Saturday 23rd June: Central St Martins degree show TWO / NOVA Awards = MA Material Futures

As mentioned in the previous post, the students of the MA "Material Futures" at Central St.Martins are equal part scientists and engineers as they are artists.  All of those disciplines require creativity to solve problems so they go hand in hand instinctively.  Here are two separate projects both challenging the sustainability of fabrication.  

The top two photos "This is Grown" are work by Jen Keane who has invented a textile hybrid membrane from growing bacteria.  The finer details are waiting for a Patent so she doesn't have the whole process on show but here you can see petri dishes and a final sneaker made from the fabric.  She has invented a loom to lay down the warp for the bacteria to then follow and weave in the weft.  This cellulose composit can not only be used for product design but also in bio-medical practise for surgery in the body.  Jen's background is from working at Adidas so its incredible that she has come up with this idea and found further applications for its use.

The bottom two images "Foreign Garbage" are a project by Katie-May Boyd as a commentary on the current ecology issue of how the UK and USA deal with waste polystyrene.  Apparently we have historically sold it to China for recycling but this has just come to an end so we have a massive land-fill time-bomb ticking.  Katie told me that Polystyrene is mostly air so even treating the substance to remove this breaks it down considerably.  She has experimented with acetone and come up with a way to totally recycle the substance to make a new plastic material for manufacture.  Just for this concept she has moulded it into Chinese good luck cats as a statement on the trade plans taking place.  

I've only summed up the surface key points of these two extensive research projects to break it down for the blog.  Its so impressive that these students are coming up with real solutions to the world's ecology.  For anyone under the impression that art school is about naval-gazing, they need to look beyond their own preconceived misconceptions and give credit to this honourable work.  

So with that in mind, its brilliant that the Mullen Lowe Group NOVA awards are set up to credit these exceptional students for their ingenuity.  The title "NOVA" coming from INNOVATION.  Both Jen and Katie have been nominated and made it onto the final shortlist of 14 students from the 1,300 graduating students!  Check back here over the next few days for more work and how you can vote for your favourite to win in the NOVA awards. 

See Show TWO at 1 Granary Square, King’s Cross, N1C 4AA on now til Sunday 24th.     

Thursday 5th May: "MISSONI Art Colour" at Fashion and Textile Museum

Party people at the private view and dinner of "MISSONI Art Colour" inc. artist Andrew Logan, designer Bethan Wood who was guest posting on Missoni's Snapchat and photogprapher Rankin who was doing the Instagram take-over for the night's preview.  Here is Kitty Joseph wearing her own new pixelated pattern collection and just one snap of the mini ice-creams we were treated to alongside pots of tirimisu, plates of rhubarb cheese cake....... after saffron & tarragon rissotto and asparagus & broad bean salad......... all of which I have no photos because I inhaled each and every one too quick!

Fashion and Textile Museum, 83 Bermondsey Street, London SE1 3XF

6 May – 4 September 2016 

Thursday 5th May: "MISSONI Art Colour" at Fashion and Textile Museum, Part 2....... Roots

When you enter "MISSONI Art Colour" at the Fashion and Textile Museum, you first encounter a gallery of the family's inspiration in the form of Futurist & Constructivist paintings.  I was not expecting this from a textile show so I was immediately amazed from the very first step in.  The walls are hung with original 1930's avant-garde canvases including one by my absolute favourite artist Sonia Delaunay.  If you buy the book that accompany's the display there are pages and pages of other key works from their vaults including Kandinsky, Paul Klee, Josef Albers etc. ..... as the text explains "the rhythmic composition of shapes and colours used with purity, a language that the Missoni's translate and rework in the central motifs of their creative process".......

(Top to bottom: Fortunato Depero's Composizione, Date unkown,  Atanasio Soldati's Ambiguta Composizione, 1951.  Nino Di Salvatore's Struttura Spaziale In Tensione, 1952. Emilio Vedova's L'urto, 1949-50, Gianni Monnet's Costruzione, 1946)

Fashion and Textile Museum, 83 Bermondsey Street, London SE1 3XF

6 May – 4 September 2016 

Thursday 5th May: "MISSONI Art Colour" at Fashion and Textile Museum, Part 3

After getting giddy from gushing over the abstract-art of the first room, you enter the main event space dripping in a retrospective of Missoni's delicate collections.  Each mannequin has a composition of patterned pieces that are all separate identities in their own right but come together as one complete identifiable aesthetic.  Tapestries line the walls as a backdrop palette of yet more knitwear technique and ingenuity.  Fragments of samples and sketchbook experiments are all on show to give further insight into the origins of the signature stripes.  Its explained perfectly in a quote by Luca Missoni:

"I would like to describe visually the fascination of a creative process that leads to the physical transformation of material.  It s the mystique of colour taking shape.  There is experimentation, the repetitive process of infinite research, the obsession that builds experience.  It is the art of creating a fabric."     

 Fashion and Textile Museum, 83 Bermondsey Street, London SE1 3XF

6 May – 4 September 2016 

Thursday 5th May: "MISSONI Art Colour" at Fashion and Textile Museum, Part 4

 The final instalment of art history context comes as a display called "Conversations".  Here are pieces contemporary with Ottavio & Rosita Missoni's own work from the 1950's to the 1980's.  The cosmic mix of paintings, 3D reliefs and sculptures compare their own paintings to examples of Italian abstract art from the post Second World War period such as Dorazio and Accardi, to the MAC of Munari and Dorfles.  At this point of the show, up on the 2nd floor mezzanine I actually wanted to cry.  Every single piece is so exquisite and incredible.  As a visitor, you just feel so lucky to be able to see all these references up close and get a complete picture (literally) of how the MISSSONI's visual language formulated and came to be the iconic pattern coveted today.

 (top to bottom:  Ottavio Missoni:  Senza Titolo, 1971 and another from 1971 and 1970.  Luigi Veronesi:  Costruzione Movimento N.3, 1990.  Regina:  Struttura Multicolore Cerchi E Fili, 1968.  Luigi Veronesi, Costruzione, 1992.  Davide Boriani, Pantachrome n.5, 1967-76. Ottavio Missoni:  Senza Titolo, 1970. Unknown green sculpture)

 Fashion and Textile Museum, 83 Bermondsey Street, London SE1 3XF

Saturday 19th Sept: Jenkin Van Zyl's "Working Title"

Watermelon and cabbage cocktails were the refreshments at Jenkin's private view of his show "Working Title" which used watermelons as a theme with the fruit's flesh pulped like blood.  The gallery was black lit like a sci-fi set with a post-apocalyptic fallout of fragmented props embedded in crumbling disarray.  But the disorder was actually highly divisive with his trademark prosthetic horns scaled up and included in the sculptures.  Synced films on screens were planted around the room showing a film of a hyperreal underworld, like a love child of a Paul McCarthy and Matthew Barney .  But that's only a loose reference to set the scene, you have to experience it for yourself to see the new unique "Sissy Sound Studio" by Jenkin Van Zyl.

Monday 7th Sept: Anna Lomax "Luxury Goods" at KKOutlet

For the Fashion Week and Design Week month of September, Anna Lomax has a solo show at KKOutlet which opened to coincide with "First Thursday" last week.  Entitled "Luxury Goods" it's a combination of all of her favourite influences and collections from pound shops, kitsch conspicuous consumption and the love of her hometown London.  The narrative that ties the mixed media work is a visual commentary on the meaning of "Luxury" and genuine fakes which carries thru to the Sportsbanger merch in her curated gift shop. The pieces comprise of sculpture, neon light, lenticular hologram, screen print, photography, embroidered textiles and jewellery with her classic £1 coin sovereign ring.  Even the drinks at the party were a work of art in themselves as each vessel was a carved mini water-melon.  I didn't know that such a cute fruit existed so with the addition of a novelty hand-carved emblem, it was the best cocktail I've ever held............ and couldn't put down.............. grasping onto the last taste of Carnival

Check out Anna's show on at KKOutlet, Hoxton Square til 26th September and pick up one of her beautiful prints.  

Follow her fantastic Instagram here.

(All photos by me except bottom pic by KKOutlet)