What is the first page you are likely to see in any art
publication? Fifty percent of the time it will be a double page spread from
Prada or Saint Laurent. Fashion and art have been bedmates for decades—with
product and editorial collaborations from artists including
,
,
,
, and
. In turn,
fashion designers are increasingly drawing on trends and aesthetics of art in
their work. (In recent seasons, it is easy to see the influence of artists like
and Hilma af Klint.)
Why is art so keen to gain some of the gloss and glean of the
fashion world and vice versa? Art brings credibility, intelligence, and a hint
of freedom—a marketing department’s dream. The first thing fashion brands bring
is finance. There is nothing new about this relationship. It is just an updated
version of the kind of patronage that companies like Henry Tate’s sugar company
Tate & Lyle, or before that royalty and the church. Fashion brands share
the same audience as contemporary artists. The people that buy Céline clothes are almost guaranteed to be
collectors. As artworks increasingly get (re)absorbed by commodity culture, it
is important to look for positive ways, apart from damn good parties, that this
symbiosis can work.
What is interesting is how brand-funded exhibition spaces are
becoming some of the most important venues for contemporary art shows. The Fondation Cartier Pour l’Art Contemporain, in
Paris, which celebrates its 30th anniversary this year, was one of the first of
the big spaces. Its president Alain Dominique Perrin was influential in passing
the 1987 French “Léotard law,” establishing the practices of contemporary art
patronage in France. (Yes they have actual legal guidelines). The Fondation has
always made it essential to have a clear separation from the Maison Cartier.
Massimiliano Gioni, who curated the last Venice Biennale and is based at New
York’s
New Museum, has served
as artistic director for the Fondazione Nicola Trussardi, curating shows by
and
.
The Fondazione Prada outpost in
Venice—the first is in Milan—has outshone its contemporaries with exhibitions
that are heavily conceptual, highly respected, and have a more distanced
relationship to the brand itself in terms of content and presentation. These
foundations are very different from the glut of fashion-brand exhibitions,
something Ellen Gamerman
rightfully
questioned in the
Wall Street Journal this June. Here, she quoted
Bruce Altshuler, director of New York University’s Program in Museum Studies:
“Nobody ever said museums are pure, but at least there’s an element of public
trust that when you go to a museum, what you’re seeing is museum-worthy. The
widespread exhibiting of luxury-brand goods erodes that trust.”
On October 27, the new Fondation
Louis Vuitton opens to the public in Paris. With a building by
,
commissioned by Louis Vuitton parent company LVMH’s Bernard Arnault, the huge
space aims to focus on late 20th century and contemporary art. It is described
as “a corporate foundation and a private cultural initiative dedicated to art
and artists” that extends LMVH’s history
of cultural patronage over the past two decades. This is not the first
exhibition space that Louis Vuitton has launched—with the Espace Culturel Louis
Vuitton in the 8th arrondissement and its sister in Tokyo; across the
exhibition spaces, they have put on shows by
,
, and
. The new
museum in the Bois de Boulogne will blow these past spaces out of the water.
Arnault told the
Financial Times, “We see our role as bringing the
artists we show at the Fondation closer to the public, and encouraging a desire
for innovation. It’s the same reason we show artworks in some of our
maisons,
because not only do they resonate with the products, they also give our
customers the feeling of being at home. We don’t want to be a museum shop.”
Interestingly, in 50 years the land and building revert to the city.
This interrelationship between major labels and fashion is also
detected on a more, let’s call it accessible, level. In the exhibitions at
concept shops like Celestine Eleven in London and Colette in Paris, or in the
design and art interventions in London’s Dover Street Market. Beginning this
September, Club Monaco in London is incorporating exhibitions focused on
emerging local artists at its flagship Sloane Square shop.
House of Voltaire, the biennial
temporary fundraising shop that supports gallery Studio Voltaire in London, has
teamed up with French fashion label Chloé this year for its November and December
pop-up. The focus is on special one-off collaborations between artists and
fashion designers, including Kim Gordon and Simone Rocha, Roksanda Ilincic and
Eva Rothschild, and
and
Sibling, among others. Chloé has also selected three female artists—
,
, and
—to create
pieces for the shop. Director Joe Scotland explains, “We have found that some
artists really like working in a different way. Through the project we are able
to provide a different platform for them outside of their regular practice.
They are able to produce something which people use or wear in their everyday
lives—and reach a much wider audience than they might not normally do.”
There is a vein of artists who make artwork with a critical
relationship to fashion—including
, DIS,
,
, and
. In an era
where the support, influence, and taste of fashion brands is ever-present,
these approaches feel increasingly resonant. As much as exhibitions need
funding, one eye should be kept open to what kind of work is being allowed to
get through the door.
House of Voltaire and Chloé collaboration on view Nov. 12 – Dec. 20, 2014, Upstairs, 39-40 Albemarle St
Mayfair, London W1S 4TE.
View of
the building, Fondation Cartier pour l'art contemporain, Paris, 2013. © Jean
Nouvel / Adagp, Paris. Photo: © Luc Boegly. View of the exhibition David Lynch,
The Air is on Fire, Fondation Cartier pour l'art contemporain, 2007. © David
Lynch. Photography © Patrick Gries. | Installation View of ‘Art or Sound’,
Fondazione Prada, Ca’ Corner della Regina, Venice, June 7 – November 3, 2014
(from left to right: Tom Sachs, Toyan’s Jr., 2001 and Gebrüder Wellershaus
Fairground Organ, early 20th Century). Photo: Attilio Maranzano, courtesy
Fondazione Prada. Installation view of “When Attitudes Become Form: Bern
1969/Venice 2013.” (From left to right: works by Barry Flanagan, Richard
Artschwager, Alighiero Boetti, Mario Merz.) Fondazione Prada, Ca’ Corner della
Regina Venice, June 1 – November 3, 2013. Photo by Attilio Maranzano, courtesy:
Fondazione Prada. | Fondation LouisVuitton, ©Iwan Baan, 2014.