Pharrell Williams, “Places and Spaces I’ve Been”

Pharrell Williams, “Places and Spaces I’ve Been”

Andrea Tuzio · 2 months ago · Style

The news is the kind that bursts into our feeds in a rushing and thunderous way and on which we all, but really all, couldn’t help but dwell: Pharrell Williams is the new Men’s Creative Director of Louis Vuitton.

The interconnectedness that exists between showbiz and the fashion world has always been extremely strong and deep-rooted, but with Williams’ appointment to one of the most important roles in the entire contemporary fashion landscape, it further sanctions this connection at the highest possible level.

The French fashion house announced its choice of Pharrell on its Instagram profile and did so a year and a half after the untimely and sudden death of his predecessor Virgil Abloh: “he is a visionary whose creative universes expand from music to art and fashion-establishing himself as a global cultural icon”.

 

 
 
 
 
 
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Un post condiviso da Louis Vuitton (@louisvuitton)

The choice of Williams the first real strategic move by new Louis Vuitton Chairman and CEO Pietro Beccari, who took over the position about a month ago after his work with Dior.
“I am glad to welcome Pharrell back home, after our collaborations in 2004 and 2008 for Louis Vuitton, as our new Men’s Creative Director. His creative vision beyond fashion will undoubtedly lead Louis Vuitton towards a new and very exciting chapter”, Beccari said.

Pharrell Williams has redefined the concept of coolness for more than one generation, he perfectly embodies the creative force that moves confidently across multiple disciplines, a creativity without boundaries or limits that ranges wherever he feels like going, using music, design, art, and fashion to express himself and leave his peculiar and unique style. Everything Williams creates comes from the coming together of all these disciplines, which he uses as elements in constant connection, playing with them in ever new and innovative ways, establishing himself as one of the most eclectic and decisive contemporary cultural figures ever.

Louis Vuitton’s history with Pharrell Williams has been going on since 2004 with occasional but impactful collaborations; he was also Chanel’s first men’s testimonial, started a partnership with Tiffany & Co. And co-founded-along with NIGO, now artistic director of Kenzo, also owned by the LVMH group-of streetwear brands such as Billionaire Boys Club and Ice Cream in the early 2000s. 

This nomination, thinking precisely also of NIGO’s, is a further confirmation of the “streetwearization” of high-end ready-to-wear and the continued spectacularization of collection shows, just refer to Vuitton’s Paris event a few weeks ago dedicated to the Fall/Winter 2023 men’s collection.

Pharrell’s career is chock-full of projects spanning a variety of disciplines as I mentioned earlier, his contribution to contemporary culture is enormous-N.E.R.D., The Neptunes, collaborations with Jay-Z, Snoop Dog, Kanye West, Daft Punk, those with Moncler, adidas, Marc Jacobs, KAWS, Haha Hadid, and I could go on and on.

Now we just have to wait, because Louis Vuitton’s first collection curated by Pharrell Williams will be unveiled next June during Paris Men’s Fashion Week, and witness a new era for the French fashion house and the Virgina Beach-born creative. 

Pharrell Williams, “Places and Spaces I’ve Been”
Style
Pharrell Williams, “Places and Spaces I’ve Been”
Pharrell Williams, “Places and Spaces I’ve Been”
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Adapting and then escaping with Zazzaro Otto’s works

Adapting and then escaping with Zazzaro Otto’s works

Giorgia Massari · 2 days ago · Art

Milan’s ArtNoble gallery opened yesterday, March 30, 2023, the solo exhibition of artist Zazzaro Otto (1988) entitled “Traslochi Heimat s.r.l.” with a text by Bruno Barsanti. The curious and unusual title of the exhibition best explicates the antithesis presented by the sculptural works on display.
Heimat is a German word that refers to belonging to a place or, even better, to the feeling of being at home, leading back to a family dimension. Heimat is also the name of a moving company – s.r.l. to be precise – introducing in this way the concept of displacement, in contrast to the homely aspect heralded by the German term. Thus, a conflicting aspect emerges between what should be stable and what is in motion. This leads metaphorically back to the existential journey, to an intimate and personal sphere related to a warlike aesthetic, referring to an inner war. Zazzaro Otto’s works deal with concepts such as adaptation, change and danger with different nuances and, likewise, the mechanisms implemented by human beings in these specific circumstances.

An early metaphor is present in the work “I don’t know how, but I’m taller, it must be something in the water,” comparing a motorcycle to the path of growing up. The work evokes a conflict between childhood and adulthood. The former symbolized by the “bicycle” shape (typical of children) and the colorful little house it carries on the back, as well as the snacks in the small trunk; the latter, on the other hand, is expressed by warlike elements, such as the axe placed on the side. A series of contradictions, made up of “weapons and snacks,” make explicit the difficulties of growing up and how it is often unconscious, rapid, and unexpected.

A second emblematic work is “SuperPleasureEmergencySofa (My Arm for a Sofa),” which visually depicts the concept of survival and adaptability. Indeed, Zazzaro Otto makes a portable sofa-bed, which attempts to become a home through the presence of household elements such as a lamp, alarm clock, and books. Conflict, however, is always present: while it attempts a relaxation, it also remains at attention, ready to leave and run away from danger.

Other works in the exhibition, such as the bronze helmets and wall-mounted works, emphasize “the idea that everyone is responsible for their own movement and transformation”- as Melania Andronic’s text reads.

The exhibition is on view until May 18, 2023 at 9 Ponte di Legno Street, Milan.

Courtesy by Zazzaro Otto and ArtNoble Gallery

Adapting and then escaping with Zazzaro Otto’s works
Art
Adapting and then escaping with Zazzaro Otto’s works
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Sarah Slappey represents the constraint of being a body

Sarah Slappey represents the constraint of being a body

Giorgia Massari · 3 days ago · Art

You enter your bathroom, ready to strip off the clothes that have accompanied you throughout the day, you are surrounded by shiny tiles and an intent light hits your naked body, highlighting all those flaws you will observe and hate. A mirror reflects the contents of your soul, the body that tells who you are and appears to others every day. It is the moment of confrontation, painful most of the time. The works in oil and acrylic on canvas by U.S. artist Sarah Slappey speak of this pain, suffering and anxiety to maintain-or rather, to try to achieve-those imposed standards of beauty.

Sarah Slappey | Collater.al

An interweaving of bodies, particularly limbs (feet and hands) stand out overbearingly against a grid background that leads right back to the bathroom environment and its typical tiles, creating a contrast between chaos and perfection. The hands and arms, distinctive elements of her production, are accompanied in her more recent works by feet and legs. These two elements create a further contrast: on the one hand the hands, soft and gentle, caressing and cuddling, on the other hand the feet, rough and overbearing, trampling, crushing. This is accentuated by the artist’s rendering of the latter, especially highlighting the veins and creases that are created on the back and sole. Both limbs are shiny, silky, hairless but with obvious scars, cuts, and drops of blood. They are penetrated by pins that pierce the fictitious skin, almost perfect in mannequin manners, making explicit the constant sacrifice enacted especially by women. Sarah Slappey does not actually refer to a particular genre but, elements such as beads, bows, hairpins and threads, clearly refer back to the female universe, resulting in autobiographical at times. Sleppey’s works contain a strong tension that oscillates between sensuality and brutality, seeking to overturn the typical representation of the female body that has always been dominated by men. The twists and touches reveal a sexuality that merges with restlessness, posing the viewer with the question “how do bodies feel?

Sarah Slappey | Collater.al
Courtesy by Sarah Slappey
Sarah Slappey represents the constraint of being a body
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Sarah Slappey represents the constraint of being a body
Sarah Slappey represents the constraint of being a body
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Mass-media mutilation in Pablo Bermudez’s work

Mass-media mutilation in Pablo Bermudez’s work

Giorgia Massari · 4 days ago · Art

Artist Pablo Bermudez performs a mutilation, a disembowelment, a defacement of the pop image. Terms with a strong negative and bloody meaning but that best explicate the operation carried out by the Colombian artist on mass-media images. In fact, his action affects the advertising image proposed by fashion magazines, comics and newspapers in general, with the aim of sabotaging the message conveyed by brands, which hijack the masses’ thinking through advertisements and implicit messages, conditioning their consumption and therefore their thoughts and habits. Pablo Bermudez (1988) starts with the image of a magazine, often an icon, a model or model, or just as often the cover, without separating it from its container -the magazine- but keeping the whole object, making a kind of sculpture. With the use of a scalpel, Bermudez carves into the eyes or mouths of the characters, digging deep and at the same time depriving them of their identity, of what makes them human and therefore recognizable. In this way, the icons lose their personality, bringing out what lies within the pages: phrases, images and colors. By losing their connotations, they lose their function as vehicles. The subversion of the image is complete.

The viewer in this way is placed in front of a magazine that no longer needs to be leafed through but is opened from the inside, emerging outward in a three-dimensional manner. The filaments, clippings and paper tears create an explosion, giving dynamism to the work.
Pablo Bermudez performs a destruction of pop imagery, transforming images into other images. Destroying but at the same time creating. However, the destruction is not complete: the artist chooses to keep certain elements, such as the titles of the magazines – “Playboy,” “Batman” – or the rest of the subjects’ faces, thus creating a strong visual connection. The viewer immediately recognizes the manipulated element without being able to enjoy it, however, and thus is forced into reflection.

Mass-media mutilation in Pablo Bermudez’s work
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Mass-media mutilation in Pablo Bermudez’s work
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The subconscious and desires of a free body

The subconscious and desires of a free body

Tommaso Berra · 5 days ago · Art

Artist Wang Haiyang (1984) was struggling to express his feelings until his psychologist advised him to represent his unconscious through painting. Since then, the Chinese artist has been able to represent his vision of the outer and inner worlds, reworked through subjects born as metamorphoses of human bodies.
The inquisitiveness of the unconscious and psychology have remained a fundamental part of Wang Haiyang’s artistic production, which points straight to his own hidden desires and the most fantastic subconscious far from the real world.

Wang Haiyang | Collater.al

Wang Haiyang’s works reflect on existential themes that allow for social issues such as that of identity for example, depicted by twisting classical ideals of beauty. Frighteningly hairy, almost animal-like legs are thus depicted in graceful and elegant poses typically feminine. Language is another of the themes of these acrylic-on-canvas works, as is lust, evoked with precise elements referable to sexuality and eroticism or more metaphorically with the dialogue of the subjects with abstract, tangled and in contact with naked body parts.
The settings of the works are reminiscent of illustrations from science fiction comic books or cartoons, it feels like watching a scene from Little Chills but with a slight tinge that covers everything with eroticism.
Animation is another of the techniques Wang uses to represent his subconscious, and some of his works have won awards at international film festivals.

Wang Haiyang | Collater.al
Wang Haiyang | Collater.al
Wang Haiyang | Collater.al
Wang Haiyang | Collater.al
Wang Haiyang | Collater.al
Wang Haiyang | Collater.al
Wang Haiyang | Collater.al
Wang Haiyang | Collater.al
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