The  Art  of  Fashion:  Personal  Style,  Politics,  and  Pussy  Hats  June  29,  2017      

A  woman  stares  wistfully  from  the  opening  in  her  hijab.  The  weight  of  the  black  shrouds  covering  her  face  is  emphasized  by  the  layers  of  heavy  black  paint  on  the  cloudy  white  canvas.  The  scrawny  trees  in  the  undefined  landscape  are  barren,  while  she  is  thickly  clothed.  Tiny  birds  float  easily  into  the  background,  while  she  remains  grounded  in  the  front  of  the  picture  plane.  This  black  and  white  painting,  by  George  Williams,  sits  below  a  hot-­‐pink  pussy  hat  on  the  wall  of  the  Fountain  House  Gallery,  knitted  by  Katie  Holten.  The  interaction  of  Williams’s  painting  and  Holten’s  hat  is  one  demonstration  of  the  synergy  of  the  gallery’s  latest  show,  The  Art  of  Fashion.  Curated  by  Kathy  Battista,  Program  Director,  MA  Contemporary  Art  at  Sotheby’s  Institute  New  York,  the  show  takes  fashion  beyond  personal  style,  and  explores  what  it  means  as  an  art  form.    The  Fountain  House  Gallery  provides  an  environment  for  artists  living  and  working  with  mental  illness  to  pursue  their  creative  visions  and  to  challenge  the  stigma  that  surrounds  mental  illness.    The  Art  of  Fashion  showcases  more  than  70  works,  in  mediums  including  drawing,  painting,  sculpture,  textile  and  video,  with  the  works  of  mainstream  artists  sitting  effortlessly  with  that  of  the  Fountain  House  Gallery  artists.      The  show  exposes  how  the  materials  we  choose  to  put  on  our  bodies  can  reflect  both  political  and  personal  ideology.  Fashion  can  be  both  oppressive  and  liberating.  Battista  explains,  “Fashion  is  used  to  control  people;  prisoners  

wear  uniforms  and  women  wear  hijab  in  certain  countries  and  it  can  be  a  form  of  oppression.”  When  we  see  the  hijab-­‐clad  woman  in  George  Williams’s  The  Dead  of  Winter  or  Katie  Holten’s  pink  pussy  hat,  we  consider  politics  before  personal  style.    Traditional  motifs  of  high  fashion  play  a  significant  role  in  the  exhibition,  as  does  street  style  and  celebrity  culture.    Fashion  can  also  undermine  the  visual  homogeneity  of  sociocultural  norms.    Another  work  in  the  show,  Eva  O’Leary’s  Elijah,  presents  a  young  boy  covered  in  pieces  of  paper,  like  a  suit  of  flimsy  armour.  Scribbles  of  red  marker  decorate  each  piece  of  paper,  and  two  cut  outs  over  his  eyes  allow  the  boy  to  see.  He  loosely  holds  a  light-­‐blue  balloon.  Battista  admires  the  “strangeness”  of  this  photograph,  highlighting  the  fact  that  fashion  is  sometimes  used  to  confuse  rather  than  conform.      The  Art  of  Fashion  showcases  artwork  by  both  Fountain  House  Gallery  artists  and  other  participating  artists  worldwide.  Many  of  theses  artworks  feature  this  provocative  “strangeness,”  which  opens  a  dialogue  between  the  Fountain  House  artists  and  the  other  artists.  Battista  explains  that  “the  mainstream  artists  are  integrated  into  the  Fountain  House  artists.”  In  conceiving  the  show,  Battista  encouraged  them  to  “think  about  fashion  in  the  widest  sense,  from  textiles  to  identity  and  street  fashion,  and  to  New  York  as  a  center  of  fashion.”  This  common  theme  allowed  artists  with  a  range  of  aesthetics  working  in  a  variety  of  mediums  to  create  works  that  function  seamlessly  in  conversation  with  one  another.    The  dialogue  created  by  Battista’s  exhibition  shows  that  fashion  has  a  lot  to  say.  Battista  continues  the  conversation  in  the  classroom  at  Sotheby’s  Institute.  Her  Art  of  Fashion  course  explores  the  historical,  political,  and  personal  aspects  of  these  closely  related  fields.  While  both  fashion  and  art  always  seek  something  new,  there  is  a  continuity  in  the  relationship  between  the  two.  This  unending  affair  inspires  artists  from  all  creative  fields,  and  keeps  us  talking  about  the  fascinating  dynamic  between  a  masterpiece  and  la  mode.      Written  by  Samantha  MacAvoy  |  Main  image:  Marina  Marchand,  C'est  La  Mode  (courtesy  of  Fountain  House  Gallery)