Tuesday, August 19, 2008

the New York Times Style Magazine



So appropriate to the moment we live in, the Surreal movement created a daunting body of work to admire, and emulate.  While Elsa Sciaparelli and Salvador Dali were collaborating on torn images on fabric, and Man Ray was building a catalogue of images to die for, other designers in fashion were sticking to same old same old.  The avante-garde has always hacked their way through the rainforests of bourgeois imagery, to forge ahead and deliver us into an art moment redolent with exotic orchids.......or bugs.  Or blood and guts, or giant eyes, or melting clocks.  The idea of surreal permeates every level of artistic creativity (except for that of the young lady recently dropped from the roster on Project Runway), and has helped many a lost student find their direction, and voice, under the guise of "different".  We live in an era of surreal moments, from the 9/11 horrific nightmare, to the daily bombing of villages throughout the world.  All these moments must be viewed by a careful eye, not allowing the harsh reality to invade every pore, but rather, regarded through a mask of perceptive control.  One side of the face protected, we offer this blatant mask/cloche for contemporary societal participation.  We see, and yet, we do not.

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