One of my favourite bands Wavves are soon to be releasing a comic side project called Negative Dad, complete with accompanying audio cassette. Nathan Williams, Wavves front man, and his friend Matt Barajas wrote Negative dad and have had it illustrated by the masterful Nicholas Gazin. Well excited.
TRACEY EMIN; LOVE IS WHAT YOU WANT; HAYWARD GALLERY, JUL 2011
I finally had the opportunity to attend Tracey Emin’s retrospective at the Hayward. It was amazing, the quilts double hung at the entrance were a great starting point to the exhibition. The quilts were so much bigger than I had imagined and it was really quite overwhelming seeing the sheer size of them exploding with so much of one person, the emotion is so apparent; you can feel the joy, you can feel the hurt.
As I made my way across all three floors of the gallery, I felt like I was snooping around in someone’s bedroom. Everything is so personal and, seemingly, unedited that is feels refreshing to be exposed to these honest emotions that are usually so desperately being supressed.
I particularily like the way Emin draws, it appears effortless but does not at all look lazy, to me she speaks and creates the truth just without the pretense and comradery that others fumble with. Another personal favourite was the neon signs, which didn’t look seedy or sexual, but quite the opposite. I thought of the the brain being lit up by thoughts and feelings before they are spoken, I felt like I was walking through a human subconscience.
Alot of people said they found the exhibition funny, i’m not quite sure if thats the word i’d use to describe it. There is clearly humour in Emins work, but I think equally there is alot of pain, elation, regret, emptiness, inebriation, innocence, bitterness and finally humility.
Still I was sad not to see My Bed, but Charles Saatchi declined to submit it as he will be exhibiting it himself in the near future.
Bouchra Jarrar
Born in Cannes to Moroccan parents, Jarrar new from a young age she wanted a career in designing. In 1996 Jarrar was appointed as Balmain’s Director of Studio, a post that she held until 2006 when she took up a job working alongside Christian Lacroix. When the brand went bankrupt not long later, Jarrar decided that it was time go it alone and launch her own fashion house.
This collection feels classic and conservative -despite the angular and unconvential cuts and drapery. I think it has a regal, dèbutante aethetic and looks like something The Queen might wear if she had to wear a uniform. However I like it’s overall simplicity, it is clean-cut and the colours are gender-neutral. I feel like this collection could be worn by Miranda from Sex & the City, or maybe a toilet attendant in Selfridges.
Jill Sander
Opening her first Hamburg store in 1967 aged just 24, her designs really came into their own with the rise of ’90s minimalism. With Belgian designer Raf Simons now at the helm, the label continues to display the same androgynous, clean-lined aesthetic that made it famous.
This collection makes me think of the Beatnik generation - cashmere and tweed to keep those crazy kids warm on those coastal joyrides. The block colours and over-proportioning a key element to the youthful and adrogynous sentiment the subculture offered to 1950’s teenagers; liberated at last from the censorship of their parents and their own bodies.
Givenchy
Founded in 1952 by designer Hubert de Givenchy, the House of Givenchy was largely a very classic and ‘ladylike’ establishment, with clientele such as Audrey Hepburn and the Kennedy family, until the reigns were passed on to Riccardo Tisci in 2005 who developed the brands bittersweet austerity.
I like Givenchy, I like the sharp tailoring and the stark contrast between neutral and neon, woven into the conflicting heavy drapery and exposing sheer fabric. The theatrical presence actually overwhelms the natural and understated beauty of the collection. To me the pieces tell a story; I feel as though I am looking at something delicate and innocent, but behind this fragility lies wisdom and experience. Like those horror films where the sweet little kids are actually evil little shits.
