Jeff Koons has tapped into these values and used the power of seduction with his high shine sculptures to captivate audiences and earned the place of highest selling living artist by doing so. Designers are creating things with the idea of how they will look when they are photographed, adapting to this modern, fast sharing social network world. There is so much emphasis on how we are perceived in the modern world.
The contemporary shop window is used as a way to captivate a viewer, a potential customer. Fashion retailers present their ‘ideal’ image to their consumer through primarily through this method. It is an advertisement of a brand. There is so much space for creative opportunity in this window.
Looking at shop windows as art galleries, and garments as artworks, I want to create something innovative and contemporary. I want to turn ordinary objects into something ethereal and opulent. I intend to produce extravagant sculptural based creations that subvert the conventional. I will create an installation piece of a shop window display, with paintings as a backdrop and sculptural pieces in the foreground representing unwearable fashion pieces.
Looking at shop windows as art galleries, and garments as artworks, I want to create something innovative and contemporary. I want to turn ordinary objects into something ethereal and opulent. I intend to produce extravagant sculptural based creations that subvert the conventional. I will create an installation piece of a shop window display, with paintings as a backdrop and sculptural pieces in the foreground representing unwearable fashion pieces.
I am fascinated by Joel Morrison’s work – ‘Decline of Western Civilization’ 2011 in particular – which features a stainless steel cast of a denim jacket. The way this every day object has achieved a higher social/ aesthetical value simply by material used is what I want to explore further. I do not want to create things people would typically expect to see. Prada Marfa by Elmgreen and Dragset is quite illusionistic and unexpected given its location; it’s advertising something that isn’t really there (a high end shop). This idea of creating an illusion is something I wish to expand on during my studio practise. It relates back to what Sigmund Freud is talking about in ‘The Uncanny’ – through creating a slightly unsettling atmosphere for the viewer by misplacement of what is real. Using the more familiar set-up of a shop window to exhibit my sculptures will intrigue the viewer more when juxtaposed with the unusual setting of an exhibition. It works through advertising something that doesn’t really exist- like ‘unwearable garments’ which could be described as paradox art.
Through creating sculptures of extravagant, seductive garments which look like they could possibly be worn only feeds the human desire to want them more. A garments typical sole purpose is to be worn and therefore by subverting this creates a paradox and an interesting juxtaposition between the real and unreal.
Through creating sculptures of extravagant, seductive garments which look like they could possibly be worn only feeds the human desire to want them more. A garments typical sole purpose is to be worn and therefore by subverting this creates a paradox and an interesting juxtaposition between the real and unreal.
I will use magazines such as Vogue, Harpers Bazaar and W Magazine to get an idea of advertising and consumer values, and use internet sources as well as contemporary bloggers. I will also explore the medium of Film and Music videos such as Brooke Candy’s ‘Opulence’. Iconic people such as Lady Gaga are also relevant to my project. I will use the library to research and explore my subject further – particularly theorists such as Jean Baudrillard and John Armstrong.
The development of my work will be presented and evaluated through an on-going blog accompanied by a sketchbook.
