Versailles and Fabric Fusion!

I stumbled upon the current summer contemporary art installation at Versailles whilst purging my old bookmarks on the computer. How fabulous! These crazy quilted octopus' are invading the palace of Versailles for the summer and brings a whole "high-art" twist to yarn bombing, or quilt bombing as the case may be.

Royal Valkyrie by Joana Vasconcelos, at the Palace of Versailles

In case you don't know, the famous pop artist Takashi Murakami (most recognized by his Louis Vuttion multi-coloured purses) did an art installation at Versailles that raised a lot of controversy. I believe it was the first of such art installations in the palace.

Do you want to know how to say that in art speak - you say "art interventions." Yes, I work in the art world and hear this lingo bullshit all the time.

The controversy was quite extensive, merely because there are traditionalists who want historic buildings to remain historic without any change or influence from present day. From a museum stand-point, this is suicide. How often have you caught yourself saying, "Been there, seen that." This is one way museums are trying to bring people in, with art installations, performance, theatre, festivals etc. And what what's wrong with that? It's fun. You may not like it but it's only temporary. Maybe next time you'll like it.

Royal Valkyrie by Joana Vasconcelos

I have never heard of this artist, Joana Vasconcelos. The sculptures are pretty wacky. I can't say I like them all either. But I really like the bright colours against the rococo pastel paintings. Pretty wicked! If you would like to see all the installations, there is a special website here. Or visit Versailles. The Hall of Mirrors  and Marie Antionette's bedroom are amazing!

Art and Clothing and Consumption and Blogs

I was fortunate to visit the McMichael Art Gallery in Kleinburg recently and had the opportunity to see Fashionality, an exhibition of contemporary Canadian artists who used clothing as inspiration. Despite how the topic can be kitsch, it was a really great show. I admire "process" in the creation of work. In other words, I like to see how the art took time, and patience, and tears, and strength to achieve the final product. I'm sick this way! I wanna see effort!

Day 121 This is a good picture to see all of the work Natalie has put into
her outfit: shoes, grey socks, blue stockings, dress and apron.

For this reason I was impressed by Natalie Purschwitz's Makeshift project. The poor woman undertook the incredible task of making all of the clothing she would wear, everyday, for the course of the year (2009). Everything had to be made by her. 

That is over 365 items of clothing people! Underwear and socks! Shooooooes ---EVERYTHING!

And like "Julie and Julia," she put it all on her blog.

The 2011 installation at the Vancouver Art Gallery.

The nice thing about the McMichael show is a television screen that displays her changing outfits, every second, so you can admire amount of clothing she created. She did reuse some clothing on some days (ie, shoes, socks) but give the girl a break - there must have been smoke rising from the machine. Along side of the television is a long rail with a selection of the clothing, so you can look through her creations.

Day 79

She continues to work in Vancouver and design in Vancouver under the label Hunter and Gatherer. Check out that website here.