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Vested Interest
John Michael Kohler Art Center
608 New York Avenue, Sheboygan. 920-458-6144
www.jmkac.org
May 25 – September 7, 2008
By Katherine Murrell
July 1, 2008. Vested Interest presents commentaries on political, economic,
and social issues as expressed through the mediums of clothing, accessories, and
sculptural combinations thereof. Some artists tackle issues of the garment
production industry and pseudo-sovereignty of the clothing designer; others direct
their work to anxiety and identity as articulated through the fabrics we put on our
bodies; still others create work concerned with politics and governmental policy
on a level beyond the individual. Essentially, Vested Interest is a display of
predominantly contemporary artists working with garments, and things derived
from these, as a medium of reaction to events and philosophies of our times.
Vested Interest does not culminate in one grand, defining idea or statement, but
there are plenty of interesting and provocative works, each carrying their own
message.
The exhibition begins with Jon Eric Riis’s evocative Bomber Jacket (2006). Riis,
an artist from Georgia, is a skilled weaver of tapestries and particularly influenced
by Asian design. This jacket is seductive and it is scary. Cut-outs of bombs break
forth from the surface, leaving the two-dimensional world of fashion for the three-
dimensional world of reality. There are a host of psychological overtones; the
jacket, displayed with arms outstretched like both a commander and victim,
carries the word No across the body. Most eerie of all, in the context of the
current world climate, is the insinuated relationship between the article of clothing
and the means of destruction, a garment of death like a suicide bomber’s vest.
American immigration policy is poignantly referenced in Miss Homeland Security:
Illegal Entry Dress Tent (2005), a towering pyramid of a camouflage dress. This
is the work of Robin Lasser and Adrienne Pao, artists based in California, who
conceived of this work functioning in context at the border fence between the
United States and Mexico, a look-out tower and a place of refuge. It’s powerful
and even glamorous in the lines of the silhouette and streamlined bodice, and
could even be considered practical if you’re a skilled stilt-walker. But this piece
goes far beyond the fancies of fashion and logistics of wearability. Look
underneath the dress and it’s a fully kitted out tent, with cots and camping gear
included. This is a powerful representation of a maternal archetype, the strong
and protective woman giving shelter of herself, drawing in those seeking shelter
under her skirts.
But, not all works in Vested Interest are overtly and solemnly directed– many have
more subtle agendas. The sock monkey bikini is a whimsical statement between
physical maturity and the vestiges of childhood. Elsewhere, New York artist
Cheryl Yun displays handbags and lingerie fashioned of newspapers in the wake
of 9/11, consumer goods created to prop up the economy. In the literal sense,
these simple items carry the anxiety of tragedy on their surfaces, covered with
newspaper pictures and articles. Even in these simple, ordinary objects, these
events cannot be escaped.
Not everything in Vested Interest hails from contemporary culture. Punctuating the
exhibition is a display of Japanese kimonos from the 1930s. These were made to
be worn as fashionable celebrations of overt patriotism. They’re like
extraordinary, wearable watercolor paintings, the delicate shades of color blend
seamlessly, and the rendering of figures is exquisitely refined. The severity of
military and nationalistic imagery may even seem incongruous to modern eyes
with the serenity of color and line on the silken surface. Within the scope of the
exhibition, these kimonos are vestiges of traditional representation employed for
propagandistic means, and serve as a counterpoint to the conceptual struggles
with identity, politics, and power that are the concern of many of today’s artists.
Though Vested Interest is like a visual anthology of current practice in artistic
textiles, there is one strong thematic undercurrent that is not drawn out, that being
the question of gender in terms of who these items are made for. The majority of
the works are made for a female body, which in the scope of western art practice
is nothing new – women have long been the subject of works because of their
identity as well as inherent aesthetics. But this exhibition raises an interesting
question - as gender roles change in so many aspects of our society, from the
prospect of a female president to the stay-at-home dad, will our ideas of fashion
and clothing as primarily a feminine environment change? Will the female form
continue to be the dominant framework for creative and expressive textile work?
There are only a few pieces in this exhibition, such as Mark Newport’s The
Patriot, a red, white and blue knit bodysuit, that are geared for the male body, or
at least unisex. Addressing these questions of gender roles may be outside of the
parameters of Vested Interest, but suggests an intriguing path of investigation.
Katherine Murrell is co-publisher of Susceptible to Images.
John Michael Kohler Art Center
608 New York Avenue, Sheboygan. 920-458-6144
www.jmkac.org
May 25 – September 7, 2008
By Katherine Murrell
July 1, 2008. Vested Interest presents commentaries on political, economic,
and social issues as expressed through the mediums of clothing, accessories, and
sculptural combinations thereof. Some artists tackle issues of the garment
production industry and pseudo-sovereignty of the clothing designer; others direct
their work to anxiety and identity as articulated through the fabrics we put on our
bodies; still others create work concerned with politics and governmental policy
on a level beyond the individual. Essentially, Vested Interest is a display of
predominantly contemporary artists working with garments, and things derived
from these, as a medium of reaction to events and philosophies of our times.
Vested Interest does not culminate in one grand, defining idea or statement, but
there are plenty of interesting and provocative works, each carrying their own
message.
The exhibition begins with Jon Eric Riis’s evocative Bomber Jacket (2006). Riis,
an artist from Georgia, is a skilled weaver of tapestries and particularly influenced
by Asian design. This jacket is seductive and it is scary. Cut-outs of bombs break
forth from the surface, leaving the two-dimensional world of fashion for the three-
dimensional world of reality. There are a host of psychological overtones; the
jacket, displayed with arms outstretched like both a commander and victim,
carries the word No across the body. Most eerie of all, in the context of the
current world climate, is the insinuated relationship between the article of clothing
and the means of destruction, a garment of death like a suicide bomber’s vest.
American immigration policy is poignantly referenced in Miss Homeland Security:
Illegal Entry Dress Tent (2005), a towering pyramid of a camouflage dress. This
is the work of Robin Lasser and Adrienne Pao, artists based in California, who
conceived of this work functioning in context at the border fence between the
United States and Mexico, a look-out tower and a place of refuge. It’s powerful
and even glamorous in the lines of the silhouette and streamlined bodice, and
could even be considered practical if you’re a skilled stilt-walker. But this piece
goes far beyond the fancies of fashion and logistics of wearability. Look
underneath the dress and it’s a fully kitted out tent, with cots and camping gear
included. This is a powerful representation of a maternal archetype, the strong
and protective woman giving shelter of herself, drawing in those seeking shelter
under her skirts.
But, not all works in Vested Interest are overtly and solemnly directed– many have
more subtle agendas. The sock monkey bikini is a whimsical statement between
physical maturity and the vestiges of childhood. Elsewhere, New York artist
Cheryl Yun displays handbags and lingerie fashioned of newspapers in the wake
of 9/11, consumer goods created to prop up the economy. In the literal sense,
these simple items carry the anxiety of tragedy on their surfaces, covered with
newspaper pictures and articles. Even in these simple, ordinary objects, these
events cannot be escaped.
Not everything in Vested Interest hails from contemporary culture. Punctuating the
exhibition is a display of Japanese kimonos from the 1930s. These were made to
be worn as fashionable celebrations of overt patriotism. They’re like
extraordinary, wearable watercolor paintings, the delicate shades of color blend
seamlessly, and the rendering of figures is exquisitely refined. The severity of
military and nationalistic imagery may even seem incongruous to modern eyes
with the serenity of color and line on the silken surface. Within the scope of the
exhibition, these kimonos are vestiges of traditional representation employed for
propagandistic means, and serve as a counterpoint to the conceptual struggles
with identity, politics, and power that are the concern of many of today’s artists.
Though Vested Interest is like a visual anthology of current practice in artistic
textiles, there is one strong thematic undercurrent that is not drawn out, that being
the question of gender in terms of who these items are made for. The majority of
the works are made for a female body, which in the scope of western art practice
is nothing new – women have long been the subject of works because of their
identity as well as inherent aesthetics. But this exhibition raises an interesting
question - as gender roles change in so many aspects of our society, from the
prospect of a female president to the stay-at-home dad, will our ideas of fashion
and clothing as primarily a feminine environment change? Will the female form
continue to be the dominant framework for creative and expressive textile work?
There are only a few pieces in this exhibition, such as Mark Newport’s The
Patriot, a red, white and blue knit bodysuit, that are geared for the male body, or
at least unisex. Addressing these questions of gender roles may be outside of the
parameters of Vested Interest, but suggests an intriguing path of investigation.
Katherine Murrell is co-publisher of Susceptible to Images.
| Copyright 2008 Art History Chicks LLC |
| Jon Eric Riis, Bomber Jacket, 2006 |
| Robin Lasser and Adrienne Pao, Miss Homeland Security: Illegal Entry Dress Tent , 2005 |
| Omiyamairi, Soldiers At War, c. late 1930s |