An iconic and elusive designer comes out of hiding. We’re talking none other than Martin Margiela (1957) who shot to fame in the 1980s with deconstructed, whitewashed collections that gained him a global cult following to this very day. The Belgian designer left the whimsical world of fashion in 2009, never to be seen again, creating a myth that’s now perhaps unravelled at Lafayette Anticipations in Paris. Opening today at the grand gallery extension of the eponymous department store, is a unique solo exhibition dedicated to Margiela’s work as a contemporary artist. The show presents, for the first time in public, over twenty works: installations, sculptures, collages, paintings and films, and as such, it more or less emphasise the hypothesis that Margiela has always been an artist. In his work, he has pushed art beyond the boundaries usually devolved to it, constantly inventing new zones for experience by endlessly extending the limits of the work. Curated by art historian Rebecca Lamarche-Vadel, the works on display were almost all made in the foundation’s studio, and return to the Margiela’s lifelong obsessions. The body is very much in evidence: anatomies inspired by the academic tradition; hair and skin in almost abstract form, signs of the passing of time. Disappearance is an omnipresent theme. Margiela has never been afraid of absence or disappearance. He believes the life of an object or a being never ends, but is in constant mutation, renewing any number of times. The very idea of an end is pure fantasy; incompletion is a fundamental state (on through Jan 2).
Lafayette Anticipations
9 rue du Plâtre (Marais)
75004 Paris
Telephone: +33 1 57406417
Mon 11am-7pm
Wed 11am-7pm
Thu 11am-9pm
Fri-Sun 11am-7pm
Publishers Note
Just to be clear – superfuture® is a design blog and not a political commentator. No surprise there. The scope of our content has always been global and borderless, however that can often mean covering projects in countries where we will not agree with the politics or actions of those countries. In a world that’s as screwed up as ever right now, the focus of our support is to those designers, architects and other creatives who aim to make the world a more liveable one – as opposed to people that try their hardest to destroy it. So if a project hits our desk and we like it based on its design credentials, we may choose to publish regardless of its location or creators nationality. superfuture® has always been inclusive and hopes for all current wars, aggression, violence, hate and extremism to end.
