Dries Van Noten at Les Arts Decoratifs

During my short visit to Paris last week I had a couple of hours here and there to visit exhibitions, one of which being the Dries Van Noten at Les Arts Decoratifs. This museum is one of my all time favourites; the Parisian parallel of the Victoria & Albert museum in London, conveniently situated next to the Louvre the central line 1.

Dries Van Noten as a designer isn't as globally known as the majority of designer retrospectives featured at Art Decoratifs including Madelaine Vionnet (queen of the 1920s empire line dress) and Louis Vuitton Marc Jacobs, however as much as it is a showcase of the designer's work, the focus is centralised on the relationship between his collections and the inspiration leading to the final result presented on the catwalk.

My initial reaction was positive; a strong entrance to the show with a semi patent floral door to introduce his signature theme of hyper-real flowers & nature. Once inside, the show begins in a darkened room filled with names of models, photographers, pop stars etc of whom acted as inspiration to Dries in his early years of the 1970s/80s. The diversity of names featured, highlights the relevance of culture at this time, kick starting the ultimate focus of the exhibition, inspiration.

It takes a little while to suss out the layout and is worth making yourself familiar with this before wandering onwards to make the most of the show. Aside from the initial couple of rooms and final  room with a collage of catwalk videos, each cabinet features a selection of pieces from one of Dries' collections, contrasted with pieces by other designers (such as a Thierry Mulgar dress from 1978/79 in the middle of the gold/metallic room image below), paintings, film clips, graphic art and so on.

The juxtaposition of inspiration pieces next to Dries' collections is particularly fascinating, as you deconstruct the elements reflected in the clothing. Taking his Spring/Summer 09 collection as an example, he combined inspiration from 13th century art with contemporary optical art- enriched with sumptuous colour, crisp lines on the print and areas of curvature crafted within the piece itself.

Other themes featured in the exhibition include orientalism/ bollywood, high society, military, 'The Kiss' in Hollywood film and nature. Highlights include artwork by Damien Hirst and Francis Bacon in addition to film clips of 'The Man Who Fell to Earth' with David Bowie and 'A Clockwork Orange' by Stanley Kubrick; inspiration triggering his imagination throughout his life and career.

Although a little dark as I attempt to write notes (I could barely read my own writing afterwards), the curation forms a compelling show; leaving you feeling inspired and creatively energised from start to finish- a must see in Paris!

'Dries Van Noten: Inspirations' runs from March 1st- November 2nd 2014

Alice Luker
www.aliceluker.co.uk

Psychology, Science and Art: Part 1

There is one topic which has endessly inspired my passion for the creative industry; psychology. It is a fact that everything is interconnected, a process of ongoing relationships between the conscious and subconscious that determines who we are as individuals and the way in which we look at creative imagery/ art.

Our perspective could perhaps be compared to that of an individual fingerprint; no two entirely identical as they are tailored to our personal experiences, knowledge and chemical reactions formed by highly complex processes in our brains.

There are two key elements that form our perspective on visual art:

Nativistic Perception: Eye and brain matched synchrony transforming electromagnetic energy into neurochemical codes.

Directed Perception: Based on personal history and knowledge.

I would argue that art is one of THE most intellectual industries; one that stimulates our minds and inspires positivity- both elements that I believe we require as human beings. Art was 'invented' (perhaps recognized would be a better word as art can arguably be created in nature too... hence the Peacock above) as we have evolved over thousands of years, suggesting it can only be acquired by a highly complex brain. As we attain more awareness of both the physical and psychological world; art has refined itself from a literal interpretation to that with more conceptual meaning and depth.

 Prehistoric Cave Art

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Pre Raphaelite Art (1000s of years later)

          Pre Raphaelite Art

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Pop Art (over 100 years later)

As the human conscious has evolved with, and perhaps through art, new artistic movements follow. As an example, the era of Pop Art wouldn't have been relevant to the 19th century as the movements that happened between this time all led to the Pop Art movement. As we have become more complex beings, we are able to process information more efficiently/effectively, however the previous movement must have arguably occurred to lead to the next.

There is always the wonder of how much our directed perception (personal knowledge & history) affects us however, whether artistic thought is led more objectively through our nativistic perception (chemical codes) than we are led to think.

I believe that we have currently found ourselves at a very exciting/ scary time in art as the industry has become saturated very rapidly by the dominance of the technology era. Art and information is now 1000% more easily attainable (a personal, not factual guess!) and although indirectly related, human relationships have changed too, no doubt modifying the ever fluctuating ideals of society.

My opinion is that to become more knowledgeable and personalised in the field of art, you need to nurture your relationship between the conscious and subconscious...after all, psychology is an undeniable force to be reckoned with whether you like it or not.

Alice Luker
www.aliceluker.co.uk