Tag Archives: beth ditto

The Muses of Jean Paul Gaultier

Posted on by

Barbican Art Gallery, London

Exhibition dates: 9 April – 25 August 2014

Media View, Tuesday 8 April 2014, 10.30am to 3pm

 

“I am impressed by the way Annie Kevans captured the different types of beauties that have been my inspiration and my muses from my grandmother to artists like David Bowie and Boy George.”

Jean Paul Gaultier

 amywinehouse

British artist Annie Kevans has been commissioned by exhibition curator Thierry-Maxime Loriot to create a series of works for the exhibition The Fashion World of Jean Gaultier: From The Sidewalk To The Catwalk.  Exhibited for the first time at the Barbican Galleries from 9th April to 25th August 2014, then to the National Galleries of Victoria in Melbourne (17th October 2014 – 8th February 2015) and Galeries Nationales du Grand Palais in Paris (1st April – 3rd August 2015).

davidbowie

On Kevans’ new series, Loriot says: “Annie Kevans’ work caught my attention years ago when I saw her fantastic oil paintings ‘All The Presidents Girls’ at Volta in New York. As she is a great storyteller who works in series, I thought she was the best artist to create these eye-catching and delicate portraits that tell Gaultier’s story about his muses and inspirations, all great characters, these paintings translate well the humanist message in his work. I am delighted Kevans is now taking part in the exhibition tour.”

katemoss

Annie was delighted to be commissioned to create a series depicting Jean Paul Gaultier’s 30 muses, as well as 2 paintings of Jean Paul Gaultier himself, for the touring exhibition already seen by more than one million visitors.  The artist sees the series as an exploration of creativity. Annie Kevans said: “In fashion, and in culture in general, we always wonder where ideas come from.  I think it’s wonderful that Jean Paul Gaultier is able to honour his muses and their creativity which has inspired his own.  I think we’ve all been influenced by Jean Paul Gaultier’s ideas, from his celebration of the unusual to his subverting of the familiar.  The strong social message in his work is very inspiring to create works that reflect society and celebrate different types of beauty, without following the fixed standards of beauty presented by the fashion industry – all genders, body sizes, skin colours, religions and ages are included in his world.”

 

The Muses are:

 

Tanel Bedrossiantz

Christine Bergstrom

David Bowie

Boy George

Naomi Campbell

Lily Cole

Tim Curry

Agyness Deyn

Beth Ditto

Jourdan Dunn

Karen Elson

Aitize Hanson

Farida Khelfa

Fredérique Lorca

Madonna

Françis Menuge

Kate Moss

Kristen McMenamy

Kylie Minogue

Erin O’Connor

Rossy de Palma

Jade Parfitt

Gaultier’s Grandmother Marie

Micheline Presle

Stella Tenant

Andrej Pejic

Anna Pawlowski

Stéphane Sednaoui

Dita von Teese

Amy Winehouse

 

All works are oil on paper and 40 x 30 cm.

Annie Kevans has also produced a painting of Jean Paul Gaultier and a copy of this is available to buy as a limited edition print through the Barbican.

 

ANNIE KEVANS

Born Cannes, France, 1972

Lives and works in London
www.anniekevans.com

Since graduating from Central St. Martins in 2004, when Charles Saatchi bought her series of 30 paintings of dictators as young boys (Boys), Kevans has had solo exhibitions in New York, London, Vienna and Antwerp.  She recently received excellent reviews when her Boys were shown in the Paper exhibition at the Saatchi Gallery.  Annie Kevans is known for her series of ‘portraits’ (not always based on real documentation), which deal with difficult issues, often presenting us with alternative histories in an attempt to explore ideas which impact on current culture.  With the series Girls she looked at the sexualisation of childhood and with All the Presidents’ Girls she portrayed US presidential mistresses throughout history.  She has been a finalist in the Women of the Future awards and the Jerwood Drawing Prize and her work can be found in major collections including the Pallant House Gallery, the Saatchi Collection and 21c Museum, as well as the personal collections of Stephen Fry, Marc Quinn, David Roberts, Adam Sender and Jean Pigozzi.

Currently, Annie Kevans’ work can be seen in Politricks at Beursschouwburg in Brussels, in War and Trauma at Museum Dr Guislain in Belgium and in All About Eve at Fifty One Too in Antwerp.  Her next solo exhibition will be opening at the Fine Art Society in London on 13 May. Women and the History of Art will feature portraits of successful female artists from the past 500 years, many of whom have been all but written out of art history.

In the first major exhibition devoted to the celebrated French couturier, we invite you to explore Jean Paul Gaultier’s fashion world. With his avant-garde fashion creations and cutting-edge designs, Gaultier has shaped the look of fashion over the last 40 years. His reputation for witty and daring designs and a ceaseless interest in society, identity and a beauty borne of difference has earned him a place in fashion history.

Gaultier is fascinated by world cultures and countercultures, conceiving a new kind of fashion in both the way it is made and worn. Through twists, transformations, transgressions and reinterpretations, he not only erases the boundaries between cultures but also the sexes, redefining the idea of androgyny or subverting fashion codes.

This theatrically-staged exhibition brings together more than 190 cutting-edge couture and ready-to-wear garments including iconic costumes for film and performance from the early 1970s to the present day. The infamous conical bra and corsets Madonna wore during her 1990 Blonde Ambition World Tour are showcased alongside stage costumes designed for Kylie Minogue as well as pieces created for the films of Pedro Almodóvar and Luc Besson’s The Fifth Element.

Gaultier’s rich collaborations with renowned artists and photographers such as Miles Aldridge, David LaChapelle, Pierre et Gilles, Peter Lindbergh, Herb Ritts, Stéphane Sednaoui, Cindy Sherman and Andy Warhol are also shown together with footage of catwalk presentations, concerts, music videos, films, dance performances and Gaultier’s cult television show Eurotrash.

 

 

Women of The Revolution – Book Review.

Posted on by

The idea behind this book is incredibly clever, it is the history of forty years of feminism told through articles from The Guardian. The book was edited by Kira Cochrane who Frost have interviewed. The wealth of talented women in the book is staggering. Maya Angelou, Germaine Greer, Oprah Winfrey, Suzanne Moore, Beth Ditto…the list is endless. It is a fascinating read for women and men alike.

I didn’t like, or agree, with every single article or argument, Lesbianism as a choice and not sleeping with men, because they are the enemy spring to mind, as does ‘are all men capable of rape’. Er, no, they are not.

Beth Ditto gives amazing and funny advice on what to do with catcalls, Andrea Dworkin’s piece on Bill and Hillary Clinton is perfection, and right on. The interview with Maya Angelou is also amazing, she is one of my favourite writers. Germaine Greer comes across as Germaine Greer, people can say whatever they want about her, but she doesn’t seem to care about being liked, and that makes her a true feminist to me.

One of my favourite things about the book is just how many strong women are in it. Suzanne Moore interviewing Camille Paglia, there is an interview with Toni Morrison, Zoe Williams ask if feminism is embarrassing, Julie Burchill writes about her lack of regret for her five abortions. This book shows how far we have come, but also shows our faults, the fault of feminism is that people have a narrow view of what feminism is, and what a feminist does. Women can be their own worst enemy and the in-fighting and backstabbing is disappointing. For reference, read the interview with Naomi Wolf. Why can’t Naomi Wolf be beautiful and groomed and say what she wants? Can you not be glamourous and a feminist? Surely as long as you want equal rights for all anyone can be a feminist, even a man?

The ones I really related to are Jill Tweedie stating that ‘One of the most crippling aspects of being a women- and an Englishwomen to boot- is the continual and largely unconscious compulsion to be nice’. Too true, even for a Scot, and as relevant today as it was in the 1970s. This book is food for the brain; is housework slavery?, should women be paid for it?, the attack on Margaret Thatcher for not helping her fellow women – a very good point- she filled her cabinet with men and seemed to dislike other women. This book is essential reading, I recommend it to everyone.

Some of the book is uncomfortable reading, like when the issue of rape being used as a weapon of war is raised. But that is to the credit of the book. History should never be a comfortable experience, and neither should a revolution.

Women of the Revolution | Kira Cochrane Interview

Posted on by

I love Kira Cochrane’s writing, so I was very excited to interview her about the new book she has edited: Women of the Revolution: Forty Years of Feminism. Thankfully, her answers made me like her even more.


What was the idea behind the book, Women of the Revolution: Forty Years of feminism?
I was in the office between Christmas and New Year 2010, a time when
it’s always incredibly quiet at work, doing some reading for a piece I
was writing about the first ever women’s liberation conference in the
UK, which was held in 1970. It occurred to me that it would be great
to do something big to celebrate this landmark – forty years of second
wave feminism in the UK – and that we had all the resources necessary
at the Guardian to do that. So I started, that day, to put together a
book made up from our archives, featuring interviews with people like
Germaine Greer, Naomi Wolf, Oprah Winfrey, Nawal El Saadawi, Camille
Paglia and Susie Orbach, and articles on all the most important
feminist issues. Altogether I wanted it to provide an introduction to
the movement for those coming to it fresh, and brilliant, wide-ranging
material for those who have lived and campaigned through it.

How did it come together?
It proceeded with me just trawling through our archive, reading
thousands and thousands of articles until my eyes were sore. Given the
wealth of feminist material the
Guardian has published, it was a massive task, but I really enjoyed
it. (I have come to realise that I’m a total feminist geek!)

What is your favourite article/interview in the book?
Well, like any good parent, I don’t have favourites, and there’s so
much great material: Beth Ditto on how to beat street harassment,
on online sexism, Ariel Levy writing about raunch
culture, Polly Toynbee on Spare Rib magazine, Hadley Freeman on eating
disorders, Marina Hyde on pornography, to name just a few. One
I think is as relevant today as it was when it was published 41 years
ago now, is Jill Tweedie’s piece “Why nice girls finish
last”. In it she writes that women have a “continual and largely
unconscious compulsion to be nice. Nice and kind, nice and fair, nice
and tidy. Nice. Always ready to understand the other point of view.
Always careful not to give a wrong impression”. And she warns against
the feminist movement sinking into a great heaving swamp of niceness.
I think that message is still really important, at a time when women,
as much as ever, are brought up to be
accommodating and unpushy. (Have you ever heard the word pushy used
about a man? How about bossy?).

What do women still need to achieve?
Well, you can break it down into specific issues. Equal pay, economic
equality, a fair sharing of tasks in the home, affordable childcare, political
representation, an end to street harassment, to domestic violence and
rape – and, in the meantime, a higher rape conviction rate and strong
support services for women who experience violence. But I think
we also have to recognise that the problem is structural. We live in
a society where there are hierarchies based on class, race, sexuality,
disability and many other factors. Sex is a key one of those, and if
we could create a much more equal balance of power in general I think
we’d have a society that would function much more happily for everyone.

Do you think feminism is used as a weapon against women, like when a
man doesn’t give up his seat and wants to go dutch, even on the first
date? I have a friend who hates feminism because she says it has been
used to take away men being chivalrous, and we still end up doing the
housework.
I’m pretty happy to see the back of chivalry, because it
was based on the idea of women being the weaker sex. That
doesn’t mean I want doors slammed in my face by the man who’s walking
in front of me – just that whoever reaches the door first will hold it
open, whether it’s me or him. In an equal society, I think men and
women should treat each other equally well. (Also, I’m happy to go
Dutch. I think when one partner pays for everything from the start of
a relationship, unless there’s a really good reason, that sets up a
pretty dodgy power dynamic.)

What can be done to convince women that feminism is still relevant?
Well, I think a large proportion of women are already convinced, and
you can see that in all sorts of ways. There are
the feminist protests and conferences that have taken place over the
past few years, the enormous success of Caitlin Moran’s feminist book
How to be a Woman, the extent to which feminist issues are debated in
the media and online, with women really making their voices heard about
issues that make them angry. For any woman not yet convinced, I
suppose I would just put a few questions to her. Do you
want to live in a country where only one in five MPs – the people who
make the major decisions
regarding our lives – are women? Do you want to be paid
less than your male colleagues for the same work? Do you want to live
in a country where there’s a high chance of you being raped or
sexually assaulted – and a very low chance of your attacker being
convicted on those charges? If not, feminism is for you.

Do you think it is possible for a woman to ‘have it all’?
I think what’s true is that women have made huge strides in the
workplace, but still take care of the lion’s share of tasks at home. I
do think it’s possible for everyone, men and women, to ‘have it
all’, but in order to make that happen there needs to be a real shift
in attitudes towards working hours, so that workers aren’t toiling
incredibly long hours and can have a proper shared family life. That’s
easy to say, and much harder to do. At a time of economic crisis,
especially, it’s very hard for people to feel confident in taking
their foot off the accelerator at work. So I do hope these changes
will happen, but clearly it won’t be overnight.

Women are still sexually objectified to a large degree, what do you
think of Rihanna and Lady Gaga who constantly make music videos
wearing pants and a bra? Is this a bad example? Or an example of a
women being free to do what she wants?
I really don’t like the way that women in the public eye, in their
twenties, are criticised for being ‘bad role models’ for other women
in their twenties. It just seems another stick to beat women with. I
personally think that women should wear exactly what they like – so
long as it IS what they like, that they’re following their own desires
and enjoying themselves. I think if they’re doing that, they set a
great example.

What do you hope the book will achieve?
I hope the book will get people thinking about feminism – thinking
about all the women who have fought for our rights in the past, and all that
we still have to do.

How much more do women have to achieve to be equal to men?
There’s so much, but I think the important point is that we’re getting
there in the UK. There are obstacles, and really worrying issues (like
the fact that women’s unemployment is at a 25 year high), but over the
course of time we are moving forward. It’s like a friend of mine said,
a few years ago, when there had been some notable setbacks for women:
people can try to keep us down, but it’s not like we’re actually just
going to go back into the kitchen and make them a sandwich.


What is next for you?
More articles, more books, and much more feminist research! I’m really looking
forward to it.

Thank you Kira.

[The review of the book is here.]