Katerina Jebb talks to Filep Motwary

Katerina Jebb, The Scissors of Balthus, 2012

Katerina Jebb’s way of documenting fashion, the body, garments and objects is a form of immortalizing diverse (or not) aesthetics and contexts as it goes beyond photography, releasing imagery from any notion of perspective. This painstaking digital scanning process re-contextualizes the gaze (our gaze) onto the historic or contemporary artefacts she encounters in such a precise manner that it feels almost like the work of an archivist. It has already been a year since her major retrospective, Deus exMachina at the Réattu Museum in the French city of Arles, which featured 111 works—the biggest monographic exhibition of her work in 20 years. Continue reading “Katerina Jebb talks to Filep Motwary”

Hans Ulrich Obrist talks to Kiriakos Spirou

Photography by Kasia Wosniak

If we were to make a list of all the professions in the world and write a name next to them, for “curator” we would probably choose the name of Hans Ulrich Obrist. Born in Zurich five decades ago, Hans Ulrich Obrist is perhaps the most recognisable curator of the contemporary art world both inside and outside of it; his open approach to curating across many disciplines since the 1990s has paved the way for new combinations between art and other fields of human expression and knowledge. At the same time, he constantly collaborates with artists to question and reinvent the way we understand and experience art to begin with. A dedicated facilitator and self-proclaimed “helper” of artists everywhere, Hans Ulrich Obrist is at home in the art world but never ceases to travel and explore, both mentally and geographically. He discussed with us his ideas about curating in different contexts, the urgency of curating in the 21st century, and just why everyone uses the #curated hashtag on social media these days. Continue reading “Hans Ulrich Obrist talks to Kiriakos Spirou”

“The Artist is Present”: Maurizio Cattelan curates Gucci’s forthcoming Exhibit in China

Gucci’s ingenious creative director, Alessandro Michele, and Italian artist, Maurizio Cattelan, cross paths in a dream which will be brought into existence on October 10, 2018. Their exhibition project will take place in Shanghai, the homeland to “the copy is the original” thought. Continue reading ““The Artist is Present”: Maurizio Cattelan curates Gucci’s forthcoming Exhibit in China”

Mats Gustafson talks to Filep Motwary

Mats Gustafson, Eric, 1991

Fashion illustrations, landscapes, erotic portraits, plants, floating swans; the broad sweep of his brush transfers the most exquisite garments, senses and emotions, memory and fragility to paper, suggesting an almost poetic arbitrariness. A solemn simplicity even!
Mats Gustafson boldly uses watercolour to express his personal thoughts, desires or virtues, but most of the time to reflect the work of others through his talent in illustrating fashion. Ever since his multi-chaptered creative journey started around 45 years ago, his majestic work has been featured in the glossiest of the glossies while being exhibited in museums since 1986, as well as in galleries and renowned publications. He is soon to present a series of unrevealed works in Tokyo’s MA2 Gallery. I call him at his wonderful apartment in Sweden where he only arrived the day before, straight from New York. Continue reading “Mats Gustafson talks to Filep Motwary”

Maria Hassabi talks to Kim Laidlaw

Photography by Bill Georgoussis

Cyprus-born, New York-based artist and choreographer Maria Hassabi creates performance pieces exhibited in a wide range of settings around the world—from the streets of Manhattan, to a sports hall at the Venice Biennale, to the Stedelijk Museum in Amsterdam. As bodies navigate these diverse spaces in what sometimes appears to be slow motion—often holding poses with unwavering poise—the spectator finds themself in a contemplative atmosphere, questioning the meaning of the precise movements Hassabi creates, and the paradox of stillness in movement. Here she tells Dapper Dan more about her process and her work. Continue reading “Maria Hassabi talks to Kim Laidlaw”

Ettore Guatelli Museum – Create Wonder from the Obvious

Photography by Luca Campri

There is such a thing as magnificent obsession, in which passion and endless work, free from the restrictions of time, can create incredible expressions that are unlike anything known.

The Museo Ettore Guatelli is a perfect expression of magnificent obsession. Just a few kilometres from Parma, in the heart of the Italian food valley, surrounded by a bucolic landscape, is the museum house of Ettore Guatelli, a rural teacher who built his encyclopedia on the walls of his farmhouse, spending years collecting all kinds of objects whose common value is the stories they tell of the lives of the people who used them. Guatelli collected tangible objects of social life in order to save a fast disappearing civilization from oblivion, at a point in the 20th century that saw interest in material culture spreading in Italy, to create an archive that is completely unlike any other folklore, rural or ethnographic museum. Continue reading “Ettore Guatelli Museum – Create Wonder from the Obvious”

Brent Wadden talks to Lisa Wilson

Untitled (2012) by Brent Wadden courtesy of Peres Projects

Brent Wadden is a Canadian artist who has been based in Berlin since 2005. His paintings and weavings range from colourful displays of symmetry to subtle monochrome motifs of repeating shapes. By applying tools and techniques from handicraft traditions to contemporary designs, he blurs the line between the traditional categories of fine and folk art. Lisa Wilson is a folklorist and self- taught painter currently working as a graveyard conservator in the ghost town of Port Royal, in Newfoundland. Continue reading “Brent Wadden talks to Lisa Wilson”

The Medium Is The Massage

The self-proclaimed “multimedia magazine in a box”, Aspen, lasted just 10 issues, released over seven years, from 1965 to 1971. It was founded by Phyllis Johnson, former editor of Women’s Wear Daily and Advertising Age, and although it was a niche publication at the time, it is now recognised as a seminal event in publishing, with a list of contributors that reads like a sale catalogue for Christie’s Post-War & Contemporary. The archetype of multimedia expression and experience that it established is played out today in the tactile sensuality of Visionaire, the arch exclusivity of Egoiste and the whimsical intellectualism of McSweeny’s. Continue reading “The Medium Is The Massage”

Helmut Lang talks to Filep Motwary

Dapper Dan has waited two long years for this conversation to take place. The visionary independent designer whose work most definitively embodies the 1990s, Helmut Lang was considered an artist long before he decided to become one. His work as a fashion designer is still relevant, though it’s been almost seven years since he left it to focus on sculpture instead. The designer who refined an era now intrigues us with a new spectrum. Continue reading “Helmut Lang talks to Filep Motwary”