CHRISTOPHER WOOL at the GUGGENHEIM

I'm excited to share my newest DIY, inspired by the Christopher Wool retrospective at the Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum in New York City.

Wool (b. 1955) is an American artist, known by me for his large text-based canvases, such as the ones shown here.  Using commercial materials, such as black enamel, rollers, and stencils, Wool creates paintings that feature words as their subject, drawing to mind the shapes and contrasts that words create on a white page.

The New York-based artist studied painting at the New York Studio School, and subsequently studied film at NYU, before dedicating his career to painting.  I was surprised to find beautiful suites of black and white photographs as a part of the retrospective, depicting lonely scenes of city life. These works were surprisingly relatable to Wool's large canvases, equally monochrome and devoid of human interaction.

Making this dress was an enlightening experience, providing me a glimpse into the process behind Wool's much more involved canvases.  First, I chose a plain black dress from my closet (worn here), and found some commercial stencils at an art supply store.  Using acrylic paint, I painted the words from Wool's Untitled work, "THE SHOW IS OVER THE AUDIENCE GET UP TO LEAVE THEIR SEATS TIME TO COLLECT THEIR COATS AND GO HOME THEY TURN AROUND NO MORE COATS AND NO MORE HOME." The quote is from Greil Marcus' Lipstick Traces, and is a poignant example of Wool's theme of nihilism.

Seeing Wool's retrospective gave me a much greater appreciation of his work, helping to establish a broader context of themes and mediums, and viewing the full timeline of his practice.  The exhibition closes on January 22nd.

Dress: DIY (originally from H&M)

Tights: Topshop

Boots: Ash

Sweater: Velvet

Photos by Hannah Kauffman.

ART TO WEAR: Rhombus.

Shannon Finley, Rhombus (White Light), 2013

I finally captured the Miista Siri pumps, which have been on my wish list for quite a while.  They are, essentially, a classic black pump, but with an unexpected twist -- a clear lucite geometric heel.  I couldn't help but note the affinity the shoes held with this acrylic work by Shannon Finley, a Canadian artist based in Berlin.  Finley is represented by the Jessica Silverman Gallery in San Francisco.

Finley image via Artsy, my shoes photographed by Lauren Ricciardi.

INSPIRATION: The Modern Woman.

I love this so much; all I want to do is wear an Op Art coat and stand near a Helen Frankenthaler painting.

From The New York Times' The Lively Morgue:

June 26, 1963: Reviving the American Indian art of painting on furs, the Fifth Avenue fur designer Jacques Kaplancommissioned five American artists to paint on his collection to be worn by “the modern woman.” Within two hours, the first coat — painted by Anuszkiewcz, with a geometric arrangement of black dots on white calfskin — was sold to Mrs. Harcourt Amory. Each design came as a complete surprise to Mr. Kaplan, as he allowed the artists “absolute freedom to do whatever they wanted.”

Photo: Mayer Liebowitz, The New York Times 

ROBERT LONGO

Robert Longo's drawings have been occupying my inspiration folder for some time. Recently, Lycra asked me to try out a new pair of jeans by wearing them during my most rigorous everyday activities to see how well they hold their stretch.  I immediately thought to the emotive, expressive drawings of Longo, and realized that emulating them would be the perfect way to test out the jeans.

Longo (b. 1953) is an American painter and sculptor, most known for his "Men in the Cities" drawings, pictured here.

To make the works, Longo started with photographs, which he projected onto paper.  From there, he traced the outline of the image (subtracting any background details), and continued to fill in the figure.  Each drawing took up to a week to complete.

There is a distinctive sculptural quality to these works, which play on themes of authority, emotion, and isolation.

Longo has also been involved in the direction of music videos and films, and acted as head guitarist for an experimental band in the 1970's.

For my rendition of Longo's photographs, I opted for a high-contrast look against solid wall.  I had a lot of fun taking these photos, and I must say -- throughout all the frames, and for the rest of the day, I was seriously impressed with the way the jeans kept their shape.

I'm wearing a Cynthia Rowley sweater, vintage blouse, J. Crew scarf, Regal boots courtesy of Cougar Shoes, and DL1961 Emma jeans courtesy of Invista's Lycra.

Thank you to Invista's Lycra for sponsoring this post, and for Cougar's support as well!
[Longo images from robertlongo.com, tensongsthatsavedyourlife.com, and wellthreaded.com.]

WHITE OUT

One of the best things about snow is that it makes a busy landscape (or backyard, in this case) look stark and uniform. Figures are like swift brushstrokes on a white ground--exactly like the abstract paintings of Franz Kline.

Kline was an Abstract Expressionist active in the New York school during the 1940s and '50s. Alongside artists such as Jackson Pollock, Willem deKooning, and Mark Rothko, Kline was a proponent of the action painting movement.

His mature works are bold graphic compositions in black and white, which have been compared to Japanese calligraphy (an influence Kline denied).

Although his works appear to be visceral and quickly realized, he usually created numerous compositional studies leading up to a large canvas.

To him, the positive and negative space were equally important, and some of his works are actually white paint on a black ground.

Kline was famously impetuous (like many of the AbEx artists), and his life, in many ways, mirrored the ferocity of his large canvases.

I took advantage of the all-white background and struck some Kline-esque poses in the snow, which my Aunt captured from the (relative) warmth of the back doorway.

I wore a Tibi coat, Uniqlo jeans, NY & Co. sweater, vintage fur hat, and Sorel "Joan of Arctic" snow boots. Thank goodness for the boots, as the snow nearly reached the top of them!

[Kline images from beatmuseum.org, artic.edu, oceansbridge.com, and beatmuseum.org, respectively.]