Hussein Chalayan is an artist and designer, working in film, dress and installation art. Research Chalayan’s work, and then consider these questions in some thoughtful reflective writing.
1. Chalayan’s works in clothing, like Afterwords (2000) and Burka (1996) , are often challenging to both the viewer and the wearer. What are your personal responses to these works? Are Afterwords and Burka fashion, or are they art? What is the difference?
** At the present time, we are exposed to many exemplars of fashionable items, by big international designers. These items, although beautiful to the eye and to the touch, aren't always practical to live in and wear. By this, I feel that Chalayan's work is a fusion of both, and if to be categorized as anything at all, I would lean towards the ideas of Visual or Installation Art. The artist incorporates a mix of unconventional materials and commonly used fabrics in the works of 'Afterwords'. I feel that this portrays Chalayan's unique style and originality to the T. However, the differences between 'Afterwords' and 'Burka' differ quite a bit. Although the 'Afterwords' collection is pleasing to the eye, 'Burka' raises many political issues surrounding ideas of womans' placement in the world. The idea that 'we make money, not art' delivers a controversial statement to the viewing audience. Also, the images associated in the 'Burka' collection are quite simple, yet sexual, posing ideas of womans' rights, and especially in the middle east.
Not all clothing is fashion, so what makes fashion fashion?
** To me, fashion is an individuals choice. Though, in saying this, who truly determines what is fashionable and what is not? It is one big cycle, heavily influenced by major high-fashioned brands. It is the old being reinvented; The past becoming the present and the future; a thing of the past. So what makes fashion, fashion? I guess it is merely an individuals opinion, influenced by the perceptions of the recognized? I guess if we're the "kids of the future", we are the makeup of what makes fashion, fashion. (:
Hussein Chalayan, Burka, 1996
Hussein Chalayan, Afterwords, 2000
2. Chalayan has strong links to industry. Pieces like The Level Tunnel (2006) and Repose (2006) are made in collaboration with, and paid for by, commercial business; in these cases, a vodka company and a crystal manufacturer. How does this impact on the nature of Chalayan’s work? Does the meaning of art change when it is used to sell products? Is it still art?
** I personally don't feel as if this changes the meaning of art. Art is whatever an artist establishes to be art. I think that art is just about everything really? Though you can 'alter' certain attributes to try and change something, it will always be recognized as it was, in its original form. However, I do feel that being commissioned by the vodka company and the crystal manufacturer, takes away the passion and soul from true art. Being commissioned in this world, is simply a chore. A chore which requires focus to see the money at the end of the tunnel.
3. Chalayan’s film Absent Presence screened at the 2005 Venice Biennale. It features the process of caring for worn clothes, and retrieving and analysing the traces of the wearer, in the form of DNA. This work has been influenced by many different art movements; can you think of some, and in what ways they might have inspired Chalayan’s approach?
** I guess I'll have to watch a part of the film and answer the question later!!
4. Many of Chalayan’s pieces are physically designed and constructed by someone else; for example, sculptor Lone Sigurdsson made some works from Chalayan’s Echoform (1999) and Before Minus Now (2000) fashion ranges. In fashion design this is standard practice, but in art it remains unexpected. Work by artists such as Jackson Pollock hold their value in the fact that he personally made the painting. Contrastingly, Andy Warhol’s pop art was largely produced in a New York collective called The Factory, and many of his silk-screened works were produced by assistants. Contemporarily, Damien Hirst doesn’t personally build his vitrines or preserve the sharks himself. So when and why is it important that the artist personally made the piece?
** Well, I'm not too sure of the 'when is it important' part but the 'why' factor remains simple. There are so many reasons as to why it is important that the artist personally made the piece. For one, it extends the artists reputation throughout the wider art world. It also reflects a 'personal touch' of the artist (as in, putting the artist himself in the piece.) It provides comparisons between past works and more-current creations. It allows the audience to define and nit-pick at the little things, for example 'trade marks' of the artists. These are just a few reasons as to answering the 'why' factor.
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SOURCES:
http://www.dezeen.com/2009/01/27/dezeen-podcast-hussein-chalayan-at-the-design-museum/
http://www.husseinchalayan.com/#/art_projects.the_art_of_fashion/
https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhgFdI_IlSvsqHQpJL25B-0bwrjojZaxchtUmEQ1PZBAIMPf3U2UwyR9dVHURxxJ1oH-eFTb_5VvZnWxfKaq-0tl6Df8ctFieHTY4yFxsQFFJUh7Q4EZgtheigmN2HaTlYAFBCeWG_v1Z4/s1600/hussein_chalayan+burka.jpg
http://www.we-make-money-not-art.com/archives/2005/10/his-autumnwinte.php
http://markmaginley.blogspot.com/2010/08/week-two-hussein-chalayan.html
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