Peter Fischli and David Weiss

The duo Fischli and Weiss are known for their use of everyday commonplace objects and transforming them in comical and bemusing ways with a childlike sense of curiousness and discovery. For 30 years the Swiss artists have worked in a variety of media including film, sculpture, photography and book writing. Their most popular piece of work 'The way things go' (1987) is a 30 minute 16mm film that depicts a seemingly endless chain reaction of everyday objects that is mesmerising and baffling at the same time. This film, unlike other works of film art, became available to buy on VHS and DVD in bookshops and video stores and has even been used as inspiration for the 2003 Honda Accord. There are also numerous Youtube videos where people have tried to make their own tabletop versions of the film. Born in 1946 and 1952 in Zurich it is obvious that their use of everyday objects and satire is influenced by Dada, which began in Zurich in 1916. 

The film I am most interested in is the collaborative works titled 'The point of least resistance' (1981) and 'The right way' (1983), which features the artists dressed in animal costumes as a rat and a panda bear. Although I cannot find the full film for either of these 30 minute films, the comical way that the artists convey profound and serious topics such as death, murder and morality comes across in the short clips I have found. 

The way things go

The point of least resistance

Their work is consistently amateur yet the reason they are so widely appreciated in the art world is because 'In their cosmically bumbling art they articulate something human and universal'. (German writer and curator Robert Fleck in a monograph for the 2016 Guggenheim restrospective). I think what I appreaciate and relate to in their work is this amateurism - I like that they do not have be careerist in order to be successful and that they have kept a sense of silliness throughout their work. "Fischli and Weiss do not try to create art that reflects the expectations and ideas of the masses. It is the examination of the non-ambitious amateur aesthetic that is the important theme in their works' (Fleck). They are making work for themselves, to explore how hard they can work, instead of worrying about how their work will appeal to the wider public. In many ways the amateurism of their work could be seen as their work being failures to advance into the mainstream art world, yet I do not think their work would be as powerful and as wonderful now had it been popular to the masses at the time. 'How to work better' is based on a mantra that the artists found in a Thai factory that they have transformed into mural, showing their dedication to hard work. 



How to work Better, Fischli and Weiss, 2016

Their other works include the 'Sausage series'; a series of 10 photographs in 1979, featuring sausages and condiments arranged in various scenarios including a fashion show. The artists have the power to transform mundane and banal everyday items and situations into seriously silly works of art that are both reflective on the world and comical. Fischli actually describes the duos work as being 'never afraid of the stupid joke, the joke that’s so bad it’s embarrassing'. Humour is used widely throughout art to comment on everything from the banal realities of everyday life to the corrupt forces of the government, and is a powerful tool that I try to recreate in my own work. What I hope that my work brings is the sense of intrigue and wonderment that Fischli and Weiss's work brings. 




I have been thinking for a while about the documentation of my work and how I can present it in other ways. I have also been thinking for a while about my work in a gallery context, but have the performer or the audience looking at an exhibition whilst wearing my costumes. I picture their heads covered so they cant actually see the work, so the notion of looking at art becomes pointless, and my work becomes the main focal point. After watching 'the point of least resistance', I have begun planning a short sketch or film where two people are performing wearing two of my pieces, in a gallery environment. One of them is attempting to rob a piece of artwork from the gallery, when the other one (a policeman or obvious figure of authority, even though they are wearing one of my pieces), attempts to stop them. I want the film to have the amateur feel that the Fischli and Weiss films have, which will be easy to achieve as I have never made a planned film before. I hope to use the East Gallery, as it is a part of NUA, and it will be easy to transport my pieces over there from uni. 

PET SHOP BOYS

Still from music video 'Can You Forgive Her?' 1993

Having only ever really listened to the Pet Shop Boys I was unaware of their visual presence and the costumes that allow them to go from being Neil Tennant and Chris Lowe to being the Pet Shop Boys. 'We've always dressed up to become the Pet Shop Boys' (Neil Tennant, Fashion + Music, 2016, pg44).

A pioneer of the Pet Shop Boys aesthetic, Es Devlin is a designer in the worlds opera, dance, theatre and public events. Devlin is behind the duos costumes (along with Jeffery Bryant) as well as theatrics on stage, culminating in the massive closing ceremony for the London 2012 Olympics. The bands music is all about profound abstraction away from humanity, which is echoed in their costumes which include coned, boxed and minotaur heads. Devlin describes the duo as 'asexual beings' that allow her to design them 'as if they were works of art' (Fashion + Music, 2016, pg.55)

The closing ceremony of the Olympics featured the Pet Shops Boys standing riding on the back of abstracted tricycles driven by men wearing suits and large bright orange sculptural helmets. For the ceremony, Devlin suggested that avant-garde designer Gareth Pugh recreate his costumes for the Royal Opera House's 2011 ballet 'Carbon Life' (pictures below). His original designs were similarly sculptural but dark in colour. The dancers in the ballet had pointed ballet shoes and a mask that covered there entire face making them look mysterious and menacing. For the closing ceremony, the same mask has been used only this time is is bright orange and matches the tricycles which keeps the 'alien' feel of the masks but also makes them more playful. Obviously the wearer of the mask has vision - albeit restricted vision - but as far as the audience is aware they have next to none. I like the idea that the audience believes that the performer cannot see a thing as it makes the costumes seem more surreal and otherwordly. 

Devlin has also worked with Kanye West on his stage shows and says that whilst she has 'no direct influence over West's clothes .. the star and his environment are always understood as one giant moving visual sculpture in which an assumed identity must be channeled from all sides.' (fashion + Music, 2016, pg. 53) This got me thinking about art work and costume in the context of festivals. Are festivals and their audience one big visual sculpture? One cannot exist without the other yet one is a reflection of the other; they are assumed as one. 

Fashion designer Jeffery Bryant has worked with artists such as Goldfrapp and Lady Gaga as well as the Pet Shop Boys. After studying in south wales as an mechanical engineer, Bryant was inspired by the DIY aspect of 70s punk fashion, and wanted to make his own wool cut punk trousers but was allegic to wool. Instead, he used his own PJ bottoms to line the wool so he could wear them, showing his early reworking and repurposing of materials. After this he began making clothes for himself as well as his friends in the new romantic club scene where everything was theatrical. As for the Pet Shop Boys, Bryants most famous piece is the straw jacket (2013) - a coat constructed of thousands of black shiny drinking straws that shoot out from the body to create an aggressive visual impact. Another is the disco-ball helmet, that Bryant describes as the 'the random jigsaw of absurdity'.

The Straw Jacket

The disco-ball helmet

More than anything else, I like the visual absurdity of the Pet Shop Boys costumes and the fact that they are both daft and profound. Their costumes play around with the abstraction of the senses, allowing the audience to think that they cannot see anything which adds to the surreal nature of the costumes.

Kansai Yamamoto

Responsible for so many of David Bowie's most iconic outfits including the construction of arguably his most famous persona Ziggy Stardust, fashion designer Yamamoto's work is innovative, dynamic and extravagant. Yamamoto was the first Japanese fashion designer to show in London in the early 1970s, in an explosive show that is categorised as an industry game-changer as it incorporated not just fashion, but theatre, atmosphere and performance. Early pop star David Bowie was in the audience at this show, and it was this meeting that helped Bowie realise his visions and help him to become the immortal gender-bending, status quo challenging legend he is today. The most famous collaborations between the pair were the 'Tokyo Pop' PVC kabuki bodysuit and the knitted body stocking that Bowie wore underneath it during concert on his Aladdin Sane tour.

Harper & Queen magazine dedicated a 6 page spread to Yamamoto's show:

'The room is almost pitch black, lit by a few spotlights; it's very crowded, very hot and very late. Suddenly, at 11.23pm precisely, the house lights go down and a tremendous discord of wild, upbeat Japanese music heralds the start of the Show of the Year. A spectacular coup de theatre - Kansai's models came on moving. They leapt, ran, whirled like dervishes, danced, flung out their arms so that the brilliant clothes meshed and merged into a kaleidoscopic cartoon of colour ... But his true originality lies deeper - Kansai is not so much a designer of clothes but an architect, with clothes built around the body in layers, wrapped round, looped and tied, and put on like a suit of armour.' (Fashion + Music, 2016)

Not knowing anyone on first arrival in western cities, Yamamoto wore his own creations, becoming a walking canvas for his art. It was when people stopped and asked him about what he was wearing that allowed him to make friendships and connections. Inspired less by the Japanese philosophy of Wabi-Sabi (beauty in imperfections and mistakes) and more by the rainbow colours of 15th and 16th century Samurai warriors, as well as the ideas of Kabuku which literally means to lean, slant or deviate, and Basara which means to dress freely. Yamamoto's work is bold, graphic, bright and almost comical. His work crosses the borders between fashion, art, performance, music, theatre and identity.

His work is sculptural, working in layers to almost envelop the body in fabric, using bright colours and patterns and faces. It is the oversized and exaggerated forms of his clothes that bring a comical element to them. Actually, I am not sure if they are comical, or whether they are just theatrical because they are shown in the serious context that is the world of fashion. He uses line and colour to exaggerate different areas of the body, working from the body as a base to create outfits that are still able to functional but movement is clearly inhibited slightly. The work that I enjoy most is his work that covers most of the body so that only the head is showing. Leaving the head exposed allows the audience to see that although these outfits are quite extreme and alien in some respects, they are still clothes that have to be worn and I also enjoy the use of large faces on his clothes. I am not sure what it is about having faces on the body but it adds a level of surrealism to the clothes that makes them out of the ordinary.


https://www.vam.ac.uk/articles/fashion-in-motion-kansai-yamamoto

 

Yamamoto exaggerates aspects of the body using line and colour to create outfits that are still able to functional but movement is clearly inhibited slightly. What I enjoy most about his work is the that it is oversized and covers most of the body. I also enjoy the use of large faces on his clothes. I am not sure what it is about having faces on the body but it adds a level of surrealism to the clothes that makes them out of the ordinary.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rqgaL_BInXg

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UbwKOL4_i3Y

almost like a poncho?

Above and Below: Models from Yamamoto's 1971 show that was game-changing

Fashion + Music - Katie Baron

My notes from the book Fashion and Music, Fashion creatives shaping pop culture.

B. Akerlund in a shoot for the Swedish eyewear designer Anna-Karin Karlsson (2015)

Judy Blame, Iggy Pop in a shoot for TIME OUT magazine (1996) - Tshirt made from plasters

Bryant models his own clothes that he wore to clubs

Neil Tennant from the Pet Shop Boys in Byrant's Straw Jacket

Cube headpieces worn for the Pet Shop Boys during their Pandemonium tour (1999)

Disco Ball Helmet - Pet Shop Boys

'Accessible sexuality' - Katy perry with Johnny Wujek

From the video 'E.T' by Katy Perry - it had the desire to celebrate weirdness

Kansai's show in London, 1971

'Tokyo pop' PVC jumpsuit

from Kansai's show 'Hello Istanbul!', 2014 - fashion and performance, ancient references with modern technology

ORLA KIELY at EAST GALLERY

I went into the exhibition under the impression that it was going to be more of Kiely's most famous stem print which is really not to my taste at all. However I was pleasantly surprised with the playfulness of the show. Drawing inspiration from her childhood in Ireland during the 60s and 70s it is clear that her childlike playfulness and curiosity has not left her creative process in the works in this exhibition. The larger than life-sized 'create your own dress up doll' was by far the most entertaining aspect as you could spin the wooden blocks to change the painted dolls outfit from the original design to create multiple new designs from the same few elements. This reminded me so much of the pick and mix people game i used to have as a kid where you could swap the bodies, legs and heads of different animals and people. The other childlike element was that her giant oversized tunic dresses were also shown on tiny framed wooden dolls; going from one extreme size to another. The dolls were pretty much exactly the same in detail and pattern just on a miniature scale and it was interesting to see the development from something small-scale to large-scale. The large scale dresses were very simplistic in shape and were quite boxy which reminded me of my style of drawing when planning a piece. They were also so large that if they were worn on even a tall person they would have completely drowned them, making them unfunctional as clothing but able to work on a sculptural level. This also reminded me of my own work.