JJean-Charles de Castelbajac opens its exhibition “I Want, the Empire of Collaboration” today at the Magda Danysz Gallery, 78 rue Amelot in Paris. It will be on display until March 17, 2018.
Before the official opening, guided tour with the artist.
The exhibition "I Want, the Empire of Collaboration" represents the third part of a triptych. Primarily a fashion designer and creator, Jean-Charles de Castelbajac began this work on the influence of brands in art and society twelve years ago, with a first exhibition unveiled in London in 2009. At the beginning, he collaborated in the United States with painter Keith Haring and photographer Robert Mapplethorpe. Many other artists and personalities have since crossed his path. Throughout his career, he has established partnerships with brands, often with a certain impact. "Everything is collaborations," explains Jean-Charles de Castelbajac, who also likes to use the expression "contemporary archaeology" for this approach. Hence the theme chosen to present a selection of paintings and drawings in this Parisian gallery, a number of which were completed only a few days ago.
Upon entering, the works exhibited at the Danysz gallery represent a first approach to diversion, through a tribute to rock and pop music, which he has always loved. On large canvases, the designer selected three of his favorite music albums—Never Mind the Bollocks by the Sex Pistols, the compilation of Pin Up covers by David Bowie, and Jacno solo—which he covered with a thin layer of white paint, revealing the original visual. “It’s a technique of erasure linked to time, a form of disappearance,” comments the artist. On each of these paintings, the silhouette of a coat of arms in a primary color catches the eye. He explains that “each color is named after its medieval name: azure blue, golden yellow, red gules.”
Opposite, a work in five elements, called "Kasimir x Walt x Raymond", is a nod to Kasimir Malevich, Walt Disney and Raymond Loewi.
Further on, three large formats with the words "Catho," "Punk," "Aristo." "In this series, I branded myself," comments Jean-Charles de Castelbajac. These canvases are a tribute to "surface supports," those artists who considered the support to be more important than the image. A theme that also brings us back to fashion, with the use of the technique of turning the canvas inside out, as if it were the reverse of a garment: "I made coats with reverses that spoke of another color behind them."
Canvases and drawings of all formats are intermingled in the center of the gallery, where the inspirations and diversions that inhabit the artist rub shoulders: the Esso logo designed by Raymond Loewy and eternally revisited by Jean-Charles de Castelbajac, the pictograms of painters (Gustave Courbet, Albrecht Dürer, Vermeer) that fascinate him, improbable encounters, artistic influences...
The fashion designer continues the guided tour, not forgetting any work: the canvas that gave its name to the exhibition – "The Empire of Collaboration" – is described as "a tsunami of images, the artist's influence through his creative work"; the painting "Birth of a Story" is described as "a family tree of fashion, a sky map for designers." Starting the chronology with Balenciaga, the logos or initials of the big names in Parisian fashion are scattered across the canvas and connected by colored lines, like a tree structure.
On the first floor of the Magda Danysz gallery, the exhibition continues with other forms of expression: emotion is expressed in a less symbolic way, through emblematic signs. Like the diptych that brings together Sonia Rykiel and Sonia Delaunay in a "form of sentimental accident with these two women." And our guide doesn't forget to point out that Sonia Rykiel considered her favorite stripes as a metaphor for the bars that imprison women.
One wall is entirely devoted to a series of small paintings of the same size, lined up as if they were photos on Instagram, a social network that Jean-Charles de Castelbajac has been fond of for some time.
Finally, the last section of the exhibition, titled "The Mall/The Wall," features a display of shopping bags. Jean-Charles de Castelbajac colored them in his own way while retaining part of each bag's logo to convey a message, a touch of humor, or an association of ideas. This is undoubtedly another way of exploring fashion by appropriating its symbols and transforming its packaging with derision. Begun a few weeks ago, this is the beginning of a new exploration of Jean-Charles de Castelbajac's twists and collaborations.
Jean-Charles de Castelbajac is a French fashion designer and illustrator. This artist is also a painter, illustrator, costume designer, author, and collector. He was born on November 28, 1949, in Casablanca, descended from a noble family from Bigorre. He created his eponymous ready-to-wear brand in the 1980s and became known for his partnerships with brands, his way of blending fashion and art, and his palette of vibrant colors.
Exhibition "I Want, the Empire of Collaboration" at the Magda Danysz Gallery, 78 rue Amelot in Paris. From February 3 to March 17, 2018. Free admission.
Carine Loeillet
