Title: 1971
Medium: leather, shoelaces, aluminum wire
Size: 30 cm by 23cm
Date: January 22, 2018
Medium: leather, shoelaces, aluminum wire
Size: 30 cm by 23cm
Date: January 22, 2018
Exhibition Text
My piece 1971 is a reference to the year the Puma Basket was made and is largely inspired by the designs of Virgil Abloh and Takashi Murakami’s The Birth Cry of the Universe. A multimedia piece that deconstructs the classic Puma Basket along with shoe laces and wire into a rocket ship to show the icon of the brand that transcends the form of the shoe. As well as comments on the exponential growth of street wear culture in the high fashion world.
Inspiration
Background
Every day more and more we see how urban and industrial facets become the new faces of luxury. In this piece I want to deal with that contradiction, since as a kid who grew up in the inner city, the exclusive, clean cut, luxury was the marking of what it meant to be part of the creme de la creme.
In the last few years the idea of what could be street wear and what could be luxury has completely changed. One of the leading faces, or logos of this movement has been Off-White. For the designer of Off-White Virgil Abloh this was the plan all along; as he has set his headquarters in Italy as to “take the young idea of streetwear and making it in the same factories as luxury houses”. Although Abloh has self-proclaimed that the bulk of his success can be owed to the social media age we are in, there is no doubt some intrigue into his designs themselves.
The most alluring aspect of his designs is the industrial and sometimes unfinished look of his designs. It’s the harness like, appropriately coined industrial belt that is recurring in the street fashion shots of worldwide fashion weeks. Yet it is in those same major cities that you wouldn’t be surprised to see a more practical version of this belt as a harness for a construction worker. That in itself is the it-factor for Off-White, having taken something so familiar and many times (what could be considered as) the mark of a poor man, and made it a must have item.
I'm not inspired by the Off-White designs themselves more so its concept. The simple idea of taking something industrial and making it luxurious, or more so how something so industrial and urban can be luxurious or can be considered to have aesthetic appeal.
Trebay, Guy. “Virgil Abloh is Saving Luxury with T-Shirts .” In the Studio, The New York Times, 28 Sept. 2017, www.nytimes.com/2017/09/28/fashion/virgil-abloh-off-white.html. Accessed 10 Dec. 2017.
The most alluring aspect of his designs is the industrial and sometimes unfinished look of his designs. It’s the harness like, appropriately coined industrial belt that is recurring in the street fashion shots of worldwide fashion weeks. Yet it is in those same major cities that you wouldn’t be surprised to see a more practical version of this belt as a harness for a construction worker. That in itself is the it-factor for Off-White, having taken something so familiar and many times (what could be considered as) the mark of a poor man, and made it a must have item.
I'm not inspired by the Off-White designs themselves more so its concept. The simple idea of taking something industrial and making it luxurious, or more so how something so industrial and urban can be luxurious or can be considered to have aesthetic appeal.
Trebay, Guy. “Virgil Abloh is Saving Luxury with T-Shirts .” In the Studio, The New York Times, 28 Sept. 2017, www.nytimes.com/2017/09/28/fashion/virgil-abloh-off-white.html. Accessed 10 Dec. 2017.
“Japanese people accept that art and commerce will be blended; and in fact, they are surprised by the rigid and pretentious Western hierarchy of “high art’,”- Takashi Murakami
Takashi Murakami
c. Isle of the Dead . 2014, Gagosian , New York City.
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Murakami, Takashi. The Birth Cry of a Universe, 2014. 2014, Gagosian , New York City.
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In the Land of the Dead, Stepping on the Tail of a Rainbow was the exhibition of Murakami that I largely took inspiration from. While I knew of Murakami's more inconic work such as the Kanye bear and his famous rebranding of Louis Vuitton, I knew little of the full extent of his work. He is someone who has a distinct style known as Super Flat, a style that can be seen as contemporary pop; his style mixes the manga cartoon style with bold colors and both old and new Japanese art; a style that mixes cute, bright, sexy and sometimes grotesque concepts. More importantly he has a distinct concept of his art, something that I wanted to explore, he is someone who believes in the blurred line between commercial and fine art, in simpler terms a mix of high and low end. It's a concept that I want to work with since it works in the same vein as street fashion, the question of what luxury can be (look like).
The inspiration is largely based on form and color especially in The Birth Cry of a Universe, 2014 which is a piece from the exhibition In the Land of the Dead, Stepping on the Tail of a Rainbow, where we see his cute and bright concept diminish to fit into the tragic and dark mood of his inspiration of the great Tohoku earthquake of 2011. In this piece there is something exceptionally intriguing about the combination of a closed and organic form almost reminiscent of a bubble and its bright metallic color. While an organic, closed form is relatively straight forward, I want mine to have a similar grotesqueness to Murakami's piece, almost like it's something toxic that is bubbling up. As for getting that metallic color, I would like to experiment with both gold leaf and spray paint if possible.
The inspiration is largely based on form and color especially in The Birth Cry of a Universe, 2014 which is a piece from the exhibition In the Land of the Dead, Stepping on the Tail of a Rainbow, where we see his cute and bright concept diminish to fit into the tragic and dark mood of his inspiration of the great Tohoku earthquake of 2011. In this piece there is something exceptionally intriguing about the combination of a closed and organic form almost reminiscent of a bubble and its bright metallic color. While an organic, closed form is relatively straight forward, I want mine to have a similar grotesqueness to Murakami's piece, almost like it's something toxic that is bubbling up. As for getting that metallic color, I would like to experiment with both gold leaf and spray paint if possible.
Jones, Justin . “Takashi Murakami’s Art From Disaster.” The Daily Beast, 28 Nov. 2014.
“Takashi Murakami Biography, Art, and Analysis of Works.” The Art Story, www.theartstory.org/artist-murakami-takashi.htm.
“Takashi Murakami.” Artsy, www.artsy.net/artist/takashi-murakami.
“Takashi Murakami Biography, Art, and Analysis of Works.” The Art Story, www.theartstory.org/artist-murakami-takashi.htm.
“Takashi Murakami.” Artsy, www.artsy.net/artist/takashi-murakami.
Planning
IDEA:
Puma Brand
The Puma brand is one that in recent years has receive a lot of love in fashion culture , particularly feeding off the Fenty X Puma line cosigned by none other than Rihanna, I for one own the more affordable version of the Puma line that being the Basket Classic LFS, a shoe that was recently brought back. Taking into account both the recent resurgence of the brand as an icon and the easy accessibility, it seemed like the perfect medium to work with.
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Meaning
To sum my idea up, I want to deconstruct the Puma Basket in order to make it look like a rocket-ship. More specially a cartoon, toy like version of a rocket-ship.
Meaning: My main focus really is to take something so iconic and taking away the most iconic portion of it, the fact that it is a shoe, to try to show that it has such a level of recognition that in transcend even it's simple of title of being a sneaker, More over the new form of becoming a rocket is important as well because it is my comment on the shift in the fashion world. When the great space race was going on in the 1960's it was a start of a new age and that is exactly what I am seeing in fashion today. Another reason I chose the tubular form of a rocket ship is it really ties in my inspiration Murakami, who always tried to show that art could be both high end and low end. In that way it is an ode to this vision by showing how this new age of low fashion is taking over and what better way to show this than in a toy like form. Also the use of a toy like version of the rocket-ship is another nod at him since in the piece The Birth Cry of the Universe, it almost looks like the mushroom like cloud that a missile leaves behind, which is similar to the form of a rocket ship.
Meaning: My main focus really is to take something so iconic and taking away the most iconic portion of it, the fact that it is a shoe, to try to show that it has such a level of recognition that in transcend even it's simple of title of being a sneaker, More over the new form of becoming a rocket is important as well because it is my comment on the shift in the fashion world. When the great space race was going on in the 1960's it was a start of a new age and that is exactly what I am seeing in fashion today. Another reason I chose the tubular form of a rocket ship is it really ties in my inspiration Murakami, who always tried to show that art could be both high end and low end. In that way it is an ode to this vision by showing how this new age of low fashion is taking over and what better way to show this than in a toy like form. Also the use of a toy like version of the rocket-ship is another nod at him since in the piece The Birth Cry of the Universe, it almost looks like the mushroom like cloud that a missile leaves behind, which is similar to the form of a rocket ship.
Moving Forward:
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I have a lot of ideas but I've decided on the skeleton/ armature version that depending on how the process goes will either be covered by strands of the shoes or will be completely covered by the shoe. As for the color I believe using gold leaf or spray paint over it but depending on how the final form looks like I will either fully coat the piece or will give it a crack like coat.
Process
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1. The first step to completing my piece was gathering materials by deconstructing my Puma Baskets. Essentially I took a razor and cut around the seams of the shoe. Then I took out every layer of padding inside the sole. This allowed for a wider range of material to be used from leather to foam.
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2. The next step after cutting up the shoe into different parts was getting it into the rocket ship form. This proved to be very difficult and I spent a few hours redesigning my original concept. Originally I thought I could simply take the aluminum wire, form it into the missile-like shape and then make another exact copy and place them inside each other to make them 3-D. Still this proved to be over simplistic, as I spent an excessive amount of time shaping the wire; which while flexible it was not as malleable as I hoped and proved to be stubborn to shape. This is when the idea came to use the outline of the shoe, by modifying the shoe by getting rid of unwanted curves and inputting wire to create a more oval like shape I was able to achieve something similar to the rocket ship look.
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3. Once I got a form that I was satified with I decided to add a layer of masking take in order to reinforce and define the missile-like rocket ship form I wanted. This proved to be a quick thinking Idea that helped speed up my process and give a more distinctive look to my project. I added hot glue to stick some of the areas that didn’t fully stick since it is quite cheap and flimsy tape.
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4. Once I had a definite form I could now add actual shoe fabric and shoe lace pieces using hot glue. It was a very time consuming process because I wanted purposeful repetition to make texture to add a clean aesthetic value to my piece. This isn’t really something Abloh’s designs or Murakami’s art employed. Still with the shoe being primarily an off white color I felt as if texture was necessary to make my piece more interesting. A huge point in my piece was that the icon of the brand would be easily identifiable, and the best way to prove that was not calling attention to the logo.That is why I inverted or placed the logo backwards many times in order to make subtle references, as to prove that the brand is such an icon that it is identifiable even in those circumstances.
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5. The wings of my rocket ship were a huge impact in making it a distinguishable rocket ship. Before I had built them the base (armature covered in masking tape) looked almost like a football. For the most part the most time consuming part was shaping the wings to equal shapes and length, which proved to not be all that accurate because one wing ended up rather short than the others. Still I was able to work with the lopsidedness as it made it look like the piece was ready to take-off. Nonetheless I still added a layer of masking tape to each wing and then wrapped it with a layer of shoelace string. Then I went back and added different patterns; again this was for aesthetic value that texture brings in making it an interesting piece to look at. Finally I used an ample amount of hot glue to stick the wings onto different sides; I used leftover shoe fabric to cover up the glue for the sake of craftsmanship.
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6. My final step was to add a coat of Krylon's metallic 18KT gold spray paint. This was a very straightforward process that just took multiple coats and precautions. Still I am rather satisfied of how the final product turned out, as it made small details in the piece stand out. It created a similar effect to my inspiration,The Birth Cry of a Universe, of having the strong metallic color draw attention to the unique texture like it does in Murakami's piece especially in the teeth area of his piece. Furthermore I feel that a photograph won't do my piece justice and am going to be taking my piece to be exhibited directly in UWM.
Experiemntation
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Originally my idea was to simply just attach fabric, as in just the top half of the shoe, onto the skeleton/armature of the rocket ship. Still I quickly realized that I did not have enough fabric to cover the entire structure. This is when I had to start experiment with not only the soles of the shoes but shoe laces as well. This actually ended up bringing a lot of aesthetic appeal to my project, to the point that if I would have not done it the piece would have looked boring. This experimentation of texture also allowed for the whole shoe to be used allowing me to convey my meaning much better since I completely transformed the form of the shoe into something different instead of just the fabric.
One of the key points is the weaving I did with the shoelaces to cover up the blank spaces. This not only allowed for the piece to look finished but added an element of unity that acted as a bridge between the more plastic and silicon parts to the leather and foam areas. Another key point is the the use of the sole and its many textures which I alternated to create a road like look. This arrangement allowed for it to look more purposeful than as if I had run out of fabric and in the end made for a unique look.
In the end it made the piece fit together more fluidly than it would have previously.
One of the key points is the weaving I did with the shoelaces to cover up the blank spaces. This not only allowed for the piece to look finished but added an element of unity that acted as a bridge between the more plastic and silicon parts to the leather and foam areas. Another key point is the the use of the sole and its many textures which I alternated to create a road like look. This arrangement allowed for it to look more purposeful than as if I had run out of fabric and in the end made for a unique look.
In the end it made the piece fit together more fluidly than it would have previously.
Reflection
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Reflection: CompareOverall 1971 is one of the most unexpectedly pieces that I am actually very proud of. For one I think I captured the essence so common in Murakami's work and especially The Birth Cry of a Universe, 2014. Not only is this captured in the use of a similar gold metallic hue but more importantly in the unique form and textures I established in 1971. Although I did not include the use of a more grotesque form, I feel as if it would have been distracting to my concept that really didn't need that tone. I also feel as if I captured the essence of showing how the name of the Puma Basket shoe transcends the form of the shoe itself. Not only this but I showcased low end fashion sky rocketing to fame in a humorous way since my piece did end up looking like a rocket ship. In addition my other inspiration of Virgil Abloh, and his famous The Ten serious is known for the unfinished and deconstructed look, something that is similar in my piece which seems both put together but torn at the seams. Moreover I feel like I brought the best of both Abloh's deconstructed, unfinished look and Murakami's toy-like and extravagant form.
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Reflection: ContrastThere are of course a couple of things that if I could I would do differently, most of them technical things. For one the wings are not the same height, so depending what angle you look the rocket ship it can look lopsided. As well as the wings themselves are not well supported by the hot glue only, so if I wonder to redo the piece I would use a stronger adhesive with more support structured at the wings. Still I made some unique decisions of my own such as adding repetition to make patterns on my rocket ship. This ended up working to my advantages despite not looking to my inspiration since it gave the piece a sense of unity. Overall I would say I am satisfied with my work besides minor kinks.
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Reflection: UWM Critique
My critique at University of Wisconsin- Milwaukee with the Peck School of Art professors was very memorable and I have many takeaways. To begin it was a new environment and critique set-up that I was not used to. Not only was this two seasoned professors instead of my peers but it was all about my art work instead of my process portfolio as well, I had to be very confident about my piece and its ability to convey the message I wanted. Although they were impressed by my application of the spray paint medium and my use of material vocabulary (just using sneaker materials) they believed my form may have not conveyed the message I wanted. Although they understood the why I decided to use a rocket ship form they did not like that it was an outdated, 1960's rocket. I did this to take from my inspiration of Murakami who is known for his toy-like and cutesy style; as well as when it comes to mind that is the most iconic version of a rocket ship and the form most synonymous with the space age ( a new age in technology). Still they made a good point stating that by using an outdated rocket lessened the message I was trying to make of my piece representing a new age in fashion. With this in mind if I were to do this piece again I would take much more risks with the form and not stick to a cooking cutter version of the rocket form.
Still for this current piece there is one element that the professors recommended that would I like to add to this piece, 1971. That would be to add a box element to elevate the entire piece. I would do this by using a Fenty X Puma shoe box I have. I would use the box to showcase my piece and stay in the material vocabulary of shoes. This would be following the professor's critiques that they felt as if the piece was not being showcased well enough. Another thing I want to do in order to add a sense of more elevation,is using shoe laces to create the cloud like shapes that a rocket leaves behind as it blasts off. I feel as if by adding those two piece to my final will uplift and create the sense of elevation that the professors felt was missing.
Still for this current piece there is one element that the professors recommended that would I like to add to this piece, 1971. That would be to add a box element to elevate the entire piece. I would do this by using a Fenty X Puma shoe box I have. I would use the box to showcase my piece and stay in the material vocabulary of shoes. This would be following the professor's critiques that they felt as if the piece was not being showcased well enough. Another thing I want to do in order to add a sense of more elevation,is using shoe laces to create the cloud like shapes that a rocket leaves behind as it blasts off. I feel as if by adding those two piece to my final will uplift and create the sense of elevation that the professors felt was missing.
ACT Response
1) Clearly explain how you are able to identify the cause-effect relationships between your inspiration and its effect upon your work?
The effect of my inspiration to my work comes off clearly through the idea of high and low in street fashion and in Murakami's work. I emphasize the idea of low and high fashion coming together in my work in my use of somewhat inexpensive, used and beat-up shoe like the Puma Basket and making into the new form of a rocket ship.
2) What is the overall approach(point of view) the author (from your research) has regarding the topic of your inspiration?
The authors within my research could be both very objective and bias depending on if they took on the view of a consumer or critic. In especially the fashion specific sites where the point view like consumer there is a tone of absolute praise. Still in art specific websites Murakami's work it mainly criticized for it's mainstream appeal.
3) What kind of generalizations and conclusions have you discovered about people, ideas, cultures, etc. while you researched your inspiration?
Within my research I have had to look at fine art and fashion, I have come to understand that in in the fine art world it's all about exclusivity. For example Murakami's work is highly criticized for being to commercialized yet designer Virgil Abloh is celebrated for the same reason, as he has taken industrial items like harnesses and made it the next big thing.
4) What was the central idea or theme around your inspirational research?
The central idea in my work is the understanding that low end fashion is taking over high end fashion. Further than this the idea of icon-ism of how I can deconstruct a shoe but because of the brand one will still be able to identify it as a shoe.
5) What kind of inferences (conclusions reached on the basis of evidence and reasoning) did you make while reading your research?
The biggest inference I was able to make is that there has been a huge turning point in the fashion industry one that values accessibility over exclusivity. This is something that through the popularization of Virgil Abloh's designs that mainly fall into street fashion category in worldwide fashion weeks.
The effect of my inspiration to my work comes off clearly through the idea of high and low in street fashion and in Murakami's work. I emphasize the idea of low and high fashion coming together in my work in my use of somewhat inexpensive, used and beat-up shoe like the Puma Basket and making into the new form of a rocket ship.
2) What is the overall approach(point of view) the author (from your research) has regarding the topic of your inspiration?
The authors within my research could be both very objective and bias depending on if they took on the view of a consumer or critic. In especially the fashion specific sites where the point view like consumer there is a tone of absolute praise. Still in art specific websites Murakami's work it mainly criticized for it's mainstream appeal.
3) What kind of generalizations and conclusions have you discovered about people, ideas, cultures, etc. while you researched your inspiration?
Within my research I have had to look at fine art and fashion, I have come to understand that in in the fine art world it's all about exclusivity. For example Murakami's work is highly criticized for being to commercialized yet designer Virgil Abloh is celebrated for the same reason, as he has taken industrial items like harnesses and made it the next big thing.
4) What was the central idea or theme around your inspirational research?
The central idea in my work is the understanding that low end fashion is taking over high end fashion. Further than this the idea of icon-ism of how I can deconstruct a shoe but because of the brand one will still be able to identify it as a shoe.
5) What kind of inferences (conclusions reached on the basis of evidence and reasoning) did you make while reading your research?
The biggest inference I was able to make is that there has been a huge turning point in the fashion industry one that values accessibility over exclusivity. This is something that through the popularization of Virgil Abloh's designs that mainly fall into street fashion category in worldwide fashion weeks.
Bibliography
Pictures:
“Basket Classic LFS Sneakers.” Puma , Puma , us.puma.com/en_US/pd/basket-classic-lfs-sneakers/pna887121491401.html.
“OFF-White's Industrial Belt .” Off-White "Website", Off-White, 2017, www.off---white.com/en/US/women/t/seasons/ss2018 .
“Nike X OFF-WHITE sneaker collection.” Off-White "Website", Off-White, 2017, www.off---white.com/en/US.
“White medium sculpture tote bag.” Off-White "Website", Off-White, 2017, www.off---white.com/en/US/women/t/seasons/ss2018.
“White sculpture binder clip bag.” Off-White "Website", Off-White, 2017, www.off---white.com/en/US/women/t/seasons/ss2018.
“Basket Classic LFS Sneakers.” Puma , Puma , us.puma.com/en_US/pd/basket-classic-lfs-sneakers/pna887121491401.html.
“OFF-White's Industrial Belt .” Off-White "Website", Off-White, 2017, www.off---white.com/en/US/women/t/seasons/ss2018 .
“Nike X OFF-WHITE sneaker collection.” Off-White "Website", Off-White, 2017, www.off---white.com/en/US.
“White medium sculpture tote bag.” Off-White "Website", Off-White, 2017, www.off---white.com/en/US/women/t/seasons/ss2018.
“White sculpture binder clip bag.” Off-White "Website", Off-White, 2017, www.off---white.com/en/US/women/t/seasons/ss2018.