Art linked with clothing, Part 2
An Aboriginal Artist
Continuing further into the past in the blog archive of Artfully Awear by Ariel Adkins, please look at the composite photo of the model next to a painting by the Australian aboriginal artist Emily Kngwarreye. Notice the dress, the shoes, necklace, and even the model’s hair style harmonize with the painting.
In the painting, the painted bands seem to rise up and over one another as if they were living and catching light. There is a black background that you can only see here and there, but it contributes to the sense of the bands standing out. Painting on top of black is a problem unless you have very opaque paint or paint twice. Painting twice would take away freshness that this piece seems to have. You are not alone if you marvel at how the effect was made.
I have an idea here, that artist’s techniques are similar to a company’s trade secrets ‒ they aren’t patented, but only known to insiders, and may get lost after the artist dies. You can guess at a technique or approximate it, but not know for sure. Frequently the technique is not as labor intensive as you thought it would be.
Spring in New York
Look at the Spring outdoor scene at Madison Square Park in New York City. The artwork in the background is by the American woman artist Orly Genger who builds up swirling sculptural walls made of large coils of discarded rope. Again we can marvel: how is it done?
This is temporary public art. The picture has everything: the tree inside the artwork, the rope wall’s vivid but not strident color, the rising swoop in back, the trees in bloom, the shadow play in front, the dress, the shoes, the model.
This photo reminds me of what Richard Wagner, the great German opera composer was trying to achieve: Gesamtkunstwerk, which means ‒ a total work of art. Wagner wanted personally to create a beautiful synthesis of orchestral music, movement, props, lighting, his own written lyrics for the singing, stagecraft, and even the architecture of his opera house. He really did construct a total experience.
In our case, we have art, nature, costume, lighting, photography, a lovely model, and a glimpse of city in the background. A little more foreign name dropping fits here. The light that comes from the back, creates the shadows coming toward us and often creates a silhouette effect. Here it also creates a highlight on the model’s hair. The backlighting effect seen here is referred to by its French name: contre-jour, meaning against-the-light.