Is Jean Paul Gaultier's work fashion or art?

Should Jean Paul Gaultier be showing at the De Young Museum in San Francisco?

If you thought of Jean Paul Gaultier as a French couturier who designs clothes, think again. Yes it is confusing I’ll admit it. Is it fashion, costume design or art? It’s all of the above and more! You seem so sure of yourself Noa, how is it exactly art? You might say. Well, I am certain that Gaultier’s work is art as he is clearly a sculptor. He sculpts in the non-traditional medium of fabric (not too far off, in my mind, from Soft Sculpture) and produces (unlike Soft Sculpture) wearable pieces of art that redefine society’s relationship with fashion. Moreover, Gaultier’s Haute Couture is self-expressive and explores and reinterprets traditional themes in art. Here’s how:

Gaultier created a body of work that is fundamentally a self-expressive translation of the era and culture in which he lives and works. Gaultier’s Prêt-à-Porter commercial line, in case you were wondering, is designed to sell wearable, more affordable fashion to the masses. Prêt-à-Porter is the real moneymaker that greases the wheels of Gaultier’s fashion empire along with his perfume and accessory lines. Unfortunately, artistic statements about the state of society do not sell very well, so in truth, the Prêt-à-Porter lines are really just a watered-down version of his Haute Couture collections. However, the Haute Couture collection that Gaultier is showing at the De Young is largely composed of non-commercial and un-wearable pieces, unless you are a non-conformist avant-garde fashion rebel yourself. Gaultier says of himself “It’s not my aim to be provocative. I just try to reflect what I see and feel around me.” Haute Couture is where Gaultier can freely express the artist that he is through his chosen medium - fashion and costume design. Choices of fabric, of color, of silhouettes and of themes reflect his sense of aesthetics and his open-minded vision of society - where anything goes; erasing  cultural and gender boundaries by creating pieces that are both hyper-sexualized and transgendered and that celebrate alternative lifestyles.

Gaultier explores traditional themes in art and reinterprets them. 

Surprise, surprise! In some ways this “enfant terrible” is quite traditional. Two of the recurring themes that dominate Gaultier’s work are “The Torso” and “The Madonna”.

The human Torso is an artistic subject matter that has been around since prehistoric times (The Venus Figurines) and has appeared in Ancient Egypt (The Royal Torso), in Ancient India (The Sanchi Torso), in Greek sculpture (The Belvedere Torso) through Rodin’s expressive work (Torso: A Study for Ariane without Arms) and all the way to contemporary art as reflected in the riveting work of Louise Bourgeois (Torso: Self-Portrait). Gaultier’s approach to the human torso is unlike any other - treating the male torso to a pink satin corset and the female torso to aggressive bondage-wear. Gaultier also has a collection of perfumes that are modeled after the male and female torsos. It seems to me, that as long as human-beings posses a torso, they will continue to create artworks that glorify it.

For over a thousand years from Byzantine times through the medieval period to the early Renaissance, the Madonna was the most popular subject of art. Many artworks depicting the Madonna have achieved fame, such as Botticelli's “Madonna and five angels” and Raphael's “Madonna del Granduca”. Gultier’s fascination with the Madonna produced incredible ensembles and photographic work and has added his name to a long list of renowned artists in the history of art that have dedicated their work to the Madonna. Such artists as Duccio, Leonardo da Vinci, Michaelangelo, Caravaggio, Rubens, Salvador Dali and Henry Moore. Gaultier has done it his way, on his terms and the result is breathtaking.

Ok, now that I’ve said my piece, I’ll also share with you that the exhibit itself of 140 Haute Couture and Prêt-à-Porter designs is fantastic! I won’t ruin it for you by describing the “deus ex machina” ploy that the exhibit designer used. I will however take off my virtual hat to him or her and say that it was worth every dollar. Do youself a huge favor - go see it!!!

Homage to Nina Katchadourian

You find yourself on a flight. You’ve been condemned to hours and hours of boredom - sitting cooped up in your uncomfortable seat next to two strangers you’ve never met in your life. What do you do?

I know what I always do. I’ve had thirteen years of trans-Atlantic flights to perfect my routine. I try to strike up a conversation with my new neighbors, desperately looking for whatever it is we might have in common – that should burn at least an hour or two and make those awkward “sorry could you please get up because I need to use the bathroom” moments just a tiny bit less awkward. I also roam the aisles and dig into the snack basket the flight attendants leave out for restless travelers such as myself. I visit the business class restroom under the pretence that “I didn’t know” just for the thrill of it, and on occasion between my third movie and my second book I stand by the emergency exit door and wait for other economy class refugees to join my support group. In other words, these flights are a disaster and when my kids join me – these flights are hell.

Luckily for us contemporary art lovers, Nina Katchadourian, a wonderfully ingenious artist, is not one to give into the boredom and despair of the flight experience. I imagine she must have considered the temptation of giving into the comfort of a well-rehearsed routine. Instead she looked around her and found a hat, a shawl, a blanket, a white undershirt and plenty of seat covers, paper towels and Kleenex. With these simple objects she somehow came up with the concept of creating a series of self-portraits while in the airplane lavatory with her iphone. Sounds like a crazy idea with not much chance of success? Bad lighting and air turbulence had to be fought off with zeal, and an incredible and humorous series titled: “Lavatory Self-Portraits in the Flemish Style, 2011” was created.

For over two years, Nina Katchadourian has been working on a project called "Seat Assignment," made while she is in flight, using only her cell phone camera and what she finds around her. The "Lavatory Self-Portraits in the Flemish Style" are just one example of the many different art pieces she has created on planes—most of the time, while she's in her seat. Nina fearlessly dialogues with our far past, the golden years of the Flemish Renaissance, while in mid-air and with the aid of modern technology – what an unexpected path to understanding what has happened to the human race in the last 500+ years; and yet as technologically advanced as we have become, somehow we have remained unchanged. With a few accessories, we can all be magically transformed to appear, at least on a superficial level, to be Renaissance folk.

A few weeks ago I came across Nina’s work in an arts news article. I was blown away and immediately realized the incredible potential her work has to be a powerful teaching tool in my “Art History In Practice” program (www.arthistoryinpractice.com) - what a great way to introduce Renaissance Portraiture and Contemporary Art at the same time! The mission of my program is to make art more accessible and help students realize their true artistic potential. In my mind Nina's work was both inspiring and challenging: could my students and I replicate the process and follow in Nina’s footsteps on a journey through time? I needed to see for myself this remarkable transformation and my art class is the perfect laboratory. As it turns out, I can and I did!

Last Friday at Redwood Shores Elementary, Mrs. Norman, her 3^rd grade class and two highly dedicated and creative parent volunteers (Mrs. Josephine Cassidy and Mr. Ron Ozorio) were recruited by me to create a tribute to Nina’s work. We used our invisible time machine to go back to the Middle Ages to experience, first hand, the re-birth - the Renaissance. After sleeping with our livestock in the same mud covered hut, itching and scratching our fleas away with the plague at our door step, we were so relieved to witness the invention of the printing press, the birth of science, medicine, new art and literature and the discovery of many new lands including America. We knew we couldn’t stay for too long in the year 1500 AD, as our parents might worry. Before we left the Renaissance and headed back to our own time, we created our own self-portrait series in the Flemish style using a few accessories and lots of toilet paper, paper towels and toilet seat covers - and...it worked! The amazing result will soon be published in the paper.

Upon our arrival in 2012, we studied the self-portraiture work of Cindy Sherman who paved the way, in a sense, to the recognition and appreciation of the contemporary female self-portrait. Nina’s series can be viewed in this context as a work in the tradition the Flemish Masters as well as in the tradition of the photographic self-portrait. What’s exceptional about this work is that she managed to reinvent this long-standing tradition. Thinking on her feet, improvising and unafraid she made me smile, and even laugh like I haven’t done in years. I promise to strive to be this courageous and child-like in my own work – thanks Nina! Nina's must-see series is currently showing in San-Francisco at the Catharine Clark Gallery through June 2nd. don't miss it!

The Cult of Beauty

A week ago I spent a lovely day visiting the Legion of Honor museum in San Francisco. 

This  beautiful neo-classical building at the edge of the Golden Gate Park overlooks the Golden Gate Bridge. The Legion’s exceptional collection of Ancient, Renaissance, Baroque and Rococo Art are accompanied by many of Rodin’s sculptures and a lovely Impressionist section that I particularly like.

However, on this day, I was there to visit the current exhibition (February 18, 2012 - June 17, 2012) appropriately titled “The Cult of Beauty.” This outstanding collection of artworks took over a decade to put together into one cohesive exhibit that represents the height of the Aesthetic Movement of the late 19^th Century. Featuring such works as James McNeill Whistler’s “Symphony in White”, John Spencer Stanhope’s “Love and the Maiden”, Dante Gabriel Rossetti's "Bocca Baciata" and last but not least, my personal favorite, Frederic Leighton’s “Pavonia”.

Looking around the exhibit, it was evident to me that this small yet prolific avant-garde group had a very clear ideal of beauty. Their ideal female form, to be specific, had striking classical features, a square jaw-line, a straight and prominent nose, full lips and almond shaped eyes framed by cascading locks of auburn hair. Peering at me from almost every canvas in the collection was a version of this ideal female figure, no matter the artist.

The exhibit was beauty-filled. In-fact it was beauty-saturated, yet their ideal female figure did not resonate with me, as abundantly beautiful as indeed she was. Viewing this body of work from a distance of over a century, what amazed me is that I could not, as much as I tried, think of even one woman that I’ve ever met or seen in the media that looks like this ideal. Not even one. My 21^st century sensibilities and cultural baggage must be getting the better of me; for to me, it is very odd that such a consensus should emerge over a non-existent archetype. Am I in the wrong? Has anyone ever encountered her? If yes, would you be so kind as to forward me her email address? I’d love to chat with her about Botox, Lipo-suction and the latest in lasers and fillers. I have to wonder, does she work out?

'Art for Art's Sake', was the adage carved on this movement’s tombstone – one that identified beauty as the primary goal of Art. This maxim is long gone and buried under the ruins and remains of the various art movements of the 20th century. It seems that the contemporary art world has lost all interest in formal beauty, except for as a byproduct of its process.

Today’s art challenges our concept of traditional beauty and confronts us with disquieting imagery. It seems to be an entirely private affair - one that excludes the viewer and is exclusively accessible to the fortunate few who posses an intellectual road map. As our art loses all concern for beauty’s sake, it seems that in our popular culture beauty has grown into a cult. Please do not be misled; the cult of beauty is very much alive and kicking. It is found on the covers of drug-store magazines and in our top grossing movies. America’s obsession with beauty is reflected in the annual statistics of plastic surgery. I guess we must have buried the Aesthetic Movement alive - oops!

In my mind, to seek beauty is to be human. It is a natural instinct not much different from a newborn’s instincts to draw her first breath. And although I find contemporary art intriguing, stimulating, funny at times and (please don’t tell anyone) even beautiful  - I do feel a twinge of nostalgic sentimental longing for this era long gone.