Monumenta 2008:Richard Serra Promenade - at night

Dear Shaded Viewers,

"It's not about the oeuvre, it is about the experience." Richard Serra

Last week when I went to the opening for Monumenta 2008:Richard Serra Promenade, Mr. Serra told us that the best time to view the exhibition was at night. Of course, he is right, there is something about the power of the sculpture in the darkness that is lost in bright daylight.

The five steel plates that vertically fill the volume of the Grand Palais measure 4 m wide, 17 m high and 5 1/2 inches deep. The nave of the Grand Palais is 45 meters high at its center.

_"Form in itself does not have a value. I am interested in how forms metamorphose into other forms." Richard Serra

"A difference between architecture and sculpture - gravity has a force which every sculptor has to contend with." "Gravity is a force which I've employed ever since I built a house of cards."
"I do not subscribe to Formalism, form is an evolving language, invention of form allows us to perceive." Richard Serra

"The subject matter is your experience walking in and around the plates. No content, the real content is the walking experience." Richard Serra.

Monumenta 2008:Richard Serra Promenade
May 7 till June 15
Grand Palais
Ave Winston Churchill, 8th arr.
Metro: Champs-Elysees-Clemenceau
Monday & Wednesday 10AM-7PM
Thursday to Sunday 10AM-11PM
http://www.monumenta.com

Later,

Diane

Robert Rauschenberg: the erased image of de Kooning by RR and love skeletons crying for him

``He believes in unfettered creativity, the importance of instinctive responses, and the power of the moment; censorship and editing are anathema to him,'' art historian Robert S. Mattison wrote in his 2003 book, ``Robert Rauschenberg: Breaking Boundaries.''

Erased image of de Kooning by Robert Rauschenberg

"I'm curious," he said in 1997, in one of the few interviews he granted in his later years. "It's very rewarding. I'm still discovering things every day." Robert Rauschenberg


love skeletons crying for him

"I feel as though the world is a friendly boy walking along in the sun." Robert Rauschenberg
Images and quotes thanks to Boudicca www.platform13.com

YouTube video of Rauschenberg discussing one of his most controversial works, the erased Willem de Kooning above.

Considered one of the most influential American artists of the 20th century, Robert Rauschenberg died on May 12 at the age of 82.

Later,

Diane

THE METEORIC RISE OF THE INDIAN LUXURY BRANDS

Adam Levin reports from Wills India Fashion Week on the phenomenon of India’s new luxury brands.

How fab. I have arrived in Delhi a few days early. Now I will have time to walk with Tarun through Lodhi gardens in the evening; sit in the doorway of an ancient tomb and glimpse a couple of roughed-up eunuchs scurrying past furtively, amid the many ordinary Indians having their evening stroll in their salwaar kameez and track pants under wreaths of cerise bougainvillea.

I will have time to grab a cheap Punjabi dinner with Sumant, and that mad creature Sandra Long (a Studio 54 original), who is here again buying antiques for her clients in New York. We’ll pop into Magique for a seafood laksa under the acacia trees, then drop in at Malini’s for an impromptu party. I’ll stay up all night talking with Bandana about life at Indian Vogue. Hang out at Varun the puppeteer’s farm for the day. It’s true: the sheer number of glamorous, genius, funny, switched on Indians I’ve met over the past two years says the more than I could ever write about a country I had always avoided for fear of sensory explosion. India’s fashion gang is beyond fun.

But hey, what’s swelling in the belly of this economic tiger? An unrivalled phenomenon in the developing world it appears: a meteoric rise in local luxury brands. Today’s Passage to India drips with fashion and money. With some skills to rival Paris’s couture salons (and some still lacking), the Hindis are taking on Europe’s most fashionable cash cow. Kinda ‘Watch this Handbag’, if you know what I mean.

I stroll through the 100 000 square feet of Lecoanet Hemant’s new headquarters in Delhi’s new light industrial zone, Gurgaon. The four-storey space is sparse, futuristic, eco-smart and filled – like much of India -- with an air of expectancy: The 180 employees are projected to grow to 800 over the next few years. In 2000, the Indo-French design duo moved back to India from Paris where they had created couture since 1978. “Why stay in a cul de sac?” shrugs the Indian-born, Hemant, chilled this morning in his new jeans line and orange moccasins. “When there are endless highways opening up somewhere else?”

LECOAMET HEMANT METALLIC LEATHER

The endless highways he refers to comprise the subject of my little thesis – clothing and accessories that sell almost within the same price bracket as top European brands. “What makes this so extraordinary,” designer extraordinaire Tarun Tahiliani reels passionately, “Is the many decades of provenance that were necessary to forge the allure of Hermes, Dior or Vuitton. India’s luxury brands are five or ten years old. The speed with which we have chosen our new bastions of luxe is testament to a nation in most opulent flux.”

Significantly, Paris is raising an eyebrow at India’s avant-garde –- designers, Manish Arora, Rohit Bal and Rajesh Pratap Singh all showed on the official calendar last year (no South African designer ever has). Sabyasaachi has hit New York and London. But I am more interested in how this market relates to itself: With a middle class larger than the US’s and a very lucrative market in the Middle East (no need to alter silhouettes) -- thus far, the Western market counts primarily as affirmation.
Gurgaon bursts like a swollen Ganges around the southern arc of this scattered, unpredictable Indianopolis. Last Saturday, Tahiliani opened his own similarly gargantuan operation nearby with a Gold Disco Party for MAC Cosmetics. Entering through the Delhi fog, one beheld bling city. A gold-clad diva flown in from New York, belted out house tracks as we sipped cosmos till dawn.

To the north, Noida’s industrial parks are even larger. Cranes hover and vast glass cubes have appeared since I was here two years ago. And behind the tinted windows of the black, S-Class Mercs hauling through the gravel, some of the country’s staggering 100 000 dollar millionaires are half-watching DVDs or peering out at the timeless parade of cows, auto-rickshaws and jumpy little Tatas. Yes, India is at home with her contrasts.

And so just why is this riche niche booming beyond imaginings? “The consideration of India as a market came very suddenly,” observes Hemant. “Partly because of the very drastic end of quotas three years ago, which coincided with India’s entry into the World Trade Organisation.” The country is also bursting with European luxury: Aside from the obvious culprits, niche brands like Bottega Venetta are booming and Stella McCartney is opening six stores here over the next two years. Socially -- now that socialism is less hip -- India’s new rich have beaten the decadent colonists at their own game: They have their fleets of servants; their pet jets; their palatial retreats in Goa (aka The Punjabi Riviera) or flats in London. So hey, why shouldn’t they open their own Diors?

ROHIT BAL's COLLECTION CREATED FROM SEVEN METALS

We are doing a power brunch at The Park, a Terence Conran-designed boutique hotel with a giant mirror ball over the pool. The mood is relaxed – eerily cosy and familiar for a nation of this scale. Manish Arora, the endlessly witty enfant terrible of Indian Fashion, has recently launched a glittery sunglass range, which comes in a red, patent leather heart shaped case. His new TV show, The Adventures of a Ladies Tailor, will go national tomorrow night, hence the vintage ambassador taxi, hand-painted with Bollywood scenes, and complete with sequinned window shades.

Though I spot just as many Chanels peeking out of the highlighted coiffes, there are plenty Aroras. (I, of course, am wearing mine as I type.) One hears little mention of the humble rupee in these circles -- and more of lakhs ($25 00) and crores ($250 000) – as in “A few lakhs for that handbag” or “A couple of crore on the wedding.” Hindi requires words for such numbers. And in the flood of cash that is modern India, caste has made way for class -- both as social hierarchy and enviable chic.

MANISH ARORA'S DECORATIVE MASTERY ... CAN EUROPE CREATE THIS DETAIL AT THIS PRICE POINT?

Continue reading "THE METEORIC RISE OF THE INDIAN LUXURY BRANDS"

You Wear it Well 3 OPEN CALL - Deadline June 30th

YOU WEAR IT WELL is a unique traveling presentation of short films and videos from around the world regarding fashion, style and beauty.

Curated by Diane Pernet and Dino Dinco, YOU WEAR IT WELL seeks to unveil the best moving images from international filmmakers, artists, photographers and designers who investigate the intersection of fashion and film.

Launched in August of 2006, YOU WEAR IT WELL is the only curated, annual film presentation of its kind. Selected films for the 3rd edition of YOU WEAR IT WELL will premiere at the Jeu de Paume National Gallery September 26, 27 & 28th.

Criteria for the films included a running time of 30 seconds to five minutes and a centralized theme around fashion, style, and/or beauty that expresses a unique thought which contribute to the artistry behind the fashion and film industries.

Submission format:

uncompressed AVI or .MOV file
on a DVD ROM (not a dvd player-ready DVD/Video'DVD)
provide both a PAL and NTSC version

a selection of stills at 300 dpi jpeg
a short bio of the director
film synopis (max 1 paragraph)

You must have a release for the music and the talent.

For mailing submission information please contact Diane for Europe and Asia or Dino for the Americas.

www.youwearitwell.tv

Later,

Diane

Countdown to Planet Life Ball by Glenn Belverio

Dear Shaded Viewers,

The champagne-fueled, Vienna-bound party plane is taking off this Thursday night. I've heard that Kim Cattrall, Pat Field, Debbie Harry, and Amanda Lepore will all be on board with us, along with Joe Corre of Agent Provocateur. The theme for the Life Ball is 'outer space.' I'm sure there will be no lack of nearly naked silver body-painted alien sex fiends at the party, but because I'm shy, I'm sticking to a lightweight silver space suit. My fantasy was to find a super-shiny silver mylar version like they wore on Lost in Space (see above) but the closest thing I found was a silver poly-blend American astronaut costume. I would have preferred an old Soviet Union astronaut suit, complete with sputnik logo, but couldn't find one.

Prixe de Flore-winning author Bruce Benderson is also coming along, and he just called me a few minutes ago with updates on his possible costume. But before that, he had to share with me a "just-another-day-in-New-York-City" story; an incident that happened to him this morning, all delivered in one long, breatheless sentence. Thought I would share it with you:

"So I was in Queens running on the subway platform trying to catch a train and I slipped in a huge puddle of vomit and blood and fell flat on my ass next to the homeless man who had created the puddle and my Issey Miyake shirt and brand-new John Varvatos jeans which I bought at the private showroom sale were now covered in vomit and blood and I was afraid to wipe it off because I didn't want to touch it so I got on the train and a few people handed my tissues but I was dripping with so much vomit and blood that it would have been futile trying to wipe it off and then suddenly they stopped the train and some MTA workers came on and escorted me to another car which was chained off from the rest of the cars like I was being quarrantined yet the train was completely packed with people so I'm standing there pressed up against all these people and my clothes are still dripping vomit and blood and everyone just stared at me with disgust and contempt for the whole ride back to Manhattan and I probably have some horrible disease now."

It's things like this that truly make New York one of the most glamorous cities in the world; worth the high rents, high grocery and cocktail prices, crowded streets, and lousy transportation system.

Love,
Glenn Belverio

MemoraBEALEia: A Private Scrapbook About Edie Beale of Grey Gardens, First Cousin to First Lady Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis by Walter Newkirk. Report by Glenn Belverio

Dear Shaded Viewers,

The weather is positively monsoon-like here in New York today, so I'm shut in my East Village aerie, popping popcorn and enjoying "Little Edie Live! A Visit to Grey Gardens." It's a rare (and very Warholian) interview conducted by Walter Newkirk on April 22, 1976--shortly after the film "Grey Gardens" was released. ("Audiences are intrigued, entertained, shocked, and fascinated by the personalities and filthy living conditions of Edith Bouvier Beale and her daughter Edie," Walter writes in his article about the interview in Rutgers Targum.) My favorite part so far is Edie greeting Walter as he arrives: "One of my mother's cats disappeared. I've had to comb the whole place for two hours and that's why I'm not ready . . . I'm wearing my Easter pants. Mother bought them for me. They're the new style--bell bottoms. I don't like them at all." Mother, by the way, refused to emerge from her room during the interview because she was too upset about her missing cat. Edie also mentioned it was because "the room hadn't been cleaned properly" so Big Edie didn't want anyone in there. "Not cleaned properly" was an understatement, judging from what we all saw in the film. But hey, at least they had a decor theme! I have to laugh when I see that Edie hung pictures all over the house with thumb tacks . . . my friends laugh when they see I've done the same thing in my apartment. (Which reminds me . . . I need to take down the thumb-tacked Hustler White poster featuring Tony Ward that is hanging in my bathroom. It is literally deteriorating.)

Grey Gardens came out two years after "An American Family", the first reality TV series. I'm often dismayed that reality-TV obsessed young-ish people today have never heard of the series and will insist that reality TV had its birth with MTV's tepid "The Real World" back in the early '90s. But thanks to the (already out-of-print?) recent book from Albert Maysles and now, this fabulous new book from Walter Newkirk, Grey Gardens is enjoying yet another revival. (I did not see the Broadway musical. I can be a bit of a cinema-verite purist at times and the show just seemed hokey. If it's not the real Little Edie singing it just seems like a waste of my time.)

Walter's book is wonderful. It is a collection of remembrances, photos (the back cover shot is by my pal Ron Galella), beautiful water-color illustrations by Bruce Lennon, written correspondences between Little Edie and Walter, and old newspaper clips. One of my favorites is from PAGE SIX, circa 1981:

"Let Cousin Jackie have her fancy limos and glittery nights on the town in Manhattan. Edie Beale parties to a different beat. The second cousin of Jackie Onassis travelled by bus to the Newark Museum the other night for the opening of 'Tibet: A Lost World,' an exhibition of 225 objects from everyday life. The sometime cabaret singer, not to be outdone by the women arriving in Tibetan costumes, wore an elaborate homemade hat. 'My brothers and I were brought up on Tibet,' Edie said. 'It was mother's influence really.' Edie used to live with their large family of cats at Grey Gardens, the dilapidated East Hampton manse recently bought by publisher Ben Bradlee."

And that's just the tip of the iceberg in MemoraBEALEia, a must for all Grey Gardens fans.

Love,
Glenn Belverio

P.S. - Speaking of Little Edie's "sometime cabaret singer" career--which took place at a West Village theater in the late '70s--I've been obsessed with seeing footage from her performance, which reportedly packed the house with Grey Gardens fans and campy fags every weekend. I prayed that Albert Maysles had documented it and I finally had the chance to ask him when I met him last week. Sadly, there is no documentation of the show as far as he knows, he told me. But he assured me that the show was wonderful.

P.P.S. - I also love the part in the CD interview where Little Edie flirts with Walter and tells him "you look like an athlete--you look like Joe Namath!" and you can just hear him blushing on the tape.

You Wear it Well 3 OPEN CALL - Deadline June 30th

Interview with New York film Director and writer - Alan Brown

Dear Shaded Viewers,

Alan Brown

Dear Shaded Viewers,

Almost two decades ago when I was a fashion designer living in New York I signed up for a class in Japanese at the New School. It was an intense course starting at 9h on Saturday mornings. I think I lasted about 6 classes and then dropped out. While I was there I met my neighbor on West 11th street, Alan Brown. More than 10 years ago I was looking for a present for a friend in a book store in London. I picked up Audrey Hepburn's Neck thought it looked interesting and turned to the back cover to read about its author and found out it was written by Alan Brown. I bought two copies and found it a very provacative read. I sent a message to Alan through his publisher just to congratulate him. He wrote back but I had not seen or heard from him since then. Recently when I was in NYC as a guest of the Metropolitan Museum for their Mode-Blogging panel, I ran into Alan at the Tribeca Grand Hotel. We were both there to see the work of a video artist. It was a wonderful New York reunion.

DP: We met at the New School, I was a Japanese drop out and you went on to live and study in Japan for 7 years as a Fulbright scholar. You have received many writing awards including the National Endowment for the Arts, Fulbright and NY Foundation for the Arts Fellowships. At what point during your stay in Japan did the idea for ‘Audrey Hepburn’s Neck’come up? Was this your first novel?

AB: The idea for AHN came to me late in my stay in Japan, after a trip up to northern Hokkaido, where the novel is set. This was my first story, but I’d written and had published quite a few short stories previously.

DP: Are there any other writers or directors in your family? Is this something that you wanted to do since you were a child? Did you direct little scenes when you were a kid? If so can you describe an early but memorable one?

AB: I didn’t grow up with any writers or directors in my family, but there are other writers in my generation, a few cousins and second cousins. I had no specific interest in directing films as a child. I went to art school, and ended up with a degree in Photography, so I suppose I was on that path without knowing it.

DP: Who is your favorite director? Did the work of any particular director inspire you to do what you do now?

AB: I like lots of different directions, and films. I like Gus van Sant, Atom Egoyan, Danny Boyle. Almodovar. As a genre, I tend to like French films a lot. I’ve liked some Oliver Stone films. Larry Clark’s Bully. It’s hard to make a list. There are some films I watch over and over again. I certainly liked Y Tu Mama Tambien. And the Australian film Lantana certainly inspired me. David Gordon Green’s first two films. The list goes on and on, as I like certain films for certain things – often for specific actor’s performances.

O Beautiful

DP: Was O Beautiful your first short film or were there other shorter ones before that?

O Beautiful (2002) is the story of Brad, a young gay victim of a homophobic agression that was left abandoned half nude in a corn field, when one of the bashers returns with remorse and a secret.

AB: O Beautiful was my first film. (It’s actually not that short: 33 min.) I had no inkling that I would direct film before that one. It was something of a fluke the way I fell into it.

DP: In 2002 you wrote and directed O Beautiful and that film won you the Future Filmmaker Award at the 2002 Palm Springs International Short Film Festival and also your film was in the official selection for Sundance. WHat were your biggest challenges in making this film?

O Beautiful

AB: The biggest challenge of course was that I’d never directed a film, never even taken a film course. So I walked into it having no idea at all how the process of filmmaking worked. I did instinctively know how to work with actors, though. And I found very quickly that I had a talent for organizing and collaborating, and for getting people to work hard. That and being able to find and hire talented people who know their jobs is much of what a director does. And I also discovered, not incidentally, that I LOVE making decisions and telling people what to do. (That’s a nice way of saying I like to boss people around.)

DP: How did that immediate positive reaction to your work effect you? What doors were suddenly opened that were closed before?

Book of Love

AB: Well, it was exhilarating, and it confirmed what I was feeling: That I’d found the thing – writing and directing films – that I was meant to be doing in life. And it immediately opened the door for me to make my next film right way, the feature, BOOK OF LOVE, which actually premiered at Sundance the following year.


Book of Love

DP: Do you consider yourself politically engaged?

AB: Very.

Superheroes

DP: What was the starting point for Superheroes?

AB: I was reading about the horrible treatment returning Iraqi War vets were receiving, and it horrified and enraged me – as did just about everything connected with Bush’s war. So I wanted to say something about it as an artist.

Superheroes

DP: Are you trying to effect any change by drawing attention to the situation with Iraq war veterans by making Superheroes? Do you know any people that have suffered from PTSD? As part of your research did you spend any time with a Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder support group? If so, what was your relationship with the group and the individuals and how did they help shape your main character?. Did you relate on any level to the filmmaker?

Superheroes
AB: Superheroes was an artistic response to a situation. I never thought of it as a didactic, ‘educational’ film. That said, of course I hope that people seeing are moved to act, to make changes. I did consult with psychiatrists who specialize in PTSD and trauma in general, and also with vets, but I didn’t spend time with any groups. I also spent an enormous amount of time on line viewing footage of PTSD groups and individual interviews. There’s an enormous amount of material available.
As for the ‘filmmaker’ character, I didn’t relate to him – except possibly in his frustration and impotence in the face of the vet’s war experience and his terrible, unknowable suffering.

DP: How was it that Book of Love was screened at both Sundance and Slamdance? How does that work?

AB: BOL actually premiered in the Dramatic Competition at Sundance. It didn’t screen at the Slamdance Film Festival actually. But during the year, in NYC, Slamdance does (or did) a monthly ‘Best of Slamdance’ series. And each year, they invite one film to screen that wasn’t at Slamdance but which the Slamdance directors admire. We were honored that Slamdance invited ‘Book of Love’ to be that film.

Book of Love

DP: How long do you spend casting your films? Again, biggest challenges in the making of.

AB: Casting is such a huge challenge, but financing is always cast-dependent. Particularly for my films, which are totally character-driven, casting is fraught with anxieties. I write for actors. Each film was a different process, but generally it takes months and months.

Book of Love - at Sundance

DP: What have your film festival experiences been like? To date, which one was the most rewarding and which one was the most intense?

AB: Hmmm. Hard question to answer. They were all intense and rewarding. That’s the nature of independent, low budget filmmaking, and making films that you’re committed to. All filmmaking is certainly physically intense and exhausting, but big budget Hollywood films aren’t often rewarding for the people involved. I’ve been fortunate in that my cast and crew have always been committed to the vision of the film. And we’re always a small group, so there’s a lot of emotional bonding, particularly with me and my actors. I’d say that my latest film, SUPERHEROES, was the most intense and rewarding artistically, because it was essentially me and two actors working together up in the country for a few weeks. It was like film summer camp, except that it was emotionally very challenging and draining material. But I loved it.


DP: Words like haunting, courageous and disturbing have been used to describe your work, What nerves do you tap into that brings out such strong reactions?

AB: I’m writing psychological dramas, people whose lives have been affected by politics, or whose personal behavior can also be considered political. And also about people in extreme situation: A gay high school boy who has been brutally beaten in an encounter with one of his attackers; a married couple facing the wife’s infidelity with a fifteen-year old boy; a returned Iraq War vet with a body filled with shrapnel confronting a just-out-of college naïve filmmaker who tries to reach out to him. These are situations fraught with emotional peril and possibilities.

DP: How long after the ‘Audrey Hepburn’s Neck’ was published were you approached about turning it into a film? It’s been a long journey from then to now, can you take me through it? If I remember correctly, originally you were asked to write the screenplay but someone else was going to direct it?

AB: I was actually approached about the film version of AUDREY before it was even published. A producer heard me give a reading of a section of the novel in SoHo and she optioned it along with the director Wayne Wang – who was originally slated to direct. That was the beginning of the journey. The film ended up at Miramax, with various directors attached over the years. I wrote the early versions of the screenplay, but I wasn’t a director at the time. After a few years at Miramax, where in the process of developing the script, they pretty much destroyed it, making it unrecognizable. That’s a fairly common result of the studio development process. Anyway, they dropped it, and Goldwyn picked it up for about a year. And then it sort of languished. There was interest occasionally, but nothing that interested me. Finally, a French, Paris-based producer, David Barrott, read the novel while was living briefly in Tokyo. And when he approached me, I’d begun directing, so I signed on as writer and director.

DP:Will you be casting well known actors or do you prefer to work with ‘unknowns’.

AB: To be honest, I’d be happy to work with unknowns. There are so many talented, unsung actors, particularly in New York, where there’s a theatre community. But it’s hard to get a film financed with unknowns.

Book of Love

DP: I know that certainly Bryce Dallas Howard , daughter of Ron Howard, who played Heather in Book of Love, was not unknown but for the most part the rest of the cast members were, weren’t they? DId you ever meet her Dad?

AB: I didn’t meet Bryce’s dad. And actually at the time I cast Bryce, she was unknown – except in NYC as a very good stage actress who’d come out of NYU’s theatre program. I didn’t even know who she was when she came in to audition. The casting director chose not to tell me. But I cast her anyway, because she was so good.

AB: But the other leads were very well known. Simon Baker at the time was the star of his own CBS TV drama, The Guardian. And had done quite a few films. He’s since gone on to do The Devil Wears Prada, and other films. And Francis O’Connor had starred in Spielberg’s AI (she was the mother), and opposite Brendan Fraser in “Bedazzled,’ and she was the star of the Jane Austin adaptation, ‘Mansfield Park.’ So she was actually quite a big name for us. And Greg Smith, who played the boy, was at the time the star of the WB series, ‘Everwood,’ which was extremely popular, and had done some film as well.

DP: I read somewhere about you being in the process of casting “Swan Lake” a psychological thriller, what is that film about? How many projects do you work on at the same time? WHen you write films do you have specific actors in mind?

AB: Yes, I’m casting ‘Swan Lake’ right now – which seems an endless process. At this moment, I’m juggling ‘Swan Lake’ and ‘Audrey Hepburn’s Neck’ both of which are in the casting stage, and both of which I hope to make in the next year. And I’ve just begun negotiations and the creative work on all-male version of ‘Romeo and Juliet,’ which some producers approached me about earlier this year. That’s exciting to me: The opportunity to do Shakespeare. And I’m working on a screenplay, another psychological thriller, with my friend, the actor Simon Baker, who was in Book of Love. And I just finished a stageplay about the Iraq War, ‘Nights in Falluja,’ which I’m very excited about. Most of the play swirls around a gay soldier stuck in the desert outside of Falluja. I had a reading of it last week, it was the first time I heard it aloud, and I’m very enthusiastic about working in the theatre. I don’t usually have specific actors in mind when I write. I’m very open to thinking about and envisioning different actors for my roles. That’s exciting to me. I don’t like to ‘lock’ a character into a particular actor or look or interpretation. I love to see what different actors bring to it.

Superhereos

DP: Which actors would you dream to work with?

AB: Hmm. That’s a difficult question. There are so many actors I admire. Some of them are NY theatre actors whom I know personally. I don’t ‘dream’ of working with any particular actor. I would be thrilled to work with Dash Mihok (‘Superheroes’) again, and likewise Simon Baker. They’re both awesomely talented, and I feel we collaborate well. Rather than a particular actor, I’d say that I dream of working with actors who are talented, and who understand and respect the collaborative process and aren’t afraid to trust me the director- in exchange for my trust.

DP: I have a feeling that you work on multitudes of projects at the same time, what is on your plate right now?

AB: I think I answered this question above. I think I pretty much covered everything I’m working on except possibly one: a commercial screenplay I’m writing for a producer, which isn’t for me to direct, it’s just to sell and make money. It’s about a woman serial killer and real estate. Not my usual fare, but it’s been fun and a challenge. I will, however, be glad when it’s done.

DP: What would be your dream situation?

AB: My dream situation would be finding a really good producer who understands and supports my vision, and who would produce all my films. And to have financing that isn’t cast dependent, so I can cast the most talented actors who are right for the roles, not the actors who will bring in the most money in overseas and dvd sales. In other words: My dream situation would be to be able to make my films without have to worry and fret constantly about money.

"Superheroes," the award-winning feature film directed by Alan Brown and starring Dash Mihok and Spencer Treat Clark is now available on Comcast, Cablevision, Cox and Time Warner providers under the banner IFC in Theaters Festival Direct. Go check it out, and please pass this on to your friends!

Maverick Spirit Award: 2008 Cinequest Film Festival.

Best Feature Film Award: 2007 Avignon/New York Film Festival

Special Jury Mention for an Actor: Dash Mihok: 2008 Austin Film Festival

Best Feature Narrative: 2008 Brooklyn Arts Council International Film Festival

Special Jury Mention, Feature Film and Acting Ensemble catagories: 2008 Ashland International Film Festival

For more information go to:

http://www.ifcfilms.com/viewFilm.htm?filmId=836

http://www.superheroesthemovie.com

Later,

Diane

Rachel Marie Walsh on the opening of London's 'Fashion in Film' Festival

London’s Fashion in Film Festival opened last night at the Tate Modern gallery. The month long festival, entitled “If Looks Could Kill”, will showcase both classic and unseen films related to intersecting themes of fashion, crime and violence. For opening night, seven photographers, visual artists and performers responded to the ‘If Looks Could Kill’ theme with a short film. The result was a sequence of visually arresting productions that revealed an uncomfortable truth: there can be beauty in the illicit, the morbid and even the gory.

                        

In ‘Frottage’,by photographer Derrick Santini, a woman in Alexander McQueen, moves through Paris. She is groped by men who pass her and brushes off every one. Finally, a ruby red pair of gloves gleams at her from a shop window and she stops. The gloves come to life and beckon her inside, where she puts them on and has several raunchy fantasies about the female shop assistant. Santini said afterwards that he was interested in the concept of clothing as protagonist and wished to convey the sensuality of the garment rather than exploring any Sapphic fantasy of his own.

Dino Dinco

Next was ‘El Abuelo’ (the Grandfather) by ASVOF contributor . The LA based artist, director and photographer offered a sensitive portrayal of a tattooed LA gangster shown ironing his clothes with painstaking precision. The 'gangster' is Texan poet Joe Jiminez and the subversion of his stereotypical appearance is taken further by a voice over that recites the poet's memories of watching his grandfather at the ironing board, handling his clothes with similar devotion.

For ‘The Corner’, Shannon Plumb transformed herself into several seamy stereotypes, including a streetwalker, a gang member and a‘hoodie’ and transposed footage of herself in each role against images of city street corners. She subverts each intimidating character with comical mime.

Eloise Fornieles’ ‘Carrion’ showed the performer stripped naked amid suspended animal carcases. She then took a knife, slit the carcases open and placed notes in the wounds. As the film opened with the caption ‘Write to apologise’, one imagines the notes were words of apology for their deaths. This film was difficult to stomach and, with the further desecration of the animal carcases, won’t improve PETA’s view of fashion but there were some interesting messages. Fornieles said that she was interested in exploring both the power and vulnerability that comes with a woman’s undressing. She fasted for three days before making the film. Afterwards, I thought about the giggly way women talk about going without food for the sake of there clothes. Fornieles called this starvation a ‘violent attack on the body’.

Paulette Phillips' ‘Marnie’s Handbag’ was a medley of bad girl moments from films like Single White Female, Foxy Brown and Batman Returns. The clips featured so many icons from various eras that it was fascinating to note the features that united them: the powerful, ominous click of the stiletto, handbags to carry lipstick and handguns and, of course, shades to hide their sins (for more on the power of the shades, see DP in the news).

The Boudicca team submitted a sequence of surreal artwork and photographs, which flashed at varying speeds to an unnerving violin soundtrack. Boudicca used the cutting and editing of film as symbols of dressmaking and surgery procedures.

The night closed with Elizabeth McAlpine’s ‘Slap’, a collection of the most dramatic point of the screen argument-the slap. Why? “I wanted to see what would happen if you played all those slaps one after the other”. What happened was the dulling of sound and impact of the smack, an interesting comment on how de-sensitized we become by overexposure to violent imagery.

The festival continues until May 31^st.

www.fashioninfilm.com

Sachio Kawasaki-photos by Satoshi Minakawa

Dear Shaded Viewers,

photos by Satoshi Minakawa

I was reading Susie Bubble the other day and followed a link to Susie modeling on fashion 156.com and one of the looks that interested me the most was Central Saint Martin's Sachio Kawasaki. I wanted to see more of his work so I e mailed Sachio and found out that he was a Shaded Viewer.

SK: I was born in Fukuoka, southern part of Japan, in 1982. I had an interest in fashion since I was little. When I was 12 years old, I started buying second hand clothes from Europe, stocked in one of the most fashionable shops at that time in my home town. At the age of 17, I embarked on an art and design course, and came to London at 20. I then went on to study textile design to learn the importance in the connection between fabric and shape. During the course I worked as knitwear designer assistant at Balenciaga in Paris. Then after finishing the course in 2006, I went straight on to do a MA degree at Central Saint Martins to put all the skills I has learnt together. The MA collection is entitled "Wave of Light" and is all made of Jacquard knitted fabric with printed tights.

When I visited Paris, Milan and Barcelona, I got inspired from various kinds of lights in cathedral and church coming from the outside. There I found sacred, magnificent mood in curved decorative ornaments from medieval period and that made me feeling exceptional. Then I tracked back to fined out the reason why I naturally attracted such things, I realized that it all coming from the memory of my childhood. I recalls the days always enjoyed playing with water in the river near my house, there I saw the continuously flowing, waving lights reflection on the water.

There is a concept I wanted to express through this collection.

photos by Satoshi Minakawa

I wanted to make something like 3-D version of fine art painting by matching 3-D elements of 'shape' and 2-D elements of 'pattern' in a suitable way, not taking both elements separately and combine in the end.

In this way, I believe that the 'Shape' will have a strong reason to be that particular shape convinced by the 'Pattern' exclusively designed for it.

I just started this approach and I wish to continue searching this matching of 'shape and pattern as a whole' more deeply to grow it as my signature style"

photos by Satoshi Minakawa

DP: Can you describe the light that makes up your childhood memories?

SK: When I was child, the lights I have seen at river and lake had so many different faces. In the morning, it was so hopefull, energetic but in the evening, it became very emotional, mysterious, nostalgic, melancollic. It changes depending on the time of day and my mood.

DP: Which fine art paintings inspire you the most?

SK: Henri Matisse's cutouts inspired the way I construct the garments. It is most obvious in the dresses and skirts.
In different way with Mattisse, Picasso's creative energy always encourages me when I try to push forward.

DP: Which artists have had the strongest influence on your work?

SK: Definitely the musician Steve Reich. Especially 'Music for 18 musicians' has had a strong influence on me ever since I was born. It's got a story of emotion, fluidity, and a sophisticated selection of material. I heard this work at the Barbican Centre 2 years ago and right then I was convinced that this was what I had been searching for.

DP: WHat was your experience like working at Balenciaga? Did you have any
direct contact with Nicholas?

SK: Everyday, everything I saw there was so fresh and exciting. I was assisting the knitwear designer and the women's wear designer about half and half. I was in charge of making the rough samples and intricate details based on Nicolas's drawings. For knitwear, I was correcting sizes of samples as they came back from factories.

When I was there we were working most of the time on the couture so I had the great fortune to see watch and learn couture techniques by the highly skilled atelier. Excellent embroidery was done by Lesage. Ever since I started watching Balanciaga, Nicolas had a strong impact on me but I did not have any contact with him while making my MA collection.

DP: How do you work? Do you start out by gathering inspirations and work from that? Is everything done by machine?

SK: I didn't really need to research for the wave patterns for this collection because I based it pretty much on my what is in my mind now and in my memory of the waves of light. It depends on the theme but of course I would normally gather information and images.

All of these patterned fabrics were machine knitted at a factory in Japan, afterwards, I cut and sew them to make up the garments.

DP: How long have you been in business and where could somebody buy your
collection?

SK: I studied fashion and textile for about 6 years and now I am trying to set up my own label. I haven't got a stockist yet so I have to look for it from now on.

self portrait of Sachio Kawasaki

DP: Are you still living in London?

SK: I just moved my production base to Tokyo but I am still keeping the collection in London for PR purposes.

DP: What are your dreams as a designer and is there a message that you want to pass on through your clothes?

SK: I often imagine myself enjoying drawing patterns in a house surrounded by the sea, going fishing and diving when I felt like it.
First of all, I do not want to forget to enjoy myself making patterns, constructing shapes and then what would make me so happy is if customer could feel share that feeling and could enjoy and be made happy by my work.

Later,

Diane

Jean-Paul Lespagnard winner of the 1,2,3 and public prize at the 23rd edition of the festival d'Hyeres

Dear Shaded Viewers,

photo by Laetitia Bica

If you click on archives for April you will be able to follow Jean-Paul Lespagnard's Hyeres adventure. I never saw him not smiling even when he told me that he was very scared about the jury presentation. A funny thing happened when he went in to present to the jury, he had been totally prepared to speak in English when suddenly it all came out in French. Jean-Paul won both the 1,2,3 and the public prizes.

DP: Most of the designers came to the festival with one assistant or a team, why did you choose to do it alone?

JP: I finally decided to do it alone because usually I spend all of my time working with others. My last important experience alone was a trip to India 5 years ago. It was really nice to travel around on my scooter on my own, discovering new places and meeting new people. I have such good memories of it. I think you have more profound meetings with people when you're alone. Hanging out and working at the villa with all the people involved whom I've never met before was a big part of the fun I had during the festival.

DP: How long did it take for you to be informed that you had been selected once that the decision had been taken?

JP: I think 4 or 5 days. I remember a friend calling me to tell me that there was a picture of my silhouette on your website.
I remember that I waited a bit. But I don't remember how long it was.

DP: What were the high and low moments of the almost 2 weeks at the Villa?

JP: There are so many! I just have the feeling that I've been in a "buffet a volonte" of everything. It was a great atmosphere to work in - lots of laughter, gossip, friendly people, exchanging ideas, drinks. However, the food...that's another story! He he...

The lowest point was Sunday morning when I realized that the whole experience was coming to an end. But this feeling disappeared immediately when I found out that I'd won the 123 prize. Because then I knew that I would have to go back next year to present a new collection, so I'll be able to do it all again.

DP: I know that you went to school in Liege but did you also study in Antwerp?

JP: I studied art for 5 years at Saint Luc, in Liege, and then I took evening courses in fashion, also in Liege, but to answer your question, no, I've never studied in Antwerp, or even in Brussels. The evening classes were great because you were left to figure everything out for yourself, as is the case in real life, and you just met up with the teachers (who also worked in the professional world) once a month to show your ideas, or your work. We had to find most of our own contacts that were not necessarily in the fashion industry.

DP: Can you give me a little bit of your background and tell me how you first got interested in creating fashion?

JP: When I was a child, I wanted to sell ice cream in Summer and fish in the Winter. Then, somehow, I directly switched to fashion. My father was a truck driver, so I used to hang out a lot with him in his garage. While he was working, I used to make corsets that I cut out of inner tubes for my sisters. This is how I eventually developed a desire to be a designer.

photo by Laetitia Bica

My study process was:

Economic study for 3 years
Art for 5 years
Then fashion for 3 years

photo by Laetitia Bica

DP: How hard was it to get started in fashion?

JP: It wasn't that difficult. I just did what I wanted to do. My sisters were great for that. They believed so much in me. Just following with the money was difficult. (here come the violins ha ha) This is why evening courses were perfect for me.
Working in daytime and the weekend and studying at night.

DP: What was the influence of your teacher, for instance the one that I met at the party?

JP: I have to say that I really don't like the feeling of being taught. The best teachers I had were the ones who were acting like friends with me. Chatting outside of the room, talking about books and films I should see. I was spending most of my time in the library and talking with the other students during the time they were working. Then back after school in my place/my world I started working. I was always coming with a big surprise on the day we had to render our projects.

DP: Do you have any fashion icons?

Paul McCarthy and Jeff Koons

JP: To mention a few, I like Jean-Charles de Castelbajac a lot, for his colours and his fun. Albert Elbaz for his cut. Anna Sui for her girly girly. Martin Margiela for his off-centre poetry.
I have to say, I am fascinated by the work of Paul Mc Carthy, Andy Warhol, and Jeff Koons also.

photo by Rene Habermacher

DP: How do you want people to feel in your clothes and do you have anyone in mind when you design them? Of course I know about Jacqueline...

JP: There is this hysterical character I’m always thinking about. Like a person who's got the freedom to wear whatever's going on in their head, whenever they want to, wherever they want to.

DP: What were your most interesting contacts at the festival and when do you start with 1,2,3.

JP: I made a lot of new international press contacts. And everyone I met who was involved with the festival.
I still don't know for 123... I have no news about them. But can't wait to begin!

DP: Did you ever work for another designer?

JP: Yes. I worked for Annemie Verbeke (http://www.annemieverbeke.be) and for Anna Sui

DP: I know that you also work as a stylist, are you planning to start your own collection now?

JP: Yes. I started working as a stylist for magazines because I want to do the images for my own collection.
I think it's a good way to learn how that side of the business works and to learn the commercial/creative/artistic language of fashion.
I really enjoy doing this styling stuff. Because it keeps me in contact with all the collections. Thanks to that I know
"exactly" what's "missing" :-)

photo by Laetitia Bica

DP: What would your dream situation be?

JP: I'm already kind of in it! I would like to carry on designing my own collections and continue working on the visual world that goes with it,
still creating costumes for dance and theatre performances.
I would also like to work with films. I would also like to have my own shop or corners - a place, which would encapsulate my universe.
By the way. I need a manager

DP: What comes next?

JP: For the next 3 months I will certainly be very busy after the festival!

I'm in Berlin in August, September and October to realize costumes for a dance performance by Meg Stuart.
Which will open the festival of Gratz.

And for sure Jacqueline will continue to travel around the world...

Jean-Paul Lespagnard
+32 (0) 495 934 349

L'officine
52 rue d'Artois/Artesie straat
b-1000 Bruxelles/Brussel

Later,

Diane

Rachel Marie Walsh reports on Henry Holland's 'Fash Bash' at Movida, London

Henry Holland and Sophie Ellis-Bexter and her boyfriend

Henry Holland of House of Holland definitely knows how to get a party started. Wednesday night was the second of his monthly ‘Fash Bash’ club nights at Movida in west London.While his March party attracted tabloid favourites like Pixie Geldof and Coleen McLaughlin, the April crowd was hardcore fashion. The reason? A DJ spin-fest courtesy of the lovely UK Vogue ladies and the beautiful people that bring you Dazed and Confused magazine. The Movida dance floor shook to the sounds of chic girls and cool boys blasting their favourite tunes, which included everything from vintage Spice Girls to the latest from Madonna’s Hard Candy. The walls were adorned with life-size cut-outs of Henry’s model mates Coco Rocha and Agyness Deyn, both wearing clothes from his Autumn/Winter 2008 collection. On the decks were Vogue’s Emma Elwick, Jaime Perlman, Rebecca Mason and Aimee Farrell, followed by Dazed and Confused’s Senior Fashion Editor Nicola Formichetti. Henry also impressed with a turn in the booth.

,

Nicola Formichetti and Henry DJing and the Vogue girls DJing

Sophie Ellis-Bexter and her boyfriend and Henry Holland

Super Hero and Randy Rockstar

On the floor were Holland’s pal Britpop star Sophie Ellis Bextor, who played DJ herself for a bit, and a host of Holland fans sporting plenty of bits and pieces from his Spring/Summer 2008 collection. Guests sipped ‘Very Voguette’ and ‘Deep Purple Dazed Invader’ cocktails with Ciroc Vodka.  It wouldn’t feel like a party if I didn’t play The Sartorialist’s advocate. Henry was gorgeous in bedroom slippers, channelling billionaire playboys Flavio Briatore and Hugh Hefner, and pyjama-like tartan pants from his own collection. Best outfit goes to Tolula Adeyemi, who looked adorable with an oversized blue tartan bow in her hair, peep-toe tartan heels and outfit from House of Holland Autumn/Winter collection 2008.

Tolula Adeyemi wearing House of Holland Fall/Winter 2008/09 www.houseofholland.co.uk

Rachel Marie Walsh

Who - Five O'Clock Heroes feat. Agyness Deyn

"SUPERHEROES" written and directed by Alan Brown airs on IFC Video on Demand!

Dear Shaded Viewers,

Superheroes is the current exhibition at the Met, Iron Man the film about the metallic monster is a box office success but the Superheros of this text is a film dealing with war veterans from Iraq suffering from post traumatic stress disorder. When I was in NYC I ran into my old neighbor from West 11th Street, Alan Brown. I had not seen him in 17 years. During that time he's made one short film and 2 feature films and is currently casting for a 3rd feature. Alan directed Superheroes (2007), Book of Love (2004), Boys Life 4: Four Play (2003) and O Beautiful (2002). Book of Love was nominated for the Grand Jury Prize at Sundance Film Festival in 2004 and also screened at Slamdance, It was considered by some viewers to be the best film that they had seen at Sundance. An interview will appear on my site next week.

Superheroes follows the return of an Iraq war veteran, Ben Patchett, to American life, and explores the damage inflicted on one man by war and the limitations of redemption. While Ben was away, his wife left him for another man, taking their daugheters with her. His body filled with shrapnel from a mine explosion and pumped full of medication, Ben is back living with his parents in his childhood home in Queens, traumatized and in constant pain. He attends a Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder support group at a V.A. clinic in New York. There he meets Nick Jones, who has volunteered to videotope Ben's PTSD group. Just a year out of college, Nick half-heartedly pusues a career in documentary film, while living with his dancer ex-girlfriend. When Ben invites Nick to come and film him during his stay at a borrowed house in the Catskills, a wary but ultimately tender friendship evolves between these two very different man.

"Superheroes," the award-winning feature film directed by Alan Brown and starring Dash Mihok and Spencer Treat Clark is now available on Comcast, Cablevision, Cox and Time Warner providers under the banner IFC in Theaters Festival Direct. Go check it out, and please pass this on to your friends!

Maverick Spirit Award: 2008 Cinequest Film Festival.

Best Feature Film Award: 2007 Avignon/New York Film Festival

Special Jury Mention for an Actor: Dash Mihok: 2008 Austin Film Festival

Best Feature Narrative: 2008 Brooklyn Arts Council International Film Festival

Special Jury Mention, Feature Film and Acting Ensemble catagories: 2008 Ashland International Film Festival

For more information go to:

http://www.ifcfilms.com/viewFilm.htm?filmId=836

http://www.superheroesthemovie.com

Later,

Diane

SIROUS NAMAZI AT GALERIE NORDENHAKE, STOCKHOLM

Untitled (Modules), 2008, water-cut steel, lacquer, 126.7 x 125.2 x 130.4cm

Dear Shaded Viewers,

SIROUS NAMAZI
Opening: May 15, 2008, 17.00-20.00
Exhibition period: May 16 – June 20, 2008

Galerie Nordenhake is pleased to present Sirous Namazi’s second solo exhibition in Stockholm. In 2007 the artist represented Sweden at the Nordic Pavilion at the 52nd Venice Biennial. A new catalog on Sirous Namazi, including an extensive text by Fredrik Liew, will be released on the opening night.

In this exhibition Namazi ties together some of the main themes he has been addressing throughout his production: minimalism, architecture, interior/exterior, waste and failure as well as social structures and Outsiderness. At the same time he extrapolates the series that have occupied him over the last few years, namely, Container, Untitled (Modules), and 1:1.

Container II is a new work in a series of disassembled garbage containers, laid flat against the floor. Namazi draws to the fore the formal elements of the container’s form and colour. The ready-made also has strong conceptual aspects concerning consumption and globalization. In its interplay between the interior and exterior surfaces it fails in its attempt to contain the world.

Works in the Module series are composed of a down-scaled prototype of an architectural unit. Reminiscent of Sol LeWitt’s objects, Namazi’s spatial studies are visualizations of an architectural standard, both structural and social. The skeletal rooms, industrially lacquered using the RAL colour system, address themes of architecture, minimalism, transparency and volume.

Untitled (Interiors) is a suite of 7 photographs depicting an empty quotidian apartment in the dark. This photographic work relates strongly to painting: shadow, light, colour and perception. Initially the images look like formal black monochromes but after a few seconds a room appears out of the darkness. The work deals with an existential tension between seeing and blindness.

A four-panel Untitled pixel painting depicts a rubbish dump. The enamel painted pixels only reveal their motif at a distance, putting the surface of the painting in a constant negotiation between abstraction and representation. The enamel surface has the same qualities of the ready-mades in Container II and Modules – both painterly and industrial. As in Patterns of Failure, Namazi’s pixel paintings deal with issues of consumption, waste and failure.

Sirous Namazi was born in 1970 in Kerman, Iran. Namazi completed his MFA at the Malmö Art Academy, Sweden, in 1998. In 2007 Namazi represented Sweden (with Jakob Dahlgren) at the 52nd Venice Biennial in the Nordic Pavillion. He has received awards from the Ljunggrenska Konstnärspriset in 2003 and the Carnegie Art Award in 2006 (Best Emerging Young Artist). The Carnegie Art Award exhibition toured extensively internationally over three years. Namazi has exhibited at Moderna Museet, Stockholm solo in 2003 and group in 2006. Later this year he will exhibit solo at Kunstverein Arnsberg, Germany, in spring 2009 at Lund’s Konsthall and in a group show at Museo d’Arte Moderna e Contemporanea di Trento e Rovereto, Rovereto, Italy.

Opening: May 15, 2008, 17.00-20.00
Exhibition period: May 16 – June 20, 2008
Opening hours: Tuesday - Friday 11.00–18.00, Saturday - Sunday 12.00–16.00
Installation views are available after the opening at www.nordenhake.com
Please contact the gallery for further information and press images

CHRISTIAN ANDERSSON MIROSLAW BALKA ANN BÖTTCHER JOHN COPLANS JONAS DAHLBERG ANN EDHOLM SPENCER FINCH HREINN FRIDFINNSSON ANTONY GORMLEY FRANKA HÖRNSCHEMEYER GUNILLA KLINGBERG EVA LÖFDAHL INGO MELLER MEUSER ESKO MÄNNIKKÖ SIROUS NAMAZI WALTER NIEDERMAYR MARJETICA POTRČ HÅKAN REHNBERG ULRICH RÜCKRIEM KARIN SANDER MICHAEL SCHMIDT LEON TARASEWICZ JOHAN THURFJELL ALAN UGLOW GÜNTER UMBERG MAGNUS WALLIN RÉMY ZAUGG

Later,

DIane