Conserved

Artworks Matthew Monahan

Humans, machines and domesticated objects. Armless, bodyless, dysfunctional. I stumbled upon the work of Matthew Monahan in a little antique book shop in Amsterdam. And it well deserves to be recognized.
/HORST

Beauty, Recycled

1. Comme des Garçons Fall/Winter 2000
2. Daniel Jackson A Scanner Darkly, Dazed & Confused 2012
3. Junya Watanabe Fall/Winter 2009

The displaced lip as mentioned in a previous chapter is further continued with the flattened face. Reducing the physiognomy to strong black lines and holohedral white surfaces. Make-up as Japanese xylography.
/HORST

Peut-être, Feu d'être

or Solarizations 2012














Underwear The White Briefs

In analogy to the wordplays of Man Ray, the maybe of 'peut-être' also implicates 'peu d'être' (a little bit of being) and is further concluded in 'feu d'être' which refers to the bare torso (the little bit of being) transformed into a sunburned version of David, marked by the 'fire of life', the countryside sun.
/HORST

Courtesy of Bungalow Gallery

A Short History Of Lips In Popular Culture

1. Man Ray Le Baiser, 1930
2. Comme des Garçons Fall/Winter 2004
3. Comme des Garçons Spring/Summer 2006
4. Man Ray A l’heure de l’observatoire – Les Amoureux, 1934
5. Comme des Garçons Fall/Winter 2009

A surreal kiss between Man Ray and Rei Kawakubo that has never been. Paired and displaced, multiplied and supersized. For Man Ray, the 'nakedness of two faces' was a socially tolerated form of sexual portraiture and therefore being chosen. Rei Kawakubo says: ‘If you are to put color on the face, it need not to be on the lips. It can be anywhere’. While Man Ray tends towards sensuality, Rei Kawakubo prefers destroyed feminity as an anti-position and de-sexualisation. And lips don't lie.
/HORST

Irruption

Ungaro Fall/Winter 2006

What happened at Ungaro in 2006? A foreshadowing of Raf Simons' all-leather Gestapo army for Jil Sander? Plus the Lanvin-specific neck scarf and an exquisit casting? I sense an Ann vibe, too.
/HORST