>>PREVIEW
FULL PHOTO FASHION
Full Frontal Fashion
Runs until December 20
Hotel Arts
If you missed the previous endeavours of the Full Frontal Fashion group at Art Central’s first birthday party, there’s another opportunity to experience their captivating exhibition of art-couture.
A collaborative effort by the wearable arts/object and body class at the Alberta College of Art and Design, Full Photo Fashion is a photographic account of the performative project undertaken by the students during ACAD’s fall semester. The images exemplify the exciting fusion between haute couture and high art by capturing a dazzling assemblage of interesting materials and unique forms.
This followup project was inspired by the success of the Full Frontal Fashion performance at Art Central last month. The venture as a whole saw these ACAD students from a variety of different disciplines taking on various professional roles. From designing promotional material, directing and modelling to performing their own photo shoots, the group pooled their various strengths and resources toward achieving a unified goal. The result: an eclectic assortment of unexpected materials and creative threads which blur the boundaries between contemporary fashion and visual art, exploring the possibilities created by joining the two together.
The diverse backgrounds of each student involved set the framework for a dynamic event. The Full Photo Fashion exhibition highlights what each student brought to the show. Fourth-year painting student Sarah Jane Jackson’s outfit, "Underfoot," is composed of a shocking colour palette created from the spilled paints built up on her studio floor. At the other end of the spectrum, sculpture student Jonathon Doyle’s work deals with the relationships between man, machine and technology in correspondence with the myth of Icarus. And inspired by her experience in ACAD’s jewelry and metals department, fourth-year student Kristy Carlyle’s geometric experiments materialize as "Primary Lego Girl." – her vibrant outfit an arrangement of genuine Lego pieces.
The show includes images of an open assortment of apparel created from a multitude of processes and inspirations. Everything from conventional fabric to found objects, measuring tapes, metal, paper fans and handmade felt were used. The works, some conceptual pieces and others taking esthetic risks, provoke questions and curiosity while bringing the audience closer to encourage interaction.
By choosing the body as a vehicle to exhibit their artwork, the students have effectively utilized a medium that mainstream culture can relate to. They consider it a method of penetrating our conventional society with abstract thinking. By introducing new techniques to avant-garde designs, these emerging artists have also created something to challenge our notions of style and esthetics, while simultaneously provoking new thoughts on our standard perception of art and how it is received.
There is a certain role this type of work plays in our society. It is both pushing boundaries and questioning them – inspiring the fashion industry while at the same time defying it. It is reactionary work that sets out to examine the appeal we, as a culture, find in image and vanity by presenting it to us in an atypical manner.
The opening of Full Photo Fashion takes place on Monday, December 12 from 7 p.m. to 9 p.m. at Hotel Arts (119 - 12 Ave. S.W.). |
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