hpgrp gallery New York - The apARTment

Current Exhibition

until May 24, 2009
Locus & Art Wave

THE APARTMENT
Colette

April 4- May 12, 2007
Opening Reception: April 4, 2007; 6-9pm

“At the core of Colette’s work is a nomadic principle, an openess to any media, material, or cultural network as a means of circulating images or ideas. An enduring concern to speak to multiple audiences or ideas, large and small, elite culture and mass culture.”—Johnathan Crary (‘83)

“Colette is a pioneer in the 70’s persona movement that first introduced the now common issues of role playing and identity to the contemporary art movement.”—Walter Robinson (Artnet 2007)

“Colette has been a visionary presence on the new york art scene since the early seventies. her work is complex and encompasses many concepts that stretch our notion of art. She explores the role the artist plays in our life, the female persona in art, and the line between fine art and commercial art and fashion, Many of her ideas are echoed today in the art world as well as throughout popular culture.”—Paul Tschinkel (Documentary film on Colette; ‘83)

In the APARTMENT, Colette will create a fictitious space reminiscent of living rooms re-created in museums for historical and archeological purposes and will address the importance of home.

Home as art is a recurring theme in Colette’s work, beginning with her legendary silk environment which began early seventies and continues till now to be an artwork in progress. The ongoing threat of losing it, and being an artist living close to ground zero; which more recently is a place where demolition of old buildings and development of new luxury hi-rise apartments buildings is impossible to ignore. This has brought the theme of” personal habitat” has re-entered Colette’s work with a new perspective. This exhibition will include artworks, photographs, clothes from Colette’s famous closet, furniture and artifacts. Impermenance being a central theme all fragments of the installation will be for sale, offering Colette another opportunity to address and blur the fine line between art and life.

In 2004, Colette transformed an entire floor in the hpgrp building in Ginza, Tokyo.“The Bedroom” was entirely covered with rushed satin fabrics, mostly in Colette’s trademark pink. Inside the room were new paintings, sculptures, a pink satin clothing line created to match the environment, and various objets d’art.

This was not Colette’s first foray into fashion. In the 70’s, she was already internationaly known for her soft fabric environments which included her likeness in costumes she designed, which were inspired by the soft fabrics of the walls of her installations. These were named “Beautiful Dreamer”uniforms.Her works were not only held in prestigious museums and galleries but also in unorthodox art spaces, such as the streets and presented her tableaux and multi-media spectacles often in shop windows, clubs, boutiques, etc...

In 1978 with a window performance/installation for Fiorucci where she slept during the day in her undergarments and corset, she revolutionized the style of young women with her “Victorian Punk” look. Fiorucci responded by commissioning her to design the “Deadly Feminine” line of clothing. In 1984 she designed the sets and costumes for the Berlin opera and in 1997 she was featured in the Fashion/Art show at the Guggenheim with a mannequin of herself wearing one of her extravagent gowns. In 2002, she installed her entire New York studio, Maison Lumiere, in the Mexican Consulate’s headquarters in downtown Montreal as part of their Biennale. Hung admist the artwork and furniture was her new “ligne nomade” part of her “modedechiree”.

Following “The Bedroom” in Tokyo, she presented “Domestic Bliss and the Colette Look”, a pink environment with a grand dining table and dinnerware designed by Colette at Rosenthals Madison Avenue headquarters. In 2005,she was included in a group show along with other famous peers in “La Robe” at UNESCO, Paris, that incorporated fashion and art. Later that year she also participated in “clothesline” for an exhibion at the Santa Fe Art Institute. Most recently she was included in the travelling show, “Downtown New York “(1974-1984) which opened at the Grey Art Gallery in January of 2006, and currently at the museum of modern art in Austin, Texas. Last February, she presented her “Reverse Pop” at the House of Kultur in Germany.( her justine series which recorded Colette’s pioneering downtown days). From June till September she was the highlight at the Frauen Museum in “Ladies of the Night”. In June she unveiled, in two solo exhibitions “La Vie en Rose” I at Pablo’s Birthday gallery in Tribeca and “La Vie en Rose II” at Carol Johnssen Gallery in Munich. These works documented a period dedicated to religiously wearing the color pink. In January 2007, “Intriguing Faces” which showcases Colette’s commissioned portraits, was held at the Vivian Horan Gallery in uptown Manhattan.