I would like to do in-depth research on Alexander McQueen's work White cotton muslin spray-painted black and yellow with underskirt of white synthetic tulle.
Image 1. Alexander McQueen, White cotton muslin spray-painted black and yellow with underskirt of white synthetic tulle, 1999.
White cotton muslin spray-painted black and yellow with underskirt of white synthetic tulle is a look from Alexander McQueen's 1999 spring/summer show No. 13. It's a white strapless dress with a tulle underlay with yellow and black spray-painted patterns on it. What is fascinating is that the yellow and black spray-painted patterns did not came from human. Instead, it was painted by two robotic arms.
The process of painting these patterns is stunning:
Immediately after presenting the whole Spring/Summer 1999 collection, the warehouse lights went out only to be replaced by model, dancer, and actress Shalom Harlow. She stands on a rotating wooden platform wearing a multilayered white paper dress, surrounded by two robotic arms, usually used to paint cars.
The model moves her arms almost as if to defend herself from this type of robotic "attack", in what appears to be a sensual and moving ballet mécanique between Shalom Harlow and the mechanical arms. As the mechanical arms spray color (yellow and black) onto her white dress, the completely improvised dance reaches its apotheosis. (Andrea Tuzio, 2022)
Video of the process
Video 1. Bart Moore, Video Alexander McQueen Savage Beauty The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York. 2011.
My connotation to the dress and the painting process is related a feeling of uncomfortable with a clean and deliciated dress was painted messy by two "naughty" robotic arms. It is likely to feeling uncomfortable and untight when we are facing a machine or robotic hand that acting crazy and unpredictable instead of following the order or rule that we gave to them.
Moreover, the process of Shalom Harlow trying to prevent herself from the spray paint of two robotic arms by covering her body with her arms. It is like the robotic arms were attacking her and she could really do nothing but using her arms to cover her body, which consider to be useless. The wired part is Shalom Harlow didn't choose to run away from that, it is like her was trapped by something, the rotating wood plate, robotic arms, or her mindset.
Combining those two thoughts, I felt like it might be a metaphor of our lives right now. We are trapped in this machine age with new things like television, camera, and smart phone. what's tricky is that those things are shifting our mindset right now. Image if we want to get a general idea of the Grand Canyon, it's more likely for us to open a website and search for information and images about it rather than really be there to look, smell, and stand on that place. By doing so, we are getting the information that the machine age offered, rather than the information the real object offered. It's like the machine age is spraying information to us and we have nothing to do but covering our body with lock the phone or close the website.
Image 2. Conde Nast. Shalom Harlow sprayed with paint by robots during the finale of the Alexander McQueen Spring 1999 RTW show. 1999. (left)
Image 3. Conde Nast. Shalom Harlow in Alexander McQueen's spring 1999 show. 1999. (right)
The pattern of this dress before spraying is plain and white, which gives me a feeling of peace as if this is minimalist work. After spraying by robotic arms, the dress showed an irregular black and yellow pattern, which gives me a feeling of mess. Combine with the fact that robotic arms are often considered a typical representation of the machine age. I assume that this work is trying to convey the concept that the machine age is adding more things like colors, patterns, or to be more personal, messy troubles to our lives.
The inspiration of this work, in McQueen's words, is “[The finale of this collection] was inspired by an installation by artist Rebecca Horn of two shotguns firing blood-red paint at each other.” (The Metropolitan Museum of Art, 2011)
Image 4. Rebecca Horn, High Moon. 1991. 2 Winchester rifles, metal rod, 3 motors, 2 glass funnels, 2 pumps, plastic hoses, speakers, circular saw, control, iron gutter, paint, poem. Dimensions variable. Installation at Kunstmuseum Wolfsburg.
It is an installation work at eye level where two Winchester rifles face each other and turn slowly and unpredictable, occasionally focusing on the visitors as well. When the guns finally point towards each other, the soft humming of the electric motors stops. Two large glass funnels, which look like oversized breasts and hang from the ceiling, pump blood-red fluid at each other after a moment of tense silence. Liquid is ejected with a sharp bang, splattering not only on the opponent, but also on the floor. The machine's rhythmic play begins again: rifles spin, a serrated metal rod knocks rhythmically on one of the big funnels, the saw's teeth cut into the wall at the gutter's end. (Galerie Thomas Schulte GmbH, n.d.)
Why did McQueen refer to it? McQueen's inspirations are sometimes deeply researched and considered (like Highland Rape (1995), an adaptation of the Jacobite uprising), but can also be fleeting and simple (like It's Only a Game (2004)), which was inspired by the chess scene in Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone (2001). Whether McQueen was struck by Horn's installation's immediacy in 1994 or delved deeply into her oeuvre, exploring isolation, space, and mechanization, is unclear. (ROBERT MCCAFFREY, n.d.)
"Consciousness electrically impassioned" is Horn's description of her sculptures, which are regarded as incorporating elements of the sexual and erotic. The clear plastic tubing and blood-red liquid in High Moon feel distinctly biological or medical. Splatters of red paint and the trough intended to catch them recall an abattoir or slaughterhouse. His work is frequently characterized by themes of life and death, so it was likely that McQueen was attracted to this piece. The inclusion of the two Winchester rifles intermittently spraying blood-colored water, sometimes at each other and sometimes not, isn't quite so vague; it's both sexual and violent. Even though it is a mechanical object, it feels distinctly human in its imperfections and inconsistencies. (ROBERT MCCAFFREY, n.d.)
Reference list
Andrea Tuzio. Performance art and fashion: Alexander McQueen Spring ’99. (2022). Available from: https://www.collater.al/en/performance-art-and-fashion-alexander-mcqueen-spring-99/. [Accessed 29 January 2023]
The Metropolitan Museum of Art. ALEXANDER McQUEEN SAVAGE BEAUTY. (2011). Available from: https://blog.metmuseum.org/alexandermcqueen/dress-no-13/. [Accessed 29 January 2023]
Galerie Thomas Schulte GmbH. REBECCA HORN INTRODUCTION OF WORKS. (No date). p. 38. Available from: https://www.galeriethomasschulte.de/wp-content/uploads/2020/03/REBECCA-HORN_PORTFOLIO.pdf. [Accessed 29 January 2023]
ROBERT MCCAFFREY. Alexander McQueen: The Sublime and Melancholy. (No date). Available from: Alexander McQueen: The Sublime and Melancholy — The Fashion Studies Journal. [Accessed 29 January 2023]
Image & Video Reference list
Image 1. Alexander McQueen, (1999). White cotton muslin spray-painted black and yellow with underskirt of white synthetic tulle. Available from: Dress, No. 13, spring/summer 1999 | Alexander McQueen: Savage Beauty | The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York (metmuseum.org). [Accessed 29 January 2023].
Video 1. Bart Moore, Video Alexander McQueen Savage Beauty The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York. (2011). Available from: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P13oZsD-t4s. [Accessed 29 January 2023].
Image 2. Conde Nast. (1999). Shalom Harlow sprayed with paint by robots during the finale of the Alexander McQueen Spring 1999 RTW show. Available from: Show to Know: When Alexander McQueen's Robots Spray-Painted Shalom Harlow | Allure. [Accessed 29 January 2023].
Image 3. Conde Nast. (1999). Shalom Harlow in Alexander McQueen's spring 1999 show. Available from: Show to Know: When Alexander McQueen's Robots Spray-Painted Shalom Harlow | Allure. [Accessed 29 January 2023].
Image 4. Rebecca Horn, (1991). High Moon. 2 Winchester rifles, metal rod, 3 motors, 2 glass funnels, 2 pumps, plastic hoses, speakers, circular saw, control, iron gutter, paint, poem. Dimensions variable. Installation at Kunst Museum Wolfsburg. Available from: REBECCA-HORN_PORTFOLIO.pdf (galeriethomasschulte.de). [Accessed 29 January 2023].
Thank you!
Comments