Curator at the costume institute in New York Andrew Bolton Talks about the first time he saw this piece by the late Alexander McQueen in 1998.
Showing posts with label Art. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Art. Show all posts
Friday, December 13, 2013
Wednesday, November 14, 2012
JOY THE FINALE': "Its gonna be a spectacular band"
On Sunday the 11th of November I attended the launch of Brian Mac Farlane's 2013 presentation 'JOY the finale'.(Thanks for the invite Ras Conrad)
The band is definitely his most colourful in years, and although he stated it was his last band for Trinidad's Carnival, we all know winners hardly ever walk away from the game, whatever the circumstances.
So time will tell.
In a press conference right after the launch MacFarlane said that Joy was 'gonna be a spectacular band' on the road in 2013.
The launch held as the Woodbrook mas camp was well attended by his supporters who, witnessed a colourful dramatic presentation that had a Cirque du Soleil feel to it. I will give you a review and footage of the press conference in another post, but for now here are some photos and a little video footage at the end of 'JOY'
Mac Farlane's last launch?
You can see the entire collection of my pictures here.
The band is definitely his most colourful in years, and although he stated it was his last band for Trinidad's Carnival, we all know winners hardly ever walk away from the game, whatever the circumstances.
So time will tell.
In a press conference right after the launch MacFarlane said that Joy was 'gonna be a spectacular band' on the road in 2013.
The launch held as the Woodbrook mas camp was well attended by his supporters who, witnessed a colourful dramatic presentation that had a Cirque du Soleil feel to it. I will give you a review and footage of the press conference in another post, but for now here are some photos and a little video footage at the end of 'JOY'
Mac Farlane's last launch?
You can see the entire collection of my pictures here.
Thursday, May 17, 2012
R.I.P Donna Summer
Growing up in the early eighties I was lucky enough to be living with older cousins who were into Diso, and the music of Disco's Queen Donna Summer. As an adult I only went back to her music when my hart was low, her voice always picked me up, and probably always will. Now she has ascended to the heavens to sing with the other great voices and celebrate a job well done.
Related articles
Saturday, November 05, 2011
K2K ALLIANCE & PARTNERS : The New Cool of the New School
 |
| The Yellow Sea. |
Not since ‘Tantana’ has high mas and high
fashion been merged the way K2K has merged the two with their presentation of ‘The
waters seas of consciousness. With this band
as their opening gambit K2K have confidently placed themselves at the very
cutting edge of contemporary mas.
In waters the designers Kathy and Karen Norman
use the seas as a metaphor of mans consciousness and the evolution that consciousness
may take in becoming self aware. Each section is named after a body of water
that may have a historical/religious connection to the state of consciousness
each section represents.
Unlike the fun bands of today, K2K make it very clear that they intend to bring back the old ethos of story telling through the medium of mas,
and reinventing what they call the ‘ the
cinematic beauty through choreography and design’.
Another factor that places K2K at least 3 tiers above the likes of Yuma,
tribe and the rest of fabulous fantasy merchants is the fact that they clearly
recognise and appreciate the historical significance of the prestigious title ‘Band
of the Year’, and boldly state that they intend to win it, a title we all know
only the very best of the mas fraternity can claim on the streets of Port of
Spain.
Break
in tradition:
Unlike the legendary bands of yesteryear, that drew inspiration from epic Hollywood
movies, historical events , great civilisations, or the richness of Trinidad’s own cultural amalgam, K2K has
drawn inspiration from some of the most popular and influential designers of
fashion, film, and stage today. Looking at the mas of the Norman twins and
tracing the possible seas of influence of these creations reveal this pantheon of fashion to us clearly.
Most of the head pieces take the curves and swirls in form, echoing the style of Philip Treacy, in the sections you can see sprays of Jean Paul Gaultier, waves of Eiko Ishioka and a shimmer of of John Galliano. If there are any influences of any legendary mas designers in this band it is a splash of Peter Minshall in (rage and fury female).
Most of the head pieces take the curves and swirls in form, echoing the style of Philip Treacy, in the sections you can see sprays of Jean Paul Gaultier, waves of Eiko Ishioka and a shimmer of of John Galliano. If there are any influences of any legendary mas designers in this band it is a splash of Peter Minshall in (rage and fury female).
 |
| Red sea rage and fury, looks like Eiko Ishioka's Stargher King in the movie 'The Cell'. |
Looking outside the little box of Trinidad’s
modern day carnival for new inspiration is a concept that I have, (as some of
my readers say) ‘ranted on’ about for some time now. It has baffled me over the years as to why none
of the multitude of so called designers and bandleaders of the growing number
of new bands have never attempted to also draw from the fashion industries
extreme designers who’s show’s and avant-garde designs can so easily be transferred
to the genre of contemporary mas.
 |
| Sea of Galilee. |
“To be
honest I am not quite sure. However, if “no one ever challenged the status quo
everyone would think that the world was still flat”. Thus, we are trying to
challenge the ordinary, think outside the box and offer the masquerader
something different. Men like Peter Minshall & Wayne Berkeley have set a
very high bar in mas making. They have put our generation in the launch pad and
it is up to us to take-off and take mas into another arena. We hope to be those
faces to take carnival to a new level by mixing fashion with mas, and
expressing mas as a contemporary art form.”
These ladies are definitely the pioneers of
their generation.
 |
| River Jordan. |
This is without a doubt is a fashion centric
mas, the men’s costumes are tailored in construction, straight lines, buckles and
leather straps. The female costumes are powerful and iconic, the artistic eye and
abilities of the twins are undeniable, and the costumes are of an extremely
high standard, I think this presentation more than that of any of its contemporaries
can be called couture mas,
that these costumes are well crafted is an understatement.
 |
| Saraswati River. |
Looking at the mas I can’t stop thinking
designers drew too much from the pools of high fashion.
In their
brave rejection of the repetition and mediocrity that is popular 21st century
fantasy mas, and producing this fresh, bold, and daring contemporary work, my
opinion is that the fashion has overpowered the spirit of the mas, there is
rigidity in fashion that is reflected in these costumes, and this rigidity
counters the fluidity of both water and consciousness.
It was almost too easy for me to identify the
pools of influence, that were used in each section, and while
there is nothing wrong in drawing from these pools of influence, drawing a
little too much can upset the balance, and the Norman twins have drawn form some of fashions most iconic
images.
While
I respect that they are not trying to be anything like the legends that have
preceded them I do find that it’s always good to take notes from the greats.
 |
| Ncome River. |
“...
you put just enough for the audience to do the rest of the work, if your too
obvious with it you leave them bored...”Peter
Minshall on designing the hummingbird. (See Masman)
In 2006 I called Tribe the Leaders of the NewSchool in Trinidad and Tobago Carnival,back then I
saw their approach as new and innovative. Today I pass this title to K2K,this band is
as fresh as a breeze coming in from the Caribbean Sea, like I said on Face book
it’s a shot in the arm that T&T’s Carnival desperately needed. I do hope
that this band is seen as a challenge to the rest of the mas fraternity to be
brave and challenge the now old tired order that mindless fantasy mas has
become.
I truly hope to see K2K on the road for 2012 and many years to come.
If you want to see more of this band see the website.
Related articles
Monday, November 29, 2010
WANTING MORE: By PETER MINSHALL
Peter Minshall was one of four panellists in a discussion on “The Future of the University” at Daaga Auditorium, UWI, St Augustine on Monday 11 October , 2010. The discussion was one of the events in a week of activities to commemorate the campus’ 50th anniversary. Following is the text of Minshall’s presentation:When I was a young man, anything that had to do with art or theatre, I had a hand in. In particular, I remember designing and building and painting the scenery for a production of Gilbert & Sullivan’s Yeoman of the Guard by the Trinidad Light Operatic Society. The reviewer in the Trinidad Guardian made special mention of my designs, saying this was a young designer to watch.
I also participated in an exhibition that we called, simply, Five Young Painters. Three of them—Pat Bishop, Jackie Hinkson, and Peter Minshall—are artists still working today. My contribution to the exhibition included a portrait of Lance. (Lance was a sort of brother to me, living, as we did, in the same house, he the stepson of Clemmie, who minded the house, me the son of Jean, the household breadwinner.) Lance was a striking young man, and my painting captured that striking-ness, such that the review of the exhibition singled out “Portrait of Lance”, subjecting it to an astute critical analysis, explaining how the piece succeeded as a work of art and pronouncing its author, me, a promising talent.
The reviewer writing in the Guardian at that time was Derek Walcott.
These critical appraisals and substantive encouragements were important to me in my formative years, and a good introduction to the more comprehensive and exacting critical atmosphere I encountered in London when I studied and worked there.
One would have thought, one would have hoped, that as our society became independent, and matured, that we would have built upon this practice of critical assessment in the arts. And, that we would have expanded its range to include not only such “traditional” art forms as painting and proscenium stage theatre, but to our own indigenous artistic practice.
Instead, we have regressed. There is no critical analysis of artistic practice. Every review is a blandly benign PR blurb. Every painter is talented and self-taught, every play had the audience in stitches, all the work is wonderful—when in fact a pall of mediocrity blankets the landscape.
Innate talent is all very well and good. But talent can’t develop, can’t produce anything of real quality, if there are no standards. And there is no way to establish standards other than by critical dialogue, a conversation among artists and those who know art, as to what works and what doesn’t, what is good and what is bad, what is original and what is derivative, what is brilliant synthesis and what is pale pastiche, along with a common understanding of art history and international references.
Every single work of mas that I have ever made, I approached with all the discipline, rigor, and creative effort that a serious artist puts into making any work of art.
Never in this country has a work of mas been the subject of a critical assessment as a work of art. I know this as a fact. I have all the clippings. There have been only news reports. The work was colourful. Or it was not colourful. It was, inevitably and without reason, “controversial”. It was keenly anticipated. It had “X” number of masqueraders. But never, ever, has a writer addressed how it worked as a work of contemporary art. This is a great disappointment to me.
At a certain scholarly remove, my work has been the subject of some analysis, mostly “from foreign”, but almost always this analysis has been anthropological, or sociological, not aesthetic, not artistic.
As a consequence of this situation, we as a society do not know what art is. We certainly do not know what good art is. And we do not know—we have not done the work to establish- what are the critical terms of reference by which our own indigenous art forms can be assessed. This puts our artists and our culture —a culture that is inherently creative, and creatively participatory—at a terrible disadvantage. Artists cannot build on precedents if the precedents have not been identified. Artists cannot meet standards of quality if the standards have not been articulated.
Now, I know little about how a university goes about setting its curriculum and developing its academic program. But it just seems to me that in the area of critical analysis a university can and should have a role to play. And it also seems to me that in a small place like an island, a university should not be an ivory tower set apart from the rest of the community, but can and should have its intellectual activities integrated into the cultural life of the island community.
I know there are programs at the university that teach art. This is good. But I wonder if more could be done to teach not only how to do it but what makes it good, or not. And certainly more could be done, beyond trying to produce people who can make art, to develop a culture of aesthetic analysis, critical rigour, to scour the international field for the most rigorous standards and then to incorporate these into our island experience and to develop our own rigorous standards.
I am aware of some writing that comes out of the university. Professor Rohlehr, bless him, has honoured the form of calypso with serious scholarly application. What writing has been done, however, tends toward the historical and the sociological: what were the songs and the masquerades and the pansides, and how did they reflect the society in their time. This is valuable. But I want more.
I want the serious critics jostling for space in the popular media and making this critical conversation part of our daily lives. I want someone to be able to pick apart and articulate the elements of a work, the interplay of these elements, how they functioned in context, and how they managed to produce that spine-tingling sensation in five thousand onlookers that caused them to rise to their feet in a roar. I want a culture of critical conversation that can break this down for us and put it back together again, so that we as a society can better recognize the next great work when we see it on the horizon, and so that the artists of tomorrow have something to aim at in order to reach there.
It would be wonderful if the university could be a part of making that happen.
SOURCE: Trinidad & Tobago Review
Friday, November 19, 2010
Lord Invader: My Intention is War!
I came across this X-Tempo clash between Lord Invader and Dictator and fell in love with it.
The true skill of the Calypsoian is highlighted in this at form and this clash between Invader and Dictator sees dictator backing down from a real battle, I just love it!
From the Oral traditions of the plantations to the stickfights of the Kalenda , and the xtempo, Calypso and Soca Monarch competitions of today the art form of Calypso has directed, documented, and reflected the opinions of the society....
Later.
Sunday, April 25, 2010
African Ceremonies
Thirty years ago American-born Carol Beckwith and Australian Angela Fisher met in Kenya and began a relationship with the African continent that would profoundly alter and shape their lives. Their journeys would take them over 270,000 miles, through remote corners of 40 countries, and to more than 150 African cultures.During this time the two photographers would produce 14 universally acclaimed books, including Maasai (1980), Nomads of the Niger (1983), Africa Adorned (1984), African Ark (1990), African Ceremonies (1999), Passages (2000), Faces of Africa (2004), Lamu: Kenya’s Enchanted Island (2009), and Dinka (2010). Their defining body of work, the double volume African Ceremonies (1999), a pan-African study of rituals and rites of passage from birth to death covering ninety-three ceremonies from twenty six countries, won the United Nations Award for Excellence for its “vision and understanding of the role of cultural traditions in the pursuit of world peace”. Angela and Carol have also been twice honoured with the Annisfield-Wolf Book Award in race relations for “outstanding contributions to the understanding of cultural diversity and prejudice”, the Royal Geographical Society of London’s Cherry Kearton Medal for their “contribution to the photographic recording of African ethnography and ritual”, and most recently the Lifetime Achievement Award from WINGS WorldQuest honouring the accomplishments of visionary women.
From their body of work in Africa over the last 10 years Carol and Angela have produced a number of limited edition books printed on the fine art presses in Santiago Chile under the directorship of Roberto Edwards. Their special limited edition books are Surma, Karo, Maasai, and Dinka.
These multi-talented photographers have also been involved in the making of four films about traditional Africa including Way of the Wodaabe (1986) The Painter and the Fighter, and Millennium: Tribal Wisdom and the Modern World. Their numerous photographic exhibitions have received acclaim in museums and galleries throughout the world, including the Boston Museum of Fine Arts, Carnegie Museum of Natural History, National Geographic Museum, Smithsonian Museum of African Art, Bowers Museum of Cultural Art, Borges Cultural Center of Buenos Aires, National Museums of Kenya, and venues in Australia, Europe, and Japan. In 2000 their careers were celebrated at the Brooklyn Museum of Art in New York with a major travelling exhibition called Passages featuring 97 mural photographs, 6 video films and a selection of African masks sculpture and jewelry. This exhibition has since travelled throughout the USA, to South America and Europe. The two photographers have lectured at such venues as the Explorers Club in New York, the National Geographic Society in Washington D.C., and the Royal Geographic Society in London.
Presently Angela and Carol are preparing for the 2010 publication of Dinka, their 30 year study of the great pastoralists of Southern Sudan, and completing their pan-African study of the art of body painting for a book entitled Africa: Spirit of Paint scheduled for publication in 2011.
Aware that traditional cultures in Africa are fast disappearing, Carol and Angela are working with an urgency to complete the third volume of their ongoing study of African Ceremonies with the goal of covering the remaining traditional ceremonies in the 13 African cultures in which they have not yet worked. This book entitled African Twilight is scheduled for publication in 2013.
Angela and Carol have recently expressed their intention to place their extensive photographic archive of traditional African cultures and ceremonies with an institution to be selected in the coming months. In addition to more than half a million photographic images the Beckwith Fisher collection includes over 400 hours of video film, 200 illustrated journals and three museum scale exhibitions. This unique archive, created during a thirty-year period of dedicated work, encompasses one hundred and twenty distinct cultures from forty African countries. The institution to be chosen must be a venue for ongoing study and research, committed to making the collection accessible to students, scholars, and the general public, thereby insuring that Africa’s legacy of ancient cultures is preserved, accessible and understood.
“These unique cultures posses a wealth of knowledge that should be celebrated, shared, and honoured. It is our life passion to document and create a powerful visual record of these vanishing ways of life for future generations.”
![Reblog this post [with Zemanta]](http://img.zemanta.com/reblog_e.png?x-id=a6e6ded1-1cf0-434a-bea4-faadb9595ae2)
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
Facebook Badge
MAS REPUBLIC Headlines
This is MassassinnatioN
Global
QR
Subscribe to Massassination
Posts
All Comments