“Punctured Perspectives” by Kirstie Macleod: A Fine Point on Embroidery!

Sometimes, intention and outcome do not marry… and yet, opposites attract… so they often court for a time.

Such was my experience, as I, inadvertently, paid a visit to Rook and Raven Gallery, the day after a much-anticipated Private View of ‘Punctured Perspectives’, the first U.K solo show by British Artist, Kirstie Macleod.

Reaching my destination with an hour to spare, I absorbed the environs surrounding its Rathbone Place location, meandering through Stephen and Charlotte Streets, winding my way, bobbin-like, around Tottenham Court Road and Oxford Street… visiting bookshops and renewing my familiar vista of this global capital city, with replenished hidden gems of the ‘boutique’ descriptions, from hotels, to high-fashion!

Finding it all-too-easy to get happily lost in newfound objets d’intérêts, I retraced my route to the gallery. Now, past time for the event to begin, an event filled with the promise of multi-disciplinary artistry, I stood quietly, in wonderment at the stillness. With fewer guests than I had expected…in fact, just yours truly… the perfectly-timed arrival of the ever-accommodating Rook and Raven gallerista, to open the door, cheered my heart!

“Excuse me? Has the P.V been cancelled?”

The kindly face gently answered, “The P.V was yesterday…but you’re more than welcome to come in and have a look around!”

I cannot tell you the exact entirety of my emotional excursion, however, I’d compare the spike from crestfallen to elation, to the milliseconds it takes Lewis Hamilton to reach the corner first, at the start of a high-octane F1 race!

I can tell you the sheer bliss of being the only visitor within a space, itself, adorned with mixed-media and textile art of the most gently arresting order. Peppered, at intervals, with lively exchanges as to the dynamism and richness of Kirstie Macleod’s wide-ranging works, I marvelled at the ambition wrapped within deceptively simple formats and materials. I am drawn to the keenly-observed flight formations expressed in matt black thread upon cotton. Displayed one after the other, they hypnotically echo in the mind, as the titles ‘Murmur I’ and ‘Murmur II’, suggest. Juxtaposed in both position and hue, is ‘Lacuna’. A contemporary celebration of colour, the vibrancy is emboldened by a succession of acute, embroidered angles which cut like the Shard against a cumulo nimbus sky. Move, if you will, to ‘Mu’, 132 x 162 cm of glossy red, tonically reading as MAC’s ‘Ruby Woo’ with lashings of clear ‘Lipglass’ hovering atop… The drilled holes only adding a glorious imperfection, similar to the gentle fade of lipstain, over a giddy evening of fine dining! The textural exploration continues into ‘Flow’, where stark matt white creates a backdrop upon which the drilled finish portrays a prickly-heat, insistent energy.

The momentum is topped and stopped by ‘Barocco’*.

It is the unique centrepiece of the collection….

A highly-decorated gown of deepest red, which is exhibited within a perspex cube….

…the embellishment, of which, has been hand-embroidered by 50 global contributors, thus far! With each artisan comes a stunning narrative of idiosyncratic stitches, symbolism and distinct prismatic combinations, to mesmerise the onlooker. It is a gown of concentrated cultural conversations, which has taken extreme concentration to express and just as Kirstie’s performance of sewing the dress, whilst she wears it, you almost find yourself dancing around the cube in order to trace the path of these most intricately-layered patterns! Being a 10 year-project, due to end in 2019, the final embellished design of the dress is yet unknown, however the aim is that, resultant of the extent of needlework, the soft fabric will eventually become a robust sculptural piece, strong enough to stand, unsupported.

Although tonight will see the finale presentation of ‘Barocco’, before the piece travels to its next destination, due to popular demand, the entire exposition has been extended and this stunning acclamation of embroidery can be seen at the Rook and Raven Gallery until April 11th 2015. As with the best design motifs, I wholeheartedly encourage repeat visits, but be prepared to want to move and to be moved…because this ‘rough or imperfect pearl’ is a diamond of a ‘stand-alone’ exhibition!

***

The unmissable ‘Punctured Perspectives’ by Kirstie Macleod is on until 11/ 04/ 2015 at Rook and Raven Gallery, 7 Rathbone Place, London W1T 1HN!

Gallery Opening Hours: Tuesday ~ Friday: 11 a.m > 6.30 p.m; Saturday: 11 a.m > 6 p.m; Sunday: Closed; Monday: By Appointment Only

* Barocco: Ancient Portuguese for ‘rough of imperfect pearl’…

~

©AFROW2015-2019 ALL RIGHTS RESERVED

 

‘AN EAST-END LOVE AFFAIR’….

So, yours truly has returned from swooping and dipping upon the mighty back of a modern-art and musical mistral! Just as this meteorological thermal is quickly-accompanied by clear and fresh weather, so too, has my mental after-party been partnered by crystallised, cognitive art-assimilation!

Utterly wooed have I been, by the dapper-gent of East London’s multi-disciplinary art-scene..and I have fallen for every magnificent manifestation, in both conscious and subconscious realms. Frankly, the area oozes creativity…. From urban to fine-art, street-style to avant-garde gear, old-skool to nu-skool, game-changing musical-movements, the E.C’s got it covered!

Invitational rose petals had already been fluttering my way, from ‘The Shoreditch Fashion Show’… as described in my subsequent post ‘The Arts go OFF-the-BEAT-en Track’… However, the tokens of affection have continued to adorn my artistic pathways in the guise of such events as ‘The Other Art Fair’*, which was another world, the adjoining ‘Moniker Art Fair’ which was brain-crunchingly breath-taking.. and a one-off video-launch of the effortlessly vibrant ‘Alpha Romeo’, from one of electro-pop’s finest purveyors, M.T!

We begin the beguine, under the industrial roof of ‘The Old Truman Brewery’, where I was one amongst an intense, rush-hour-sequence of excited visitors, weaving their way along corridors, bearing the brilliance of a superlative spectrum of talent, expressed through exhibits of painstaking-perseverance and time-honoured, yet idiosyncratic, technique.

Like a theramin, my heart-strings were plucked by the invisible fingers of visual-art, as a domino of pieces from emerging and established portfolios, brimful of imagery, alike, fell into the open arms of my anticipation. The beauty of these East-London flora had me fluttering from genus-to-genus of urban, photographic, live, printed, filmic, painted, embroidered, collaged, stencilled and oh-so-fine art media! In fact, at every turn, so high a standard of work was on display, that I wondered just how the respective gallerists had chosen which of their artists to showcase. ‘Was this how it felt to choose a favourite amongst a brood of children?’ I wondered! Well, the joy for me, was that I didn’t have to select… I simply succumbed to this ever-more enticing visual fayre, in all of its beauteous glory and let my internal, creative-chorale decipher its own descant of mounted offerings!

Thus, the coloratura of crystallised global-landscapes of Jaykoe, gave way to semi-quavers of surreal photographic re-interpretations of water by Angelika Spranger, in turn, complemented by M.J. Forster’s sotto voce, watercolour wonder-world, followed by the crescendo of Matt Small’s multi-layered car-bonnet creations, Keira Rathbone’s staccato, type-writer-work, the ralentando of 3-D relief, by the outstanding Jo Peel, the harmonies of acute attention-to-detail, wielded by Mark Powell’s pen-art and a collaborative coda of riffs-on-black-and-white, as manifested by Zeus and T.L.P, in their transplantations of outdoor urban-landscapes to indoor art-scapes! A relentless downbeat of hip-hop sonically-booming through the space, often caused my senses to intensely focus-pull upon each moment and, as the days progressed, the revelation dawned that, in fact, each moment was a happening, waiting to unravel… It took a second visit, on a comparatively calm Sunday afternoon, for my own voice to add its bespoke grace-notes, the result of which, are wrapped within this written solo.

Gifts from East-London did not come in the shape of objets d’arts, alone! Oh no! Indeed, my promenade was to continue along the Ridley Road market, to a video-premiere party at a delightfully quirky Carmen-Miranda-esque establishment, by the name of ‘Wu’s’. At personal invitation of synth-pop supremos, ‘M.T’ (which stands for ‘Many Things’), and in defiance of the imminent arrival of Hurricane Jude, I accepted… Well, after all, it would have been Wu’d not to!!

At first glance, what with all of the stalls neatly-housed for the night, you would have been forgiven for wondering whether you had taken an errant turning but I had faith in my East-London chaperone and my faith was duly rewarded with an evening of all-consuming fun, in an intimate atmosphere of warmth and hearty welcomes, more akin to a close-knit family gathering than that of an inaugural video-preview of a critically-acclaimed musical outfit! From the outset, Michael, the lead singer, was the perfect host…A willowy figure, with shoulder-length, chestnut-brown hair and deep pools of super-friendly, yet intense, eyes, he cut a dash in a three-quarter camel mac, opened just enough, to reveal a loose, black, scoop-necked jumpsuit, with its long sleeves hinting at the overcoat’s cuffs. Affectionately-known to his friends as the ‘white, fluffy, cloud’ because of his love of wearing white on-stage, it was evident that his quiet humility had long-inspired many of whom made up the guests that night. As the venue became increasingly filled, I sensed that the overriding energy revolving around the room was of friendship, support and love. The video, was joyfully reflective of just such emotion, evolving from band close-ups, to an all-out party-scene, featuring many of the people in the amassed crowd.  As I left, amidst a flurry of hugs, I remember feeling as if I had been some long-lost member of the family, at a celebratory reunion!

I walked into a waiting evening of sullen storm-clouds, apt for precipitation, M.T’s ‘Alpha Romeo’ the more-than-welcome sonic invasion into my soul’s soundtrack and a heartfelt acknowledgment that, whilst the whirlwind-of-wooing was over, this was no fly-by-night notion of affection. On the contrary, yours truly had been veritably won-over by my dapper-gent that is East London and marks the renaissance of a relationship, the kind of which, I am certain, will last forever.

© AFROW2013-2019 ALL RIGHTS RESERVED

www.monikerartfair.com : www.theotherartfair.com : www.pagetpr.com : www.mtmanythings.com

: www.facebook.com/ridleyroad (Wu’s)

*Heartfelt thanks to Paget PR for organising my invite to the amazing event!

 

MFW: I’M READY-TO-WEAR ‘ERMANNO SCERVINO’!

Picture it…

…Backstage, models sit calmly, hair being tailcomb-teased, face being made exquisitely, Terry Barber-ready, whilst front-of-house, conversations clatter like talking-typewriters! Suddenly, a cry of ‘EHH-OHH!‘, loosely-translated as ‘SILENCE!‘, splits the air into pin-drop reverence…

 Now, imagine a host of supermodels, amongst them Alek Wek and Karolina Kurkova, leading a runway of risng-stars, with the aplomb of their 90’s predecessors and you’ll understand the significance of the Scervino brand. If you even dared to blink, you would have missed an almost endless-string of timeless looks, worthy of their own reference encyclopaedia! Whilst we had seen the ‘Pastel/ Metallic/ Midi-Maxi Length/ Column-Hourglass/ Embellishment’ stories, favoured in the vestments of fellow MFW designers, Scervino interpretations seemed to renew them.

For example, skirts took on ice-skater-like proportions, pleats were more than couture-concertinas, reframed as flitting-gaudets… and embellishments, whilst beaded and embroidered, were off-set in position and oriental in theme. Metallics were not simply silver, but gunmetal and gave a more experimental edge when used in conjunction with the traditional silhouettes. Yes, lemon, taupe, mint, black and white all featured, however, peacock added strength to blues and something in the way that peach was colour-blocked, gave it the power of a full-on-primary. Fabrics perused PVC, took a departure into denim, suede injected a new joie-de-vivre to the vestments and silk-taffetta was accompanied by satin-trim, which was a signpost, not only  to the superb eye-for-detail on display, but also an attention-to-distinctive-detail.

It is with this in mind, that I take you on a whistle-stop tour of the most unique moments.

PVC won my ‘Return-of-the-mac’ prize for being a funky piece of outerwear, printed in lemon-hued houndstooth! The award for ‘Best Use of Embellishment’ was a split decision between a taupe, tailored-jacket with cluster-beading, set on the inner-edge of the tuxedo-collar (which, incidentally, did win ‘Best Placement of Embellishment’), and a stunning gun-metal-coloured sweater, with a silver-bead-encrusted accent around the crew-neck.

The ‘Prize-for-Prettiest-Pleating’ had to go to an amazing, chalk-white, column-dress, gathered from shoulder-to-waistline, with its pleating gathering pace to the hem…all cunningly-accompanied by a thigh-high split, for epic Grecian glamour! Coming in a close second, was a black, hour-glass gown with crystal-embellished gaudets at the tail.

‘Best Floral Motif’ was shared (I know, I know, there should only be one winner..but, my made-up competition, my rules!)…. The two stand-out creations were an oriental spray-of-orchids, perfectly-placed upon a strapless peach dress, in a diagonal formation, from empire-to-hemline and a peacock-blue, fitted, scoop-necked, mini-dress, with florals, off-set, on either side of the bodice, spilling into the skirt. ‘Best New Silhouette’ was a shoe-in, for a black, lace, nehru-collared cape with asymetric-opening and credit for ‘Best New Fabric’ could only go to……DENIM!!! The ink-blue offerings of v-necked crop-top, short-pant and denim-lined, white jacket were utterly irresistible!

We’re nearly there now, so, drum-roll please… because it’s time for ‘Best-In-Fashion-Show’…….which was…wait for it……the glorious  Jackie-O-inspired, midi-length, silk dress and collarless-overcoat ensemble, both in that lightning white, effortlessly worn by the magnificent Alek Wek!!!! Congratulations!!!

So, there you have it, fashion-friends….A  whirlwind tour of a tour-de-force collection, which gave us a collation of attire, reprising the traditional with a directional twist.

It’s safe to say that I absolutely adored what I saw…and if you want to reconnect with looks of vintage-modernity, then the designs of Ermanno Scervino are a great place to start!

©AFROW2013-2019 ALL RIGHTS RESERVED