freaks me out that I’m doing well. Then there’s sort of this obligation to understand why it’s doing well. And then I taint how I think about things. So I guess what I’m doing is making a guess about what people are whispering about. It’s not always the positive, so that’s where the scorpion comes in. I’m constantly trying to throw off somebody that doesn’t believe in something that I just made up in my head.

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RODOLFO PAGLIALUNGA CREATIVE DIRECTOR AT JIL SANDER

BY KATY DONOGHUE

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Previous page: Portrait courtesy of Jil Sander.

This page: Looks from Jil Sander Navy’s Fall/Winter 2016 collection.

I

n the religion of fashion, the worship of minimalism happens at the church of Jil Sander. There, austerity is transformed into power, and strength is found in simplicity.

Rodolfo Paglialunga, the fashion house’s creative director since 2014, has long been a member of the spartan flock, growing up in fashion in the nineties, a time he describes as having been the best for minimalism. After leading design roles at Vionnet and Prada, Paglialunga is working to attract an even younger, smarter, cooler crowd to the sophisticated school of Jil Sander. Whitewall caught up with him after the debut of his latest menswear collection, which proved strict with an underground edge.

WHITEWALL: The recent show of menswear for Spring/Summer 2017

focused on a subdued and calm look, with natural fabrics, clean cuts, and shapes with ease. Why did you want to create a modular and light wardrobe for the Jil Sander man?

RODOLFO PAGLIALUNGA: I wanted to go back to the house founding principles, but with a twist. Design, clean cuts, and fabrics were definitely the only protagonists. I wanted to create a light feeling and construction of classic garments, reassemble a modern wardrobe for next summer with a strong casual feel yet classically constructed. I also wanted to show and to display a masculine physicality and a dynamic body consciousness.

WW: For the Jil Sander men’s line you’ve said that you want it to be smarter, younger, cooler. How do you see that translating in color, fabric, and volume in future collections?

RP: For the future I think about searching for a new approach to construct the Jil Sander silhouette, rethinking any conventional way of operating. Simply new proportions for the Jil Sander line. With regard to the colors, they have been always an important trademark for Jil Sander. Recently, I’ve gravitated toward a very unremitted color palette—I like to play with neutrals.

WW: The women’s Fall/Winter 2016 collection had a bit of an edge, with sharp dresses in black, strong shoulders, asymmetrical hems, and a bit of shimmer in some metallic looks. What took you in that direction?

RP: I mainly wanted to work on proportions and new combinations of materials. Proportions were extreme in this specific collection: strong shoulders, daring volumes, elongated sleeves. The silhouette was decisive and vertical, with an emphasis on artificial surfaces. Leather has a glass hand. Foil is printed onto silks or textured wools. Metal is knitted into dresses.

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“

My main inspirations come from travels. I get inspired by the places I visit and people I meet

WW: For that collection, what drew you to materials like leather, printed foil on silk, embroidered pieces, and knit metals?

RP: I wanted to use innovative materials that give the garments an always modern and unique touch. We put a lot of energy into the development of new fabrics so that traditional materials get new characteristics, such as cashmere with metallic pigments, particularly in this case.

WW: How would you describe the starting point of a collection for you?

Does it always come from a singular source of inspiration, or is it more of an amalgamation?

�

RP: My main inspirations come from travels. I get inspired by the places I visit and people I meet. I get inspired from friends. It is definitely an amalgamation of inspirations.

WW: There is a purity and strictness to the Jil Sander aesthetic that’s both understated and empowering. How do you want your clothes to transform the wearer?

RP: I mostly translate those values through forms, shapes, and fabrics for both womenswear and menswear. Every Jil Sander collection has very exclusive fabrics, specific developments for colors and materials, high-level

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treatment and techniques and the highest care for the maximum quality. I’d rather prefer to stage a collection that can be approached in many different individual ways. I think that personality is much more interesting, and I would like to see this as the trend.

WW: Outside of fashion, what are your interests? Are you interested in art, literature, or film?

WW: How would you describe the contemporary minimalism you are pursu-

RP: Of course, I’m very keen on all these fields. I have a particular interest in modern and contemporary art. In my spare time I love to travel, visit museums, and search for the unique piece to take back home.

RP: I wouldn’t use the word “minimalism” anymore as I don’t think it is the

WW: Does your affinity for minimalism transcend fashion to other aspects of your life?

ing today at Jil Sander?

correct expression to describe my approach. Now it’s about focusing on the essential or a word that is almost a synonym for the brand—it is about pureness with a strong focus on subtle details. I create beauty and femininity in my collections that fit to our times.

WW: You’ve described yourself as not a party boy—not going out to red carpet events. What you look at is people during the day at work. Would you say that is for whom you are designing?

RP: I can confirm that I am not a party boy! Also, I normally prefer to be behind the scenes and have my work speak for me. I don’t necessarily design for an understated target, though. If a celebrity admires my work and would like to wear my collections for red carpets or other events, why not?

RP: I’m quite an understated person, therefore at times minimalism also trickles in my personal life. At work and outside, I like to research pureness with a strong focus on subtle details. I love the idea of pureness and a sort of intellectual approach, which can display both a certain joyful and emotional side.

WW: How would you describe your ideal environment for creating?

RP: My ideal work environment is team-oriented—an environment that is centered around working as a team and that allows everyone’s talents to flourish. I definitely like an environment that is empowering and positive.

WW: The audience for ready-to-wear fashion for both men and women now

reaches a larger, more international audience. Has that evolution in the world of fashion affected your creative process, or who you are imagining wearing your designs?

Opposite page, left: Jil Sander women’s Fall/Winter 2016 collection.

Right: Jil Sander men’s Fall/Winter 2016 collection.

RP: I like to create a collection that can be approached by a larger audience in many different individual ways.

This page, left: Jil Sander men’s Fall/Winter 2016 collection.

Right: Jil Sander women’s Fall/Winter 2016 collection.

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LAURA OWENS In Conversation with Gavin Delahunty WHITEWALL 112

PHOTOGRAPHS BY DANIEL ARSHAM AND STEVE BENISTY WHITEWALL 113

Previous page: Portrait by Noah Webb, courtesy of the artist and Gavin Brown’s enterprise, New York/Rome; Sadie Coles HQ, London; and Galerie Gisela Capitain, Cologne.

Opposite page: Laura Owens Untitled, 2004 Acrylic and oil on linen 132 x 111.25 inches

T

Courtesy of the artist and Gavin Brown’s enterprise, New York /Rome; Sadie Coles HQ, London; and Galerie Gisela Capitain, Cologne

all now done by most artists through the logic of collage. I think this dominance across art forms is so ubiquitous that it is hard to notice. So I can’t say how I use collage because it is just part of the fabric of how I am seeing everything.

This year, TWO x TWO for AIDS and Art, an annual event in Dallas benefiting the American Foundation for AIDS Research (amfAR) and the Dallas Museum of Art (DMA), will recognize artist Laura Owens as its esteemed Honored Artist. She joins a distinguished list of past honorees including Ellsworth Kelly, Wade Guyton, Luc Tuymans, Elizabeth Peyton, Cecily Brown, Robert Rauschenberg, and more, all honored by TWO x TWO over the past 18 years—helping to raise over $60 million thus far.

Coinciding with the 2016 gala on October 22 at the Rachofsky House in Dallas, Owens will also be honored with the amfAR Award of Excellence for Artistic Contributions to the Fight Against AIDS in recognition of her generous support of amfAR’s programs. “On behalf of amfAR and the Dallas Museum of Art, we extend our heartfelt thanks to Laura, and to our friends at Gavin Brown’s enterprise, Sadie Coles HQ, and Galerie Gisela Capitain, for their extraordinary support of Laura and of TWO x TWO,” said TWO x TWO’s director, Melissa Meeks Ireland. TWO x TWO hosts Cindy and Howard Rachofsky mirrored that sentiment, saying, “We share our heartfelt gratitude with Laura for her tremendous support of TWO x TWO and for allowing us to honor her generous spirit and her achievements in artmaking.”

The artist spoke with Hoffman Family Senior Curator of Contemporary Art at the DMA Gavin Delahunty about finding inspiration in an old coloring book, the connection between collage and sailing, and using language as a means to propel her work.

GAVIN DELAHUNTY: I wanted to start by asking you about a work from 2000. It’s a watercolor and collage on paper that looks like a brig? That is to say, a sailboat that is understood to be fast and maneuverable. Can you tell us a little about that work, and secondly, like the nimble brig, how important is it for you to remain agile as a painter? What mechanism or activities do you put in play to stay alert in terms of your paintings’ development?

LAURA OWENS: The image comes from a book of American quilts I had around my studio for a long time. I liked the idea of the flatness of collage as a way to represent the overlapping sails. I had been planning to remake it at the Fabric Workshop and Museum, but the first tapestry I made there took so long that I never made the large-scale fabric version of this piece. I am rather slow to do anything, so it’s hard to get my head around the qualities that keep me agile. I try to rethink what I am doing as I work, to abandon things and to approach making art in ways that are maybe uncomfortable for me in the moment.

GD: Your ship has nine different patterned sailcloths that emphasize its collaged quality. I couldn’t help but think of de Kooning’s Sail Cloth from 1949. One of the first paintings to propel him into the uncharted waters of “pure” painting . . . it’s marvelous, dense and animated with sinuous lines.

Obviously, de Kooning appreciated collage—layering drawings one on top of the other to create relationships that were intended to obscure meaning. Can you talk about how you make use of collage in your work?

LO: I think collage is the dominant mode of artmaking for all artists now,

much more so than the historic idea of a medium-specific artwork that attempts to present itself as uniform. For me, collage means putting heterogeneous materials together to make a whole. Or “a combination and collection of various things.” Installation art, sound art, painting . . . to me this work is

GD: The directness and peculiarity of your work from 2000 also reminded me of the Cornish painter and fisherman Alfred Wallis. His principal subjects were ships—cutters, not brigs. At any rate, his lack of formal training led him to compose his paintings in terms of relative importance—if the subject was a ship, then, in light of that, the ship would be the largest object depicted, and so on. Do you have a particular system or a self-imposed hierarchy when you compose a painting?

LO: I am usually just trying to confront the logic I have used in the past and

looking for a way to question it. I have a very formal painting background, which I am very aware of and often at odds with because it feels so stuck in ideas of balance, quality, finish, and ultimately taste. So it’s important to look at different ways of organizing, like random accumulation, graphic design, advertising, illustration, and to sometimes just break my own habit of composing.

GD: I was reunited with sailboats in your work when I moved to Dallas. The DMA is lucky enough to have a magnificent large linen painting of yours famously exhibited at the Whitney in their 2004 biennial. It also features two boats. One of my favorite things to do while looking at the work is to list the animals depicted: owl, bat, dog, cat, doe, duck, dove, fish. It’s like a poem.

What role does language play in your work?

LO: I often use language to propel an artwork to start. Calling a painting a

clock in order to see what that does to the idea of painting, for example, or using an idea like “sunset painting” to see where that would lead. Words and puns are good motivators for me, but also I see them as part of the painting.

The words we use to describe the painting—the title, the anecdotes—are just as much a part of our understanding/misunderstanding as the material object.

They’re similar to our visual representations of the object and the contexts where the works can and can’t exist.

In the painting you describe, the two boats are firing at each other and both have American flags on them. I think the animals in the foreground are both a way of identifying with our own complacency with the political sphere, but also an identification with a larger idea of relationships that exist at a time of war.

GD: I also have a deep fondness for one of the works associated with the

DMA’s painting shown at the Kunsthalle Zürich in 2006. It is a sketch for the larger painting and has ten color tests across its top part. A wonderful affirmation as to how the final painting will be made. Do you often plan out paintings in this form before tackling them on a larger scale? Do you think of the finished paintings in totality before you lay a single mark on the surface?

LO: I make studies and drawings for most paintings, and many of these were

shown at the Kunsthalle Zürich in 2006 as part of a survey show that traveled in Europe. Russell Ferguson wrote an article for Parkett that included a detailed account of the role the studies play in the process of making one of my paintings. Drawings go back and forth from small-scale to large-scale (the same dimensions as the painting that will be made) as they are edited, and to the computer, looping many times through these drawing devices in order to work the composition while I simultaneously figure out the color palette and mediums on small test canvases with the actual paint or material that will be used in the final painting.

Of course, sometimes I just start painting on the canvas and that is it—no studies, no drawing.

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Laura Owens Untitled, 2012 Flashe and yarn on hand-dyed linen 35.5 x 33.25 inches Courtesy of the artist and Gavin Brown’s enterprise, New York / Rome; Sadie Coles HQ, London; and Galerie Gisela Capitain, Cologne

Laura Owens Untitled, 2013 Oil, Flashe, and charcoal on linen 108 x 84 inches Courtesy of the artist and Gavin Brown’s enterprise, New York / Rome; Sadie Coles HQ, London; and Galerie Gisela Capitain, Cologne

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GD: It’s not the first time I’ve turned to poetry to think about your work.

My first hands-on experience with your paintings was at the Douglas Hyde Gallery, Dublin, in 2006 and a deceptively charming work that portrays a fantastical romantic scene: a purple-haired male and an amply breasted pink-skinned woman in an embrace. It is a terrific work with a Russian folk feel. It recalled for me Mallarmé’s “The Afternoon of a Faun,” in which he describes the sensual experiences of a faun who has just woken up from his afternoon slumber and discusses his encounters with several nymphs in a dreamlike monologue. As in Mallarmé’s poetry I found “fantasy,” “otherworldliness,” “symbolism,” and “pleasure” useful words to keep in mind when trying to conceptually grasp your work from this period. Can you elaborate on what were the sources for this direction at that time?

LO: I was going to the Norton Simon Museum in Pasadena and looking at the

Indian sculpture they have on the lower level, probably Radha and Krishna or similar sculptures. I made drawings and was interested in finding a way to bring the figure back into my work. I also wanted to show movement and play so that it was an active painting.

GD: I had the good fortune to visit your studio in 2014 and was simply amazed by the variety of equipment in your studio. Moreover, in the end pages of your 2015 Skira Rizzoli publication, there are graphic illustrations of a number of tools including a straight knife, spatula, large brayer, glue, ink, and linseed oil. Do you consider your studio to be a place for invention with new tools and techniques? Correspondingly, invention always takes place after the removal of certain parameters. What parameters are you removing from painting?

LO: I try to build in a lot of space for experimenting. I often reuse tools in

different ways, or use old techniques with unorthodox materials. Sometimes this just leads to a new idea and the experiment is only a step in this direction.

I really find it hard to say what parameters I am removing. I think of painting as a tool for making art—it’s the ultimate readymade art. Nothing can be done to a painting to make it not art, and therefore there is an inherent challenge built into its structure.

GD: For a month in spring 2000 you were artist in residence at the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum, Boston, amid its gardens and greenhouses and textiles. You are currently painting in Greenport, Long Island, for a forthcoming show. What impact, if any, does a specific location have on your art?

stand the influence this little Mediterranean fishing village had on Matisse and to see where he had painted Open Window, Collioure [1905] and later Porte-Fenêtre à Collioure [1914]. There is something about Open Window— its surprising palette, saturated, unmixed colors, and broad brushstrokes— that reminds me of a dynamic painting of yours I first saw in your 2012 “Pavement Karaoke / Alphabet” exhibition at Sadie Coles gallery and now in a private collection in Dallas. There is an optical and conceptual complexity to this work, the exaggerated thickness of the paint, the inclusion of the classified ads, and the variety of lines that look as if they were made using a trackball from an early Macintosh or Atari computer mouse. Can you talk about that show, its installation, which had an enormous impact on me?

LO: It was a show I had to make while taking a break from making the 356

show, so in a way, it felt like an aside at the time. Maybe that took the pressure off because I knew I had this much bigger project under way. The painting you mention by Matisse is actually represented by the M in the alphabet series in this show.

I had made several prior installations that consisted of multiple paintings but ultimately were one work. I wanted to make installations that were individual paintings but revealed a dependence or interconnectivity between the multiple panels. So the Pavement Karaoke used language to tie the paintings together. The alphabet paintings can be reconfigured in any way, to make words, one alphabet, one letter. It is one work but can be installed in any way imaginable.

GD: And finally I wondered if you could address a remarkably cryptic work from 2013 which seems to be a chromatic evolution from the works exhibited in “Pavement Karaoke / Alphabet.” It is of an interior of a room, a tiled wall, a gridded tabletop on which sits two oversized eggs and what seems to be a measuring spoon. What’s represented is subordinated by a peculiar opacity in the upper part of the painting. Can you describe what is going on?

LO: This is from a series of seven paintings that are started with scans from

an old coloring book I found as source material. In the coloring book, I liked how the titles were included in the drawings at the bottom of each page. For some paintings I took out the drawing and only left the title, for others, like the one you’re asking about, I digitally manipulated the drawing. In both cases, the edited images were enlarged to the scale of the canvas and transferred into a charcoal line (looks like a black line). I think you are seeing a lot of paint marks at the top. When you see this painting in real life, the white dominates more than the marks at the top and the charcoal.

LO: Probably a lot, but it’s never easy to say until you I’m long past it. The

Isabella Stewart Gardner residency is really just an apartment and exposure to the collection, not a studio, so I made art in a drawing classroom at the Museum School while I was in Boston. I felt so strange living inside the museum that I went to esoteric bookstores and read everything I could about astrology. I think delving into astrology on my own after years of critical theory at CalArts was really important, but I can’t say how for sure.

GD: I once went on a pilgrimage to Collioure, France, in an effort to under-

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Bottom: Installation view of Laura Owens’ “Pavement Karaoke / Alphanet,” at Sadie Coles HQ, October 9—November 17, 2012.

Courtesy of the artist and Gavin Brown’s enterprise, New York / Rome; Sadie Coles HQ, London; and Galerie Gisela Capitain, Cologne.

POSTCARD

POSTCARD FROM MILAN

BY ANNA SANSOM

The Salone del Mobile, Milan’s furniture fair, is the annual mecca for the design world, where trends are set and pioneering products are launched. The 55th edition in April attracted more than 370,000 visitors, two-thirds of which came from abroad.

Designers are seeking new ways to maximize the contrasting effects of colored glass, as seen in Nendo’s ethereal layering of variously hued sheets of glass in the aptly named Layers cabinet for Glas Italia. BD Barcelona Design unveiled Humberto and Fernando Campana’s Aquário cabinet with pools of colored glass etched into a playful, low, horizontal wooden piece inspired by the idea of an aquarium.

Re-editions of design icons and classics continues to be a strong design trend, one example being Bertjan Pot’s bright upholstery for the Utrecht armchair, designed by Gerrit Rietveld in 1935, at Cassina. Patricia Urquiola, Cassina’s art director, also presented her new Gender armchair, the identity changing according to the combination of materials and colors, and Konstantin Grcic’s architectural Props collection: laser-cut metal sheets folded to create partition screens and ledges that carry a certain tension.

One of the talking points was about Vincent Van Duysen becoming creative director of Molteni&C and Dada. The Belgian designer and architect, known for his precise, minimal aesthetic, launched several bold pieces, such as the Paul sofa. “It’s a deep sofa that is a protagonist of the space and has oversized cushions sewn into it that people can position randomly,” he said.

At Kartell, the new proposals by Tokujin Yoshioka and Alberto and Francesco Meda pushed

the limits of how plastic can be used in lighting.

The faceting of Yoshioka’s Planet light evokes a very finely cut diamond, while the Aledin LED table/desk lamp by the Medas (a father-and-son team) has two aluminum rods encased in thin polycarbonate—its graceful simplicity belying the complexity of its development.

Outside the fair, several hundred presentations, cocktails, and exhibitions took place around the city under the umbrella of satellite events called FuoriSalone. In the Ventura Lambrate district, Lensvelt—in collaboration with Space Encounters Office for Architecture— showed the Boring Collection of office furniture, which scooped the Milano Design Award for best concept. Entirely produced in muted gray, the collection was devised to be an affordable refinement of office furniture—“sober gray, no fuzz, no pretensions”—that allows strong interior design and architecture to prevail, the furniture being in the background.

In the Moooi showroom, Paul Cocksedge’s Compressed Sofa made visitors smile. It’s an intimate, cozy one-person sofa with a slimline seat squashed into a big curvaceous blob that tilts upward at one side. Made from foam and marble, contrasting modest and noble materials, it comes in two versions that are the positive and negative of each other. “The idea came from twisting, stretching, and pushing my fingers into a block of foam on my studio desk and realizing that by doing that you get these really beautiful, curvaceous shapes,” said the British designer. “So I scaled the idea, made a huge block of foam and dropped a piece of marble onto it, which is the WHITEWALL 118

place for the person to sit.”

For many, a standout event was the stunning installation of Nendo’s 50 Manga Chairs in an arched courtyard of the Facoltà Teologica dell’Italia. Ori Sato, the Japanese designer behind Nendo, drew ideas from manga comics to create a collection of stainless steel chairs that are all imbued with personality and self-expression, taking the same archetypal chair as the starting point. One has a baby chair attached behind it, a second has a huge speech bubble, a third casts a shadow onto the ground, and others have an explosion of lines emanating from them.

The active role that objects play in our lives was underlined in the exhibition “Neo Prehistory” at the Palazzo della Triennale. Curated

by Andrea Branzi and Kenya Hara, it traces the passage of time from the prehistoric through to nanotechnologies by marrying one hundred verbs with one hundred instruments. “Exist”: an unprocessed, natural stone (date unknown).

“Bedeck”: a bronze brooch for fastening clothes (799 BC–700 BC). “Remote-operate”: a drone (2015). “Regenerate”: a hologram visualization of a reproduced heart (2016). This show is not about lighting and furniture; instead it offers an exceptional perspective on the relationship between language, actions, and the tools that man has invented.

“Neo Prehistory” is at the Palazzo della Triennale, Milan, until September 12, 2016. “Nendo: 50 Manga Chairs” will be at Friedman Benda, New York, from September 8 to October 15, 2016.

Opposite page: Nendo’s 50 Manga Chairs installation.

This page, clockwise from top: Paul Cocksedge’s Compression Marble Sofa, 2016, designed for Moooi.

BD Barcelona Design unveiled Humberto and Fernando Campana’s Aquário cabinet.

Lensvelt’s Boring Collection of office furniture in collaboration with Space Encounters Office.

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Carmen Herrera’s exhibition “Lines of Sight” will be on view at the Whitney Museum of American Art from September 16, 2016, to January 2, 2017. The show will present 50 pieces made over 30 years, including abstract work created while she was in Paris, her “Blanco y Verde” series, and some sculptures. Born in Havana, Cuba, Herrera is still painting in her studio in New York at the remarkable age of 101. This marks the artist’s first solo museum show in New York since 1998.

Carmen Herrera Green and Orange 1958 Acrylic on canvas 60 x 72 inches © Carmen Herrera Courtesy of the Whitney Museum of American Art

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