Blurring the line between art and fashion, Khoj presents a m

Blurring the line between art and fashion, Khoj presents a m

Postby Surabhi Trivedi » Wed Feb 22, 2012 5:57 am

New Delhi: Khoj International Artists’ Association presents a show titled Idea of Fashion: Crossover between Art & Fashion, by five artists and fashion designers from across the globe. Blurring the boundaries between art and fashion, the works for this show were created during a month-long residency by creative practitioners who have explored not only the disciplines of art and fashion, but are motivated by political, social and economic realities as also inspired by architecture, philosophy, science, history, technology and so on. The participating artists for the residency are: Julie Skarland (Norway), Varun Sardana (Delhi, India), Andy Yen (Taiwan), Archana Hande (Mumbai, India) and Faseeh Saleem (Pakistan) while the critic-in-residence is Radhika Bhalla (Delhi, India). The show will be on at Khoj Studios, S-17, Khirkee Extension, New Delhi from February 24, 2012 till March 3, 2012, 11 a.m. to 7 p.m.

Julie Skarland was born in Trondheim, in Norway. She will showcase her Spring/Summer 2012 womenswear collection and the presentation will include a ‘collectors’ display, and a stop motion video titled ‘The Graduate’ from a catwalk show. After studying art and architecture and obtaining a diploma in dressmaking in Trondheim, Skarland moved to Paris in 1987 and continued her studies at the fashion Studio Berçot. Even though the French capital has been a source of inspiration and creative freedom, Skarland has remained attached to her Scandinavian origins as can been seen in her collections since 1991.

Her creations are a fusion of her Norwegian roots and Parisian fashion. Simple and practical shapes, rustic and natural materials, the knitwear, and the colours, come from her Norwegian culture, liberated and spiced up with Parisian chic. She produces both ladies’ and men’s fashionwear. There are lots of knits in her collections – always traditionally made – combined with woven fabrics. Mixtures of fabrics and colours are the trade-mark of Skarland’s creations.
Her designs are sold throughout the world: Japan, France, the USA, Italy, Norway, England etc. In addition to prêt-a-porter, Skarland sets her instinct to work creating one-off designs by putting together, taking apart and recovering with painstakingly detailed work. This gives her many artistic talents free rein, using her know-how, manual techniques assembling knitwear and fabrics, embroidery and beadwork. Her one-off designs are exclusively exhibited and sold in museums and art galleries.
Varun Sardana, an alumni of National Institute of Fashion Technology, Delhi, graduated in 2003 and went on to work as head designer for Indian Designer, Varun Bahl. Explaining his work, On My Passing Away, he says: “This project is an attempt to let go of the designer Varun Sardana who has existed under public glare and give a glimpse of the private Varun existing within. In fashion, disappearing from the pubic gaze is as good as being dead, there is no space for personal tribulations, even after a designer’s death the brand must live on. In the past one year, I have deliberately kept myself out of that public space to understand what the world of fashion was doing to me as an individual. I was still compelled by my work but not seduced anymore by the space that the work existed in. Now as I make my steps back into that world again I have to first exorcise many aspects of that old Varun so it is a death of me as the world knows me in many ways but it is also the birth of a new me, no longer hedged in by the petty concerns of the world that so bound me earlier. My work seeks to explore all these aspects of what it means to pass away - no longer live and be bound by the rules of the fashion world, to find meaning within and outside of that world. One of the aspects of fashion that always fascinated and repelled me was the inherent narcissism that we creators ultimately succumbed to. Using my auto portraits of me in my skin and work from my recent collection, I want to explore the duality of my existence, as a creator of aspiration and trends and as an individual just coming to terms with himself. Juxtaposing my intimate self and my personal effects with my work that is bound by the created image of my brand, this presentation is an unflincing window into my world - no airbrushing involved! Come in to the funeral of varun sardana. - come into to the world of Varun Sardana.”
The recipient of the "Bijenkorf Fashion Design Award 2004" held in Amsterdam, Varun launched his label in 2007 and has garnered rave reviews for his work - his debut collection at India Fashion Week, Spring/Summer '08 was adjudged as The Best Debut Collection by the Fashion Design Council of India and in March 2008, Varun became the youngest designer to be signed up by reputed French showroom, MC2 Diffusion, who represent labels like Manish Arora, Sharon Wachob and Peachoo+ Krejberg. During the same time, he was invited to participate in the prestigious Tranoi fair in Paris.
Andy Yen was born in 1985 and is an artist based in Taipei, Taiwan. His work is titled “Incredible "A"ndia” and he creates his own organic visual language. For his work at Khoj, he has combined the Indian image with his own visual language on garments. This experiment will create a new visual experience: Andy + India = "A"ndia. He has exhibited his work in numerous group and solo exhibitions in Taipei, Tokyo and Osaka, and has been selected in many of the prestigious competitions around the Taiwan. Besides visual art, Andy Yen also approached multidisciplinary fields of creation, such as fashion, multimedia, installation, and photography. He organized “Freedom men Art Organization”, an active young artist collective in 2006. Graduated from National University of Tainan, Bachelor of Fine Arts in 2009, and currently working on his master degree at Institute of Fashion and Communications Design, Shih Chien University.
Archana Hande was born in Bangalore in 1970. She lives and works in Bombay and Bangalore, India. Her work is titled Copy Master ji. She says: “The idea of Plagiarism, Copy, or to Fail excites me a lot. I do feel ‘to copy or to steal’ ideas and to make it mine. I feel it is the most original pieces of work, if i could succeed to copy perfectly. Steal from talented tailors, designers and artists and put them in my space before they can. I would like to copy and fail at the same time. The most difficult job: you need to be secretive, you need to find references, you need to research in style and mediums and materials, you need to be skillful --- basically you should have a fantastic balanced diet.”
Hande graduated in Printmaking at Visva-Bharati, Santiniketan in 1991 and completed her M.F.A at M.S. University, Baroda in 1993. Her notable project is www.arrangeurownmarriage.com, 2002 to 2008. It is a web and installation project that investigates the Institution of arranged marriages and the entire package that comes within religious traditional structure. Among her other projects are: Archanadevi Chamber, All is Fair in Magic White, Relics of Grey, Tales of Patachitrakar etc.
In 2000, she won the Charles Wallace India Trust Arts Award to participate in the Glasgow School of Arts Residency Program. She was awarded the Majlis Fellowship for Visual Arts, Mumbai for the years 2007-2008. Lately she received a research grant from Pro Helvetia Switzerland, 2010. She has also participated in many national and international workshops.
FASEEH SALEEM has been exploring various perspectives of Art & Design in different contexts. In the current show, his work titled 36’’ 26’’ 36’’, he makes an inquiry into the ‘Notion of Beauty’, equating it to an hourglass figure. This is a question about the human perception of what a perfect body size is and how a mannequin becomes a perfect body reference in the construction of an article of clothing, during the making involves both the presence and absence of the real physical human body.
Saleem graduated with a BA in Textile Design from Beacon House National University (BNU), Lahore, Pakistan (2003-2007). This further encouraged him to explore his creative potential in designing multipurpose and multivariate fabrics and graduate with abilities to practice as a fiber artist. Saleem went to do an MFA in Fashion and Textile Design with specialization in textile design and fiber art at The Swedish School of Textiles (2009-2011), which helped him to develop various methods and techniques. Creating work on industrial machines made him break the boundaries of where regular production is replaced by producing Art on Industrial machines. These experiences still make Saleem question the layers of complexity between Art and Design.
The Critic in Residence, Radhika Bhalla is a post-graduate with a Masters degree in Arts and
Aesthetics from Jawaharlal Nehru University, New Delhi in 2010 where
she was awarded the UGC/Junior Research Fellowship Award and the Tata
Dorabji Trust scholarship for academics. She has assisted with projects such as research on Ancient Indian Art, curating, publishing academic articles and books, and lecture presentations. She was actively involved with theatre at Lady Shri Ram College, New Delhi and has been a stylist for fashion magazines such as Grazia and Cosmopolitan.

Her interests span art history, photography, painting, theatre, fashion and gender. Her current research is in connecting visual arts with social identity construction.
Surabhi Trivedi
 
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