Art in the Age of Mechanical Reproduction
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Clothes and The Gallery: Appropriating Back and Forth Forever

Henry James and Hendrik C. Anderson, 2001

Art in the Age is a unique snowflake in the art/apparel world because we take the work of fine artists and put them onto t-shirts as a form of dissemination and exhibition.

But what about the other way around? How about artists who take clothing and appropriate it into the traditional gallery context?

Clothing as a medium is commonly associated with colloquialism, craftsmanship, fashion culture, and discourses of “low art”. So instead of mechanical reproduction, these two artists are ascribing a type of preciousness and epic quality to the clothing they create and appropriate. The conversations opened by the placement of clothing into the gallery context are different than art on a shirt, because each piece becomes a type of totem object instead of the embodiment of a type of “every-man’s” obtainable periodical.

Yinka Shonibare – Cha Cha Cha, 1997

1. Yinka Shonibare is a Nigerian-born, London-eduated installation artist whose work explores the boundaries and misunderstandings ever-prevalent at the lines drawn in examinations of bi-racialism and bi-culturalism both commercially and historically. The fabrics he uses are of Dutch origin, sold at London bazaars, but stereotypically associated with African-ness. His re-creations of European nobles distinctly European outfits and accessories in “African” textiles, prompts the questioning of cultural classifications as fabricated and bigoted ideas.

NOTE: The following image is eerily reminiscent of Adam Wallacavage’s chandelier photography.

Yinka Shonibare – Vacation, 2000

Beverly Semmes – Prairie Dress, 2006 – velvet, chiffon, cast glass

2. Beverly Semmes is an American artist, NYC-based whose installation and sculptures focus primarily on women’s clothing prototypes and fabrics (velvet, tulle, chiffon, silks). Semmes work has been a great inspiration to me, as each piece has something unexpected – a piece of pottery, a twisted off-registered sleeve, or an asymmetrical train spilling onto the floor. The work is immediately recognizable as clothing and is delightfully crafted from such rich fabrics – yet the pieces are completely unapproachable and not even corresponding to real human proportions.

L to R: Tightly Braided, Red Velvet Arm, Green Target, Golden Arm, 2000-2006

Thinking realistically, this is all clothing for astronauts and mutants. Appropriate the artwork back in the apparel direction, and there you are, back at home sweet Art in the Age.