Chanel's Exhibition Compared to Vermibus
Two exhibitions, both held during October 2012, will form the bases of this comparative essay. Chanel’s fashion photography exhibition entitled ‘The Little Black Jacket: Chanel’s Classic Revisited’ held at the Saatchi Gallery 12th October - 4th November 2012, and Vermibus’ display of appropriated adverts called ‘Unmasking Kate’ shown at the Moniker Arts Fair 11th -14th October 2012 will be used to explore the links each exhibition has to the themes of advertising and celebrity.
‘The Little Black Jacket: Chanel’s Classic Revisited’ is a celebration of the ‘timelessness’ (Saatchi, 2012) that is the Chanel jacket first introduced in 1953 (Armstrong, 2012), which Karl Lagerfeld, the creative director for Chanel, has revamped for the twenty-first century. ‘The Chanel jacket is a man’s jacket which has become a typical feminine piece...’ (Lagerfeld cited Making of- The Video, 2012), co-writer and photographer for the exhibition Lagerfeld, articulates the versatility of the garment, which is a key theme expressed throughout the show. The exhibition consists of 113 photographs of celebrities modelling (Saatchi, 2012) the jacket to which the entire exhibition is a tribute to (Saatchi, 2012).
In contention with the notion of product and brand celebration the Spanish-born artist Vermibus presented his ‘Unmasking Kate’ series at the Moniker Arts Fair, '…now in its third year, the fair…[of] contemporary artists with urban roots…[is] an assembly united by a desire to rebel’ (Spence, 2012). Amongst the rebels is street artist and ex-branding photographer turned contemporary artist (lamono, 2012), Vermibus. The principle of his work is the appropriation of designer advertising posters found publically, as a statement against the image of our materialistic consumer driven society (Finucane, 2012).
The title of Vermibus’ current series ‘Unmasking Kate’ refers to both his method of appropriating the posters and to his subject, namely the model Kate Moss. Vermibus argues
‘The Little Black Jacket: Chanel’s Classic Revisited’ is a celebration of the ‘timelessness’ (Saatchi, 2012) that is the Chanel jacket first introduced in 1953 (Armstrong, 2012), which Karl Lagerfeld, the creative director for Chanel, has revamped for the twenty-first century. ‘The Chanel jacket is a man’s jacket which has become a typical feminine piece...’ (Lagerfeld cited Making of- The Video, 2012), co-writer and photographer for the exhibition Lagerfeld, articulates the versatility of the garment, which is a key theme expressed throughout the show. The exhibition consists of 113 photographs of celebrities modelling (Saatchi, 2012) the jacket to which the entire exhibition is a tribute to (Saatchi, 2012).
In contention with the notion of product and brand celebration the Spanish-born artist Vermibus presented his ‘Unmasking Kate’ series at the Moniker Arts Fair, '…now in its third year, the fair…[of] contemporary artists with urban roots…[is] an assembly united by a desire to rebel’ (Spence, 2012). Amongst the rebels is street artist and ex-branding photographer turned contemporary artist (lamono, 2012), Vermibus. The principle of his work is the appropriation of designer advertising posters found publically, as a statement against the image of our materialistic consumer driven society (Finucane, 2012).
The title of Vermibus’ current series ‘Unmasking Kate’ refers to both his method of appropriating the posters and to his subject, namely the model Kate Moss. Vermibus argues
References: Anderson, F (2000) ‘Museum as Fashion Media’, in Bruzzi, S. and Gibson, C. (eds.) Fashion Cultures: Theories, Exploration and Analysis. London : Routledge pp. 371-389. Debord, G. (1957-61) ‘Writings from the Situationist International’ in Harrison,C and Wood, P.J. (eds.) (2002) Art Theory 1900-2000. Oxford:Blackwell. pp.701-707 Finucane, J Fritz, M. (2012) A Short History of the Little Black Dress. [Online]. Available at: http://www.realsimple.com/beauty-fashion/clothing/dresses-skirts/little-black-dress-00000000046948/index.html (Accessed: 29/11/12) Gersh-Nesic, B http://arthistory.about.com/od/modernarthistory/a/Pop-Art-Art-History-101-Basics.htm (Accessed: 08/11/12) Hooper-Greenhill, E (2000) Museums and Interpretation of Visual Culture London: Routledge Jackson, T. and Shaw, D. (2009), Fashion Marketing Hampshire: Palgrave Klein, N Open Walls Gallery (2012) Vermibus [Online] Available at: http://www.openwallsgallery.com/artist/vermibus (Accessed 15/11/12) Picassomio, General Art Articles[online] Saatchi gallery (2012) The Little Black Jacket. [Online] Available at: http://www.saatchi-gallery.co.uk/current/the_little_black_jacket.php (Accessed: 15/11/12) Spence, R Star Suckers, (2010) by Chris Atkins UK [DVD] The Exhibition Opening - The Film, (2012) by Chanel [Online] Available at: http://thelittleblackjacket.chanel.com/en_GB/exhibition/london (Accessed: 16/11/12) The World of Karl Lagerfeld, (c. 2010) by Anjali Rao China [Online] Avalible at: http://youtu.be/m0ljhBgy0Hc (Accessed 20/11/12) Williamsons, J (1995) Decoding Advertisements: Ideology and Meaning in Advertising Zahm, O. (2003) ‘On the Marked Change in Fashion Photography’, in Welters, L. and Lillethon, A. (eds.) (2007) The Fashion Reader. Oxford: Berg, pp. 263-269. | |Vermibus , ‘A Dirty Life’ , 2012, solvent on stone | | |advertising poster, (120 x 170 cm) Open Walls Gallery | |fig:3 |Lucian Freud, Benefits Supervisor Sleeping, 1995, oil on |