Minoru Nomata

Minoru Nomata is a Japanese artist, he is known for his illustrations of fantastic architectures. Inspired by mythical and archaeological relics to construct these structures, the artist reduces the grandeur of the monuments by using pastel colors, light faded textures and subdued backdrops. Even though he did use shading techniques to convey the 3 dimensional aspect of his work, the ruins are a mix of perspectives and elevations that have this flatness and stillness that only reflects silence and emptiness.

Him + Her: Candice Breitz

“Within any consciousness there is a Greek chorus, a mess of intertwined voices” – Candice Breitz.

Candice Breitz, born in 1972, is a South African contemporary video and photography artist. She manipulates video footage and appropriates from popular culture. She’s currently a professor in Berlin where she lives.

The following is an installation video she’s done in 2008 where she manipulates Hollywood movies picking out different characters played by Meryl Streep over the stretch of 1978 to 2008. The characters are cropped out of the movies and brought together as though in an internal conversation. “The resulting narrative [] sees the transformation of the star [] to “her” – gendered stereotypes grappling with introspective [] dialogues.” It is a curious video that sheds light on different aspects of how “She” is perceived in Hollywood movies mainly on the questions of love and marriage. We find these different women, or perhaps the same woman, discussing and the conversation evolves into an argument the flows over different topics related to the female life as per Hollywood’s depiction, which seems to evolve around the woman/wife’s dependance on the relationship with a man/husband. Sometimes the argument breaks out of it but eventually returns back to this dependance on the man/husband.

HER, 1978 – 2008 from Candice Breitz on Vimeo.

Breitz uses cleverly not only words to construct the conversation she depicts to us but also visual similarities which she arranges in specific patterns to magnify the different situations and moments in the conversation.

There is, of course, the counterpart of this installation called “Him” based on characters played by Jack Nicholson, where the dialogue takes on a different turn and sort of swirls down into an overly narcissistic dialogue.

HIM, 1968 – 2008 from Candice Breitz on Vimeo.

Would this be the narrow perspective of Hollywood on male and female characters where one is overly concerned with nothing but themselves while the other’s actions completely depend on their significant other? Breitz gives us the opportunity to at least reconsider by highlighting certain common points that come back in every movie.

The full installation is called “Him + Her” in the format of 14-channel digital video installation. It is currently displayed as part of the collection of the National Gallery of Canada, Ottawa.

Objects of War by Lamia Joreige

Lamia Joreige is a Lebanese visual artist and filmaker who was born in 1972 at the onset of the Lebanese civil war which has become a prominent theme in her work. By using archival material and a pinch of fiction, she explores the connection between individual stories and their collective History. In Objects of War, she investigates memories through a series of testimonials about the Lebanese War. Joreige ,acting as the interviewer, invites people to choose an object that reminds them of war. The goal behind these filmed pieces, is the gathering of an archive of diverse stories relating to the theme of war. The objects were exhibited along with the interview. In 2000, the series started and is still ongoing. The videos can be found here.

Chanel’s GreenHouse Effect

It would not be the first time that Chanel was inspired with vegetation. In 2013, the well-known fashion house led by Karl Lagerfeld, transformed the Grand Palais into an enchanted forest. Trees were shipped in to form this wondrous,spectacular set. The models emerged from an arcaded, densely vegetated, and obscure pathway. They then, engaged in a promenade guided by a concrete wall that contrasted with the greenery overlooking the path. 

This year the vibrant fashion show, placed again in the Grand Palais, was housed under a circular glass structure reminiscent of a lavish greenhouse .

The guests were ushered into the circular structure with a tropical setting of white handmade paper cut-outs of  palm trees, banana leaves,and tropical flowers acting as the centerpiece of the show. To make things more theatrical, the show commenced with male gardeners watering the centerpiece, which gradually started to blossom with colors at the beat of a mechanical rhythm. (Watch it here) . The models circled around the exquisite art installation -if we may call it that- with their beautiful and eccentric wardrobe. The fashion pieces blended in with the tropical setting surrounding them, creating all in all a fully choreographed scenography. As the architecture of these fashion shows become more and more spectacular, the importance of these sets are changing the way we once thought of these spectacles as a mere exhibit of clothes.

Straws – Tokujin Yoshioka

Announced “Designer of the Year 2007”, Japanese artist Tokujin Yoshioka , filled up the space with white drinking straws. 

Merzbau – Kurt Schwitters

Iced Flowers – Makoto Azuma

The self-described botanic artist Makoto Azuma is trying to change the way we look at flowers. He’s used water and the stratosphere as backdrops for his exotic flower arrangements but now he’s experimenting with ice. In his latest exhibition “Iced Flowers,” Azuma locks floral bouquets in large blocks of ice and displays them like pillars. Placed in an inorganic chamber, the “flowers will show unique expressions that they do not display in everyday life,” says Azuma.

  

Harvest Design Museum – Asif Khan

Harvest is the name given to the naturally beautiful creation by the London designer, Asif Khan. Designed as part of the Designers in Residence program at the Design Museum London, Asif taking the advantage of Gypsophila plant’s natural ability to interlock has come up with really beautiful pieces of home furniture. What exactly the designer did was he had put the harvested plant material into molds and freeze-dried them over several weeks thereby bonding with a linseed oil-based resin.

Experimental Work Landscape – RAAAF

[They] made an entire office where conventional sitting postures are impossible. Instead, the office design resembles a rocky landscape containing nooks and crannies that only afford workers a variety of standing, leaning, and even lying down postures. more

Inside Out – JR