Wishful Thinking #4

Salvador Dalí Space Venus, 1977-1984

Long time desired, never acquired. It won't even be possible, ever. What would a contemporary equivalent be? A Sarah Lucas doll ('Nud') or distorted body with gun ('AKA Peace')? Or just some John McCracken sculpural nothingness ('Nine Planks IV')?
/HORST

Post Paris XXVI

A 'False Encyclopaedia' double feature with Rudy Katoch, discussing:
Dior Fall/Winter 2013

“There is no political power without control of the archive, or without memory.”
Raf Simons fully understands the gravity of Derrida’s footnote. He plays with this idea lightly as he closes the show with three black silk memory dresses.

Look at the black leather Opéra Bouffe 1949 dress by Simons. It is a pastiche of the 'Pisanelle' cocktail ensemble Fall/Winter 1949–50. Dior was inspired by Renaissance artist Antonio Pisanello for his refined attention to clothing materials. Simons deflates the look, yet still foregrounds Dior’s fascination. He reduces the garment to its component parts. Warhol did this, with the same elegance, throughout his 1984 portfolio: 'Details of renaissance paintings'.

Silk velvets were reserved for eveningwear, not the cocktail hour in 1949. Leather replaces silk in 2013. Pop the New Look.

/RUDY

The re-evaluation of Dior has progressed. Raf Sander has found himself married to the ghosts of Dior and Schiaparelli, and to a certain degree, recovered from a traumatic change. Finding piece with his own past and the heritage of youth culture, altered towards surrealism. It's all about the (reversed) shoe, and Mr. Simons is running.
/HORST








1. Dior Fall/Winter 2013
2. Nat Finkelstein Andy Warhol and Silver Clouds, 1966
3. Christian Dior Fall/Winter 1949
4. Andy Warhol Venus, 1984
5. Raf Simons Spring/Summer 1999
6. Elsa Schiaparelli Fall/Winter 1937
7. Christian Dior Fall/Winter 1974
8. Dior Fall/Winter 2013

More about Rudy Katoch

Venus, Deconstructed

1. Salvador Dalí Tête Otorhinologique De Vénus, 1964/1970
2. René Magritte Les Menottes De Cuivre, 1931
3. René Magritte Tête, 1960
4. Erwin Blumenfeld Portrait of Houdon's Diane, 1944

While the 'egg' as a motif equals 'David', we still have to figure out the symbolic equivalent to 'Venus'. Until then, I'd like to invite you to ponder on the mutations of the female archetype and maybe come up with an icon of its objectification.
/HORST

Concrete Living II

1. Acne Paris & Raf Simons Osaka
2. Acne New York & Jil Sander New York
3. Acne Paris & Raf Simons Tokyo

Venus de Milo as symbol for the modern woman, as icon of orientation, ideals, beauty (q.v. Acne Paris). A strict and steel version of Daedalus' gigantic labyrinth to hold the Minotaur reconstructed by Raf Simons & Gernaine Kruip (q.v. Jil Sander New York). Sterling Ruby's splatter theme and Roger Hiorns's 'crying tears' triangle wallpaper - echoing this disorientation (q.v. Raf Simons Toyko and Osaka).
/HORST

A Short History Of The Grid In Popular Culture VII

1. Unknown
2. Man Ray Venus, 1937
3. Daniele Buetti Blue Face (Lightbox #55), 2005
4. Hasse Nielsen Supergirl, Cover Magazine Novenber 2012

On its seventh installment, we are facing the face grid in four sections: mythological, surreal, virtual and editorial. Each dividing/slicing his or her countenance in equal fragments which results in a dominant and strictly 'square' world view.
/HORST

A Short History Of The Grid In Popular Culture II

1. Man Ray Venus Restauré, 1936
2. Nobuyoshi Araki Bondage, 1994
3. Hassan Khan Blind Ambition, 2012

Following my thoughts on The Grid, the fetish for roped restriction presents another example of domesticated nature. What seems repressed by rational, mathematical systems reflects, as such, liberation.
/HORST

P.S.: The fragility of repression is beautifully typified by a glass sculpture encountered today at dOCUMENTA (13).