Author Archives: Meg Clark

Opening Day for D.C.’s New International Contemporary Art Fair, (e)merge

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In the Studio: Panelists Siobhan Rigg, Veronica Jackson and Jamie Smith with Moderator Klaus Ottmann at the Creative Voices DC panel on September 14. Photo: Meg Kuck

Like many of you, I’ve watched the countdown on the website, kept in time with updates on social networks, and attended panel discussions around the city in anticipation of D.C.’s new international contemporary art fair, (e)merge - which opens this evening and runs through Sunday afternoon.

Occupying the first two floors of the Capitol Skyline Hotel and some of its outdoor space – including a poolside performance – fair-goers will have ample opportunity to not only experience work from D.C.’s emerging (get it?) art scene, but from international artists and galleries as far reaching as the Netherlands and Italy.

Last week our Director of the Center for the Study of Modern Art and Curator at Large Klaus Ottmann sat down with art professor and (e)merge exhibiting artist Siobhan Rigg, collector and consultant designer to (e)merge Veronica Jackson, and cofounder of Conner Contemporary Art, and (e)merge co-director Jamie Smith, to discuss how the fair came about and what fair-goers can expect.

A friendship quickly emerged (okay, enough with the puns) when Jamie Smith and Leigh Conner (Conner Contemporary Art) met Helen Allen in 2005, when Allen founded Pulse. They realized their shared enthusiasm for supporting emerging art and promptly hatched the plan to organize a new international art fair for D.C.

Several elements about this weekend’s fair make it stand out from all the other international art fairs. Mainly, and most impressively, all of the artists exhibiting at the fair are unrepresented, and the fair has provided them free exhibition space. Applications were vetted by a committee of curators, critics, and art world heavyweights such as Mera Rubell (collector and founder of Rubell Family Collection) and Matthew Higgs (director of White Columns).

In addition to the actual fair, performances and panel discussions are on the agenda for this weekend. Be sure to catch Phillips Director Dorothy Kosinski in Saturday’s panel, Collecting for the Future, at 2 pm. For a complete list of exhibitors and program information, visit the fair’s website.

Recap of Fashion Week: Art + Fashion

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In an earlier post, I discussed the connection between art and fashion in honor of Fashion’s Night Out.

For a quick art and fashion recap of the 2011 Mercedes-Benz Fashion Week, look no further than ARTINFO‘s roundup of art-inspired designs. Jason Wu continues his love affair with art in works inspired by graffiti artist KAWS; the Mulleavy sisters reminisce on their childhood discovery of Van Gogh; and, my personal favorite, Richard Serra-inspired works for Helmut Lang.

Fashion’s Night Out

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It’s September. A month that prepares me for my favorite time of the year: autumn. Contrary to the artistic trope for which it’s many times used, autumn for me means a fresh start, a new beginning – with some old favorites for comfort, of course. The sights, sounds, scents, and tastes of the fall bring to me just as big a flood of memories as they do an overwhelming sense of hope for the future.

Duncan Phillips on a transatlantic journey, 1920s. Courtesy of The Phillips Collection, Washington, D.C.

September is an important month not only for eager parents and educators. It’s a major month for the fashion industry – hearing the “thump” of the Vogue September issue hit the floor outside my front door is a glorious sound. Today is Fashion’s Night Out, an initiative started three years ago by everyone’s favorite editor, Anna Wintour. Originally this annual evening of shopping in September was meant to kick off the Mercedes-Benz Fashion Week in New York and encourage retail sales for the season. It has since evolved into an amalgamation of charitable events and industry-led celebrity appearances and parties.

What does fashion have to do with the Phillips, you ask? Have you seen pictures of Duncan Phillips? The man knew how to wear a suit. Also (and more importantly), Phillips understood very well how artists’ works can inspire different methods of the creative process.

It’s commonplace  in the world of fashion for designers to credit visual artists for the inspiration behind their collections and for design houses to collaborate with art institutions and foundations. Christian Dior and contemporary artist Zhang Xiaogang collaborated for a 2008-09 exhibition at the Ullens Center for Contemporary Art in Beijing, highlighting periods in the history of fashion. John Galliano included works inspired by the illustrations of french artist René Gruau for Dior’s spring 2011 haute couture collection. Carolina Herrera created a line of wedding gowns as an homage to painters, and later drew upon literary and artistic works.

Most recently, and perhaps most notably, the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York collaborated with the design house of Alexander McQueen in a posthumous tribute for Savage Beauty (many argue that Alexander McQueen was one to have blurred the lines between art and fashion).

The Phillips has embraced the impact of art on fashion (and vice versa) in its programming. For our Robert Ryman exhibition last year, we hosted a program in collaboration with Neiman Marcus Mazza Gallerie featuring designer Jason Wu’s Ryman-inspired line for Tse, and during our Philip Guston exhibition we teamed up again to showcase Italian designs (many in Guston’s pink palette) for a Roman Holiday event.

Fashion’s Night Out in Georgetown runs 6-11pm tonight. Mercedes-Benz Fashion Week runs September 8-15 in New York’s Bryant Park.