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POP 800 Monday 16 January 2012

THEPOP.COM — Mon, 16 Jan 2012 06:00:35 +0000

Today's POP is Stephanie with Dinos at Dover Street.

When we heard there was going to be a Chapman brother doing a book signing for the span of 1 hour at Dover Street Market on a Saturday we jumped, and fast.

And there he was: one half of the scarily satirical duo, parked in the middle of DSM's menswear floor signing copies of Flogging a Dead Horse, a retrospective of the brother’s work thus far.

If you’d seen their most recent exhibition at the White Cube last year, you’ll recognize the child-like cardboard cut-outs that have taken up space in the

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shop’s front windows and sit beneath a pair of Nazi flags on which swastikas have been replaced by horrifying smileys. Leave it to the Chapman’s to put you in the mood for shopping…

POP sat down with Dinos for a quick few to ask about the brothers’ work (both separate and together), paintballing, and the current apocalypse.

Where did your obsession with Nazi’s and Holocaust derive from?

We’re not obsessed with Nazi’s. The reason we use Nazi’s is because everyone knows what they are; in the same way we’re using McDonald’s, because everybody knows what McDonald’s is. They’re very over-used, worn-out symbols. I imagine If you said to anybody in the world “what is a symbol of evil?”, they’d say a Nazi or a swastika. You’d say “what’s a symbol of global capitalism?” they’d say McDonalds. So we sort of use symbols, like the red, etc…

Is it more of a comment on then or now?

Neither. You know people get confused. Some people don’t see beyond the initial limits. When you see a sculpture with 10,000 Nazis being tortured – and also there’s mutants, skeletons and spaceman – people immediately ignore all the other stuff and say, “this is about the Nazi’s”… Well, it’s a little bit about that, but it’s really also about genetic engineering, you know, it’s everything… The thing is with Hell, it’s just sort of a big pool that you can throw everything into and whatever people see in it is their responsibility.

Obviously your choice and use of materials is significant. How do you choose your materials and why?

We choose whichever materials are necessary to execute our ideas. We don’t specialize in a single medium; we work with various forms. So we will do whatever we need to do in order to use the material that our idea or message requires of us.

Where do you situate yourself within art history?

I don’t consider us as part of any particular movement, even though we are categorized within a certain period. The 90’s was a great moment in Britain to be a young artist. That’s really it. But that’s not our job; there are people who do that.

Since your separation from one another last year in preparation for your joint exhibition, how do you feel your experience working together has changed?

The separation was an exercise only to make the new work be different to the previous. But the funny thing is we may as well have been together for the entire time because the work looked like it had been made by both of us. And we actually didn’t see each other’s work; I’m sure people don’t believe it…

You produce apocalyptic visions in apocalyptic times. Is this intentional?

That's exactly it. People ask, “why are you obsessed with death and destruction?”. Well what else is there?

A woman getting her copy of Flogging a Dead Horse signed by Dinos says: “What about Birth and Life?”

Everything that’s born dies. I just think if you look at work made in the 15^th century, it’s fairly apocalyptic because it was a product of its time; and work made in the 70’s was all about peace and love, etc.

You can only make the work that asks to be made. So you’re not really in control of what you make. You are part of a machine. You’re part of a machine that at the moment demands that Jake & I make this stuff. And Jake and I always have conversations like “Wouldn’t it be nice to make some minimal sculptures?”

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And it’s not the moment…

What we create is completely dictated to us.

What do you have coming up?

We’re working on this McDonald’s project and we’re creating a new film.

Final Question: who would win in a paintball match between The Chapman Brothers and Fischli & Weiss?

Hoahhhh. Jake just got 2 paintball guns for Christmas and I got a quadbike. So we’re thinking paint guns and quadbikes… We’re extremely competitive; so we would definitely win.

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POP 794 Monday 9 January 2012

THEPOP.COM — Mon, 09 Jan 2012 06:44:38 +0000

Today's POP is Alex, Comme to Berlin.

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As if there aren't enough good reasons to go to Berlin already, Comme des Garcons are soon to open two concept stores in the city on 15th of this month.

Building on their unique vision of a showroom as a complete sensory experience, their 'retail concepts', have been designed to merge in to and reflect the energetic neighbourhood of Berlin Mitte, where they will be located.

The two spaces will exist as The Comme des Garcons Black Shop and the Comme Des Garcons Pocket shop.The Black Shop will contain the brand's BLACK line, featuring iconic Comme styles for guys and girls in (you guessed it), all black, at prices that are more affordable than their main line. Now that's something we always love to hear!

Originally launched in Paris in 2008, the Comme Pocket Shop features the brand's expanding range of unisex perfumes, wallets and smaller accessories. This intimate space in Berlin will function as a kind of convenience store, stocking a wide range of permanent products, alongside an ever-changing selection of special editions.

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The decision to open these two new stores follows the brands's plan to evolve and expand their stores worldwide. The German capital was the site of the first Comme Des Garcons guerilla shop, which was set up in a former DDR library in 2004 and it's the same architect who has helped develop this latest offering from the progressive label.

It's one more city that we can add to our Comme Des Garcons tour of the world: London, Tokyo, Osaka, Paris, NYC, Beijing, Hong Kong, St. Petersburg, Fukuoka and now, Berlin.

Lucky Berliners, I can't wait to get over and have a look around myself. The best thing about this is that unlike their guerilla predecessors these spaces will be permanent – let's hear it for the shop that pops up and stays around!

COMME des GARÇONS Black Shop / COMME des GARÇONS Pocket Shop

Linienstrasse 115

10115 Berlin

Germany

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POP 786 Friday 23 December 2011

THEPOP.COM — Fri, 23 Dec 2011 06:00:56 +0000

Today’s POP is Stephanie. ‘We Buy and Sell Dreams’

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part II of Dover Street's fun-filled evening 'Love is Tender', frequent Comme collaborator Katerina Jebb displayed her most recent project Simulacrum & Hyperbole. The work, consisting of imaginary 60-second adverts for speculative products, broadcast on Jebb’s hypothetical network Lucid TV, was set-up alongside shelves housing ironic perfume bottles created by the artist and an LED light programmed with improbable persuasions. Slogans such as POLITICALLY NEUTRAL CHROMOSONES, SELF REPROCATING, HERE ALL OUR BEST MEN ARE WOMEN, and WE CAN FIND BEAUTIFUL THINGS WITHOUT CONSCIOUSNESS are simultaneously hilarious and completely unsettling.

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In this piece, the artist who often explores representations of gender and the body through the combined use of film, photography and fashion, investigates and highlights structural truths and dualities such as the real and artificial or human and artificial. She emphasises contrast in both form and content, with oppositions highlighted by the calibre of personalities involved in such minimally produced, low-budget films. Through the use of parody, Jebb has produced a strong cultural commentary on the beauty and media industries as well as the highly effected position of women.

Notions of the hyperreal and simulacra as discussed by Plato, Deleuze and Baudrillard, are heavily layered within her sarcasm.

I sat down with Jebb at Dover Street for a quick few to pick her brain about the current project, her thoughts on Baudrillard and our current state of hyper-reality.

You’ve chosen extremely strong, powerful and interesting women to play in each short. How did you select them?

It’s true, I have friends who are actresses. But when I choose people, they have to be ready to step forward.

Imagine there’s no money; these people are not paid. They’re taking a day out of their lives to do this for me. The fact that they say yes to do it, that’s already a gift. Especially for them to say, “Sure, I’ll say that, I’ll say that line. It’s inspiring because it means everybody isn’t doing things for money; that financial reward is not the only criteria for someone to do something. It means sometimes thinking out of that equation. As there is no financial transaction it’s purer. And it’s not owned by ( fill in the dots ), it’s owned by me, the players, as a collective. It’s still underground because it is not owned by a multi-million dollar company .The reason it works is because it’s raw and no one else is interfering with the level of taste, good or bad.

That’s why I love this project so much because there are so many layers. Baudrillard said “The simulacrum is never that which conceals the truth — it is the truth which conceals that there is none. The simulacrum is true.” Your films are very much exaggerations, but also reign scarily true and precise.

The hyperreal, counterfeit reality, is really something; an exhausting subject, but at the same time deeply fascinating. It is the very fabric of the present time and moreover of the future.

You could say all objects are real, but some are more real than others.

Are we in the simulacrum?

Where we are right now? I think we’re beyond that now. Especially with technology. I think we’re even beyond hyper-reality, because of everyday objects such as GPS, the virtual world of cyberspace; it's all artificial intelligence. I mean, in anything [holding iphone] it’s omni-present, it’s surround sound, surround augmented possibility. What’s that expression? 'From the sublime to the ridiculous'. We have now entered into a realm of ‘the technological sublime'.

Will you extend this theme or project at all?

Yes, it is a continuing work. The works almost propose themselves.

Now I am looking at the relatively serious side of the subject of simulacrum, and I’m working with a professor of philosophy, Guido Brivio on a short film work which is really on the subject of beauty in the aesthetic sense of the word.

When I do make serious works they are sometimes less seen, which is really quite funny. I just spent one year on a documentary about the object of clothing which the painter Balthus wore for sixty years, which is now an exhibition in the Chapel where he is buried. I always hope that light and dark are able to coexist in a natural manner.

__________________

Have a look at Mind & Soul Control, 1 of the 11 shorts from Jebb’s series Simulacrum & Hyperbole, launched online exclusively for thepop.com.

Starring Isabelle Townsend, this segment quite literally highlights that blurred boundary between realities, advertising a capsule that claims to give women ‘a constant state of terminal inertia…to anaesthetize the thought process’.

Think about it.

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POP 783 Tuesday 20 December 2011

THEPOP.COM — Tue, 20 Dec 2011 15:23:29 +0000

Today's POP is Stephanie. When POP met Marisa Berenson at DSM…

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The POP team enjoyed a little pre X-mas cheer at

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Dover Street Market’s recent two-part evening ‘Love is Tender’, which included a book signing by Marisa Berenson and installation by British-born, Paris-based artist Katerina Jebb (stay tuned this week for more on the latter).

In the flesh, the petite model was as lovely as I could have imagined. We briefly chat about her position as both model and actress; a profession which has given her the ability to enact the creative vision of so many extraordinary artists over the years. And you can really only imagine the talents she's come across…

I also got a few beauty tips from Berenson which include her obsession and dedication to Prickly Pears. (If you aren't familiar with the fruit already you better get busy because the woman looks impeccable!)

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Granddaughter to Elsa Schiaparelli, Marisa's world is absolutely fascinating and her life in pictures even more so. The book includes candid and still photos by Irving Penn, Robert Mapplethorpe and Helmut Newton to name a few, an introduction by Hamish Bowles and a highly appropriate conversation with 70's queen Diane Von Furstenberg. Next time you're in shop, I definitely suggest you have a browse.

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POP 423 Monday 11 October 2010

THEPOP.COM — Mon, 11 Oct 2010 08:30:32 +0000

Today's Pop is Ashley. No shows, all showrooms, lots of citron presse, still Paris in the sun.

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After the shows end – this season quite spectacularly and poignantly with Miuccia's multi-layered fame diatribe at Miu Miu – it's good to give yourself a day to catch up with all the showroom innovation you never got a chance to get to during the hubub.

Comme des Garçons' authorised tie-up with The Beatles estate wasn't represented in Rei Kawakubo's brooding catwalk show (although that might as well have been staged accompanied by Lennon and Ono's apocalyptic White Album opus Revolution #9) but we think this project is too POP not to be seen asap.

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Ol' Rei O' Light – more appropriate by the day – delved deep into the Beatles graphic archives, or so I'm told, and has produced some Sea Of Holes T-shirts that will look just great alongside a black Junya combat pant and a Comme brothel creeper. Elsewhere there's Apple handbags, Yellow Submarine formal shirts and the sort of Abbey Road zebra crossing tribute that is sure to sell out in Harajuku.

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This writer has already put his name down for the perfect black polo shirt. With one very small black Apple logo and one slightly larger, flourishing green one, it's the chicest tribute to John/Yoko, to Lennon/McCartney, to '67/'68 and to life/death you'll see this side of a tangerine Fred Perry.

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POP 285 Monday 10 May 2010

THEPOP.COM — Mon, 10 May 2010 08:27:29 +0000

Today's POP is Max. He's in love with this Japanese girl.

Established by designer Chitose Abe in 1999 after eight years of working with the Junya Watanabe collection at Comme des Garçons, Japanese label Sacai is a little favourite of ours here at POP. Abe has even branched out into loungewear, a men's collection, a capsule collection called Sacai Gem, sold at Dover Street Market, and has just designed a mini-collection with Moncler available from the current SS 2010 season. PHEW! And we thought we were organised, replying to every other email we get…

Delicate, feminine and thoughtful, we thought you might like a peep at the FW10 collection, leather and all, and if you imagine wearing a few pieces hard enough, you might even warm up during this shocking summer we're having.

Bye! (Buy!)

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POP 029/ Monday, 29 June 2009

THEPOP.COM — Mon, 29 Jun 2009 09:18:38 +0000

Today’s Pop is Paul in Paris. How to file a men’s show report when there’s still so much crying by the Seine to be done, “Human Nature” on repeat repeat on that iPod? Paul, remember, you are not alone xxx

This weekend’s word was Compelling. Compelling replaces ‘covetable’, which kind of went out the window when people figured that luxury has long been over-utilised and devalued as a consumer concept. Whoa there with the alliteratives, already!

Compelling was my mission during the Paris men’s shows. It neatly takes up the baton from my previous enduring buzzword, Integrity. Quite frankly, fashion could do with a lot more of these.

Compelling was Rick Owens invigorating an already resonant signature with a steely confidence that pushed the boat out yet further. Check them boots out! What is so alluring about Owens’ clothing is that they are so effortlessly distressed and the glamour emerges once they are worn. He doesn’t need to try and achieve this mood – his aesthetic simply embodies it. It’s a collection that isn’t obsessed with dystopian futurism; or with the romantic nostalgia of bygone eras. Instead, Owens offers fresh perspectives on urban sportswear that are undeniably forward thinking, and always tethered to a gritty reality.

Belgian designer,

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Ann Demeulemeester is another advocate of the monochrome palette. And, whilst her ubiquitous black continued to dominate the collection, there was welcome relief in the stripped down outfits – no more layering – and oyster satin trousers topped with flowing dustcoats and separate hoods. Boxers to the ringside were followed by Samurai pants scaled up into evening wear with leather cummerbunds.

Almost every colour but black made up the engaging kaleidoscope of colours at

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Junya Watanabe and Comme des Garcons. Watanabe continued his exploratory relationships with established garment manufacturers – this time, Macintosh outerwear and Trickers shoes – and enjoyed rewriting the menswear codes. Traditional checked blazers with felt elbow pads fashioned out of Gore-Tex were matched with long shorts and flatcaps. Madras check or gingham single-breast jackets were sportier for their attached hoods.

If the Japanese were associated with nothing but black for the first three decades of business, Comme des Garcons Homme Plus has surely reversed any possibility of a lingering reputation in recent years. In partnership with the myriad of colours was a motley assortment of fabrics attached to Dogstooth checked suit jackets. Silk foulards, neckties, Arran knits and tartan. Kawakubo is always reverential to the sartorial parameters of male dressing. It is within those boundaries that she likes to play. This collection made me think of a young man late for work, throwing on everything he can find in the hope it somehow makes sense by the time he arrives at his office.

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Kitsuné‘s vibe continues to be full of boyish charm and refreshingly optimistic in its outlook. If Watanabe’s “Snobbish” collection was all about the gentleman golfer, Kitsuné’s would be the style-conscious son. Seersucker never looked so appealing in their light pink shades. A slightly shorter Macintosh coat and KGC (Kitsuné Golf Club) emblem cardigans complete the look.

As it’s Paris, we should conclude with Lanvin – the city’s celebrated King of Louche. Under the creative eye of Alber Elbaz, menswear designer Lucas Ossendrijver continued to join all the dots of a compulsive wardrobe proposition. Heavy boots offset the schoolboy neat suits that opened the show. And then the parade of colours that makes Lanvin such a pleasure to consider purchasing. Tobacco, mulberry, fern and light petrol blue – mixed between suits and sporty separates. Combined with the traditional dance salon environment and carefully orchestrated soundtrack, that got more uplifting as the show progressed, Lanvin claimed justifiable dressing rights to the sophisticated male.

We came, we saw, we were compelled.

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POP 015/ Monday, 15 June 2009

THEPOP.COM — Mon, 15 Jun 2009 01:50:46 +0000

Today’s Pop is Ms Mayfair. Remember those Nina Ricci shoes she dreamt of? Well, this morning she’s clomping round the office in a pair… Still, anything is better than hearing yet another anecdote from a weekend spent on the ‘Gay Lawn’ at Hampstead Heath with a boombox blasting Galaxy FM…

World Exclusive!

This label is going to be hot, and not only because almost everything comes in at under £200. Comme des Garcons have followed-up on their brilliant H&M collaboration by launching a a new credit crunch busting label they’re calling BLACK. The label will be sold in 11 new stores around the world – every nook and cranny designed by La Grande Dame herself, Rei Kawakubo.

We got our hands on some world exclusive pics of the brand-spanking new Tokyo store. Artworks by Russian artist,

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Kerim Ragimov. Looks blue-chip! (Or, should that be black-chip.)

Don’t hold out too long to get in on the action here, as Comme des Garcons tell us this line will only be around for a year and a half…

She’s got a little Rei of Light!!!…