It's been too long since my last post and that's my fault. I can't even say that my life has been too busy to sit down and type, because I tell you now, with all honesty, it has not. My DVR has been consistently recording therefore my motivation to write extremely lacking. Some would say I have reverted back to my childhood ways, when TV came first and all other things followed after, and by "some" I mean me. My hope for this blog was to help me bring my passion and my sincere love for art to the forefront of my life again, but as life sometimes does, it sidetracks us.
No longer off track, I'm here to write a little commentary on something I saw in a Glamour magazine not so long ago that struck me. Some of my favorite, most inspiring artists in the art world were making their way into fashion; hitting the runways of Jil Sander, Rodarte, and Sportmax in their Spring/Summer 2012 collections. I didn't know what to think. To see works of Picasso, Monet, and van Gogh in the form of high fashion (shown below, along with the pieces that inspired them), I didn't understand why.
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| Picasso at Jil Sander Spring/Summer 2012 collection |
At some point in art's history, art seemed to take a turn in my eyes; art became a sort novelty rather than a way of life. Of course these looks are certainly not the first time we have seen famous works of art in forms produced for the masses worldwide. We have things like tote bags, coffee mugs, puzzles, paint by number kits, postcards, keychains, and the list goes on and on. Today's youth know works of van Gogh not so much because they saw them in the museums but rather in reproductions like these, me being one of them. Don't get me wrong, I know that not everyone is able or capable of going to their local museum to see such famous works.
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| Monet at Sportmax Spring/Summer 2012 collection |
Not only are reproductions or copies of these sort of works not in every museum, but museum's admissions are not cheap. So why not make these works into posters we can hang in our rooms or frame in our homes? Why not make them in every medium possible so everywhere people know who artists like van Gogh and Monet are. They spent their lives striving for great art and recognition so why not? I am not so opposed to recreating these works so that they are more accessible to everyone. They should be, absolutely! But my question is where are our generation's great works of art? Must we keep looking back to move forward?
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| van Gogh at Rodarte Spring/Summer 2012 collection |
I say this all the time not only with art but with fashion and movies now as well. In movies where everything in the theatres now seem to be prequels, sequels, or retelling of stories long before our time [some stories that have already been told through movies again]. In fashion where we are looking more and more like our old selves or decades before us wearing thick-rimmed glasses, suspenders, a wide arrange of neon colors reminiscent of the '90s, and dresses our mothers once wore but with a slight twist to make them ours. Are our minds so lacking in originality or was our history in these fields so good that it was only a matter of time before they repeated themselves, 2.0?
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| van Gogh at Rodarte Spring/Summer 2012 collection |
Whether or not I agree or disagree with the way we have taken these famous pieces of art and manipulated them into our every day is still up for debate in my mind. Looking at a poster of Starry Night in my home reminds me of where my heart will forever be rooted, and who knows, somewhere out there could be the next kid to find van Gogh, Monet or Picasso on a coffee mug and find the wonder of that image and search deeper to find out who made it as I once did. I cannot deny any sort of medium we put art into because inspiration can come from anything or anywhere and I would never take that away from anyone. All I can say is this, behind that mug you drink your morning coffee in, the bag that totes your groceries, or the keychain that holds the keys to your home, remember that the image that is embossed on those things was once and forever will be a part of art's greatest history and to never take it for granted. I do commend the people that have made these artists relevant again and a point of conversation in the fashion world. I just hope that with talks of construction of the garment and the way it lays on the body that they also remember and give credit to the amazing color, design, and true original creativity Vincent van Gogh, Pablo Picasso, and Claude Monet had to create these one of a kind couture works of art.
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