Jonathan Anderson wanted to pay tribute to the leading artistic figures of the last century, such as Peter Hujar, Charles Rennie Mackintosh, Carlo Scarpa and Paul Thek.
They all share the same creative vision that manages to turn everyday objects into truly extraordinary items. This is the case of a chair, a coat rack and an easel that take on the complexity of a building or the image of a shoe that is transformed into a monument. The latter was the inspiration for Jonathan Anderson‘s exclusive invitation to the show.
In keeping with this idea that nothing is what it really seems, the staging is understood as a room and a landscape at the same time, where the characters who inhabit the space coexist between fantasy and real life.
Peter Hujar, the acclaimed photographer, stood out in this artistic discipline thanks to his black and white portraits in which he immortalised the lovers and protagonists of the New York scene of the seventies and eighties. His compositions, his lighting and his artisanal printing methodologies have managed to transcend history to the present day and have become one of the essential points of the collection.
On the other hand, Charles Rennie Mackintosh was a Scottish architect and designer who was celebrated for his distinctive language based on an innovative fusion of styles: the fluidity of Art Nouveau, the minimalist clarity of Japanese design and emerging modernist principles. His wife, Margaret Macdonald, designed one of Mackintosh‘s most complex constructions in 1900: The Chair.
The Italian architect and designer Carlo Scarpa also signed some of the most ambitious projects such as the renovation of the Castelvecchio Museum in Verona or the Brion Cemetery in San Vito d’Altivole. His designs exemplify the philosophy of this discipline, with pieces meticulously constructed with the aim of highlighting the natural beauty of the materials.
Susan Sontag, American writer and intellectual, is the author of the work entitled ‘Against Interpretation’, which dates from 1966 and is considered to be a statement on the mystery of the artistic object and the beauty of allowing the viewer to interpret at will. As she herself asserted, “interpretation is the revenge of the intellect against art”.
Finally, Paul Thek is one of the most prominent names of the last century, as his curiosity and talent led him to delve deeply into the fields of painting, sculpture and inverse narrative installation. He also explored universal themes such as transformation and the ephemeral nature of existence.
With this narrative in mind, Jonathan Anderson focuses this season on the beauty of movement in the pieces. From metallic constructions that dazzle when the light hits them to long trench coats that open at the hem like a flower in full bloom.
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