Alexander McQueen and Damien Hirst, Collaboration

Since its first appearance in Alexander McQueen’s Irere Collection back in 2003, the iconic skull scarf has become a signature item in the fashion house’s accessory range. To celebrate its 10th anniversary, Alexander McQueen has invited British artist Damien Hirst to create a new scarf collection, available both in McQueen boutiques and atAlexanderMcQueen.com from 15 November 2013. The common ground between McQueen and Hirst - apart from both having a long creative career full of delicious controversy and radical thinking- was found in a shared aesthetic vision which combines symmetrical design with ‘‘strong references to the natural world.’’ The anniversary scarf collection consists of 30 one-off designs featuring various insects that together form McQueen’s signature skull shape. The designs themselves were adapted from Hirst’s ‘‘Entomology’’ paintings (2009-2012) in which the artist used insect patterns to create colourful kaleidoscopic images.

The release of the anniversary scarf collection is accompanied by a short film created by Sølve Sundsbø, an established fashion photographer and film maker based in London. In the film, female figures move in slow motion like mysterious sea animals or butterflies, wearing dresses decorated with patterns from the Alexander McQueen & Damien Hirst scarf collection.

[YatzerTip]: Don’t forget Damien Hirst’s major retrospective in Doha, Qatar! Titled ‘‘Relics,’’ it is the largest exhibition of Hirst’s work to date, on display until 22 January 2014 at AL RIWAQ DOHA Exhibition Space.

Text and Image source is Yatzer. Link here.

Bertil Nilsson, Artist

Described by Nilsson, who now resides in London, as a ‘personal journey of exploration […] of both the landscape and our role within it’, ‘Naturally’ was photographed across a number of countries including England, France, Spain, Portugal, Germany and Australia. The images, printed in an edition of 8 (+2AP) are currently being exhibited at a solo show dedicated to Nilsson at the Dutch Galerie Wilms, which represents the artist in the Netherlands. Although the show is scheduled to end this upcoming Sunday (12 January, 2014), the gallery intends to keep a number of Nilsson’s work on permanent display and will also show his work at the upcoming REALISME art fair in Amsterdam from the 15th through to the 19th of January.

Text and Image source Yatzer. Link here.

DESTE Foundation and TOILETPAPER

Source link here. 

Evelyn Bencicova, Artist

We have come across many a story of fashion models turning towards other occupations, but that of 21-year-old photographer Evelyn Bencicova must be one of the most interesting (and successful at that). Born in Bratislava, Slovakia, the Berlin-based photographer decided to pursue her interest in fashion- and art-photography a couple of years ago, following her urge to create images and stories of her own. Back in her childhood, Bencicova wanted to be, amongst other things, a philosopher and a politician, aspirations which seem to have reemerged into her more recent creative work – since behind her impressively coherent and visually stunning work lies a healthy dose of thought and research, as well as the ambition to tackle some serious philosophical questions about human existence and, as she says, ''the true nature of things.''

For Evelyn Bencicova, the content of the picture is not just the person or the object that it depicts, but rather the thoughts or concepts the image evokes. Her images go beyond the apparent, without however being symbolic or representational: for her, a photograph is just a moment in a longer and multilayered creative process, since she sees herself more of a creator of scenes or sculptural compositions than ‘just’ a photographer, admitting that she is not really interested in the technical aspects of what she does. Through her treatment of the body as more of a sculptural or choreographic device (paired with the extensive use of props and materials such as melted wax, extravagant costumes, or even dead fish), Bencicova creates poignant visual gestures which do not ‘stand for’ something, but rather bring actual relationships into existence – relationships between the individuals who pose for her, the body and its environment, the viewer and Bencicova herself.

Text and image source Yatzer. Link here.

Ana Mendieta, Artist

Tree of Life, 1976

"Mendieta’s work is both beautiful and haunting as it draws on the life long pain the artist experienced after being ripped from her Cuban homeland as a young orphan. Mendieta’s insatiable desire to reconnect with her motherland runs though her work and seems to almost give each piece a heart and a soul of its own. This connection with the earth is reflected in her choice of materials which included flowers, grass, soil, rock, gunpowder and fire. Unconcerned with the monetary value or collectibility of her work Mendieta would often create pieces which lasted mere minutes, or even seconds as was the case with her ‘sculptures in the sky’ made from smoke. As a result many pieces exist only as photographic records and a fair portion of the exhibition is devoted to displaying the extensive body of photographs and records that she kept of her works and performance pieces."

Above image and text source link here.

Source link here.

Above two images from huffingtonpost.com

Francesca Woodman, Artist

Francesca Woodman: Untitled, Boulder, Colorado 1976

Source is New York Book Review