Hussein Chalayan

Hussein Chalayan is an artist and designer, working in film, dress and installation art. Research Chalayan’s work, and then consider these questions in some thoughtful reflective writing.

1. Chalayan’s works in clothing, like Afterwords (2000) and Burka (1996) , are often challenging to both the viewer and the wearer. What are your personal responses to these works? Are Afterwords and Burka fashion, or are they art? What is the difference?

Not all clothing is fashion, so what makes fashion fashion?

Hussein Chalayan, Burka, 1996

Chalayan’s idea behind his works of Afterwords (2000) is mostly to feature the “wearable, portable architecture” and that “fashion –forward designs can be found anywhere at anytime”. His unique fashion trends draw attention to his works from viewers that are fascinated by his creativity that he brings forth. The Afterwords (2000) collection features a range of furniture that is able to transform into garments. It also has a futuristic fashion look into it which has collaborated different inspirations such as, architecture, philosophy and anthropology. Personally, I really like this collection, it shows that Chalayan has worked hard to create and develop this unique work, and also introduced his viewers into a world of wearable architectural fashion.

Chalayan’s autumn/winter collection show in 2000, features models wearing dresses and some even naked, the Burka (1996) is based around the idea of the “traditional Islamic chador, as a comment on the treatment of women in Muslim societies.” (Regine,2005)

The Burka (1996) collection is very interesting, although at the same time, it also got me questioning the real idea and reason of why Chalayan chose to exploit an Islamic tradition, to be glamorized and misused in a way that half of the models are walking down the catwalk naked. His collection of Burka (1996) is somewhat can be categorized as a one unique fashion trend and the other, a risky, disrespectful choice of idea. If a head of church from Islam and/or other people that are fully devoted to traditional acts of religion were to see this collection, they would simply regard this work as a misconduct of unethical behaviour towards the religion and cultural symbolism of Islam. Not art at all.

The difference between the collection of Afterwords (2000) and Burka (1996) is that they have two different ideas behind them. In my point of view, I can consider both of these as a work of art, although other critics may see it differently.

Hussein Chalayan, Afterwords, 2000

2. Chalayan has strong links to industry. Pieces like The Level Tunnel (2006) and Repose (2006) are made in collaboration with, and paid for by, commercial business; in these cases, a vodka company and a crystal manufacturer. How does this impact on the nature of Chalayan’s work? Does the meaning of art change when it is used to sell products? Is it still art?

Chalayan was asked to design and create an installation to promote and reflect the taste of Level Vodka. “The idea is to engage in a captivating sensual experience of scent, sound and touch. I want to match all senses – excluding vision – to emphasize the exceptional taste of Level Vodka, as Hussein Chalayan explains.” (The Level Tunnel by Hussein Chalayan, 2008) In a way, this act by Chalayan can still be considered as art; he is also expanding his works and career by taking opportunities such as these and collaborate his pieces with product design and marketing. Therefore, many artists team up and make designs for businesses to promote their products, which results a positive outcome and credit for both artists and businesses.

3. Chalayan’s film Absent Presence screened at the 2005 Venice Biennale. It features the process of caring for worn clothes, and retrieving and analysing the traces of the wearer, in the form of DNA. This work has been influenced by many different art movements; can you think of some, and in what ways they might have inspired Chalayan’s approach?

Chalayan calls himself as a ‘designer artist’, he explores around the areas of fashion and technology. A movement that may have caused for Chalayan’s approach may have been ‘pop art’ from the United States and Britain. Robert Rauschenberg, a well-known and established painter from the United States creates art out of ephemeral materials and using topical events in the life of everyday, his main concern was with social issues of the moment. Also, a group called the ‘Independent Group’ (IG) established in London 1952, was regarded as the precursor to the pop art movement; they were a group of painters, sculptors, architects, writers and critics. They focused on popular culture implications from elements such as movies, advertising, product design, comic strips, science fiction and technology. Early artists such as these may have influenced Chalayan to explore and experiment with the different fields of art and design.

4. Many of Chalayan’s pieces are physically designed and constructed by someone else; for example, sculptor Lone Sigurdsson made some works from Chalayan’s Echoform (1999) and Before Minus Now (2000) fashion ranges. In fashion design this is standard practice, but in art it remains unexpected. Work by artists such as Jackson Pollock hold their value in the fact that he personally made the painting. Contrastingly, Andy Warhol’s pop art was largely produced in a New York collective called The Factory, and many of his silk-screened works were produced by assistants. Contemporarily, Damien Hirst doesn’t personally build his vitrines or preserve the sharks himself. So when and why is it important that the artist personally made the piece?

It is important when an artist is the first to design and create their own works. That is probably the reason why contemporary artists today mainly consider themselves to have ‘originally’ created their pieces, even though engineers and/ or manufacturers helped them create the work.

References

Designer Hussein Chalayan- Wearable, Portable Architecture, (2009). Retrieved July 28^th, 2010 , from http://www.impactlab.com/2009/04/12/designer-hussein-chalayan-wearable-portable-architecture/

Regine (2005), we make money not art: Hussein Chalayan. Retrieved July 31^st,2010, from http://www.we-make-money-not-art.com/archives/2005/10/his-autumnwinte.php

Pop Art, (2010). Retrieved August 2^nd, 2010, from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pop_art

The Level Tunnel by Hussein Chalayan,( 2008). Retrieved July 31^st, 2010, from http://www.selectism.com/news/tag/the-level-tunnel/