HIGH ART COZIES UP TO POSH FASHION
Fashion Critic
By JAMES GARDNER
May 4, 2001 -- NEW York City, in addition to being the center of the
universe, has been for at least a generation the world capital of fashion
and art.
But though the worlds of fashion and art have been joined in a very public
pas de deux for at least a decade, they never quite came together in an
emphatic embrace until last night, with the inauguration of a massive
happening called "Madison Avenue: Where Fashion Meets Art."
The main event took place at Barneys, where works of art by such celebrities
as Jane Alexander and Dennis Hopper went on the block, with proceeds going
to the Elizabeth Glaser Pediatric AIDS Foundation.
In addition, more than 60 boutiques along Madison are displaying art from
their own collections or on loan from one of over 40 galleries there.
For the next two weeks these works will remain on view. And although you
won't find any real masterpieces, there are some intriguing selections, and
it is interesting to see how they interact with and sometimes enhance the
dominant mood of the boutiques.
At best, there emerges a kind of conceptual and formal rhyme between the
object and the boutique. The most impressive instance of this is at Genny,
831 Madison Ave., where one madly exuberant length of abstract art by Terry
Rosenberg, occupies the entire window and mimics the sprawling, branchlike
signature "Genny" over the door.
Another impressive example of synergy, to invoke the buzzword of the hour,
is Valentino's display of Andy Warhol's "Camouflage," on loan from the
redoubtable Gagosian Gallery. Warhol has the distinction of being the first
artist to combine within himself an exuberant taste for art and fashion as
well as an obsession with the cult of celebrity. But only when you consider
that the dominant fashion motif for this season is camouflage does the full
relevance of the image become obvious.
A few blocks north, the Ralph Lauren store at 867 Madison, at 72nd Street,
has chosen black and white images by the '50s fashion photographer Louise
Dahl-Wolfe in homage to Lauren's newest line of clothes. "The clean, elegant
lines of the photograph," Mr. Lauren informs us in fluent press-release-ese,
"reflect the essence of my spring collection - sexy, sophisticated and
feminine."
Not all of the choices are that interesting. At Max Mara, 813 Madison Ave.
some photographs by Steven Meisel, renowned for his pictures of one very
naked Madonna, look no different from the usual fashion spreads that he has
shot for Max Mara over the years. And a handsome silver pitcher by Henning
Koppel, on view at Georg Jensen, at 683 Madison Ave. is quite
indistinguishable from what is on sale at the store every day.
If all of this is beginning to sound to you like one big media event
concocted by clever publicists, you are probably not entirely wrong. And if,
given the recent tour of Sir Paul McCartney's paintings and the Las Vegas
exhibition of Steve Martin's art collection, you feel that visual culture
has already become too cozy with entertainment and fashion, that the
precincts of high culture are being ransacked by overpaid and pomaded
barbarians, you may also be right.
But if you accept the argument that any excuse to see art is a good one,
then you might find it worth your while to take a stroll along the avenue.
If nothing else compels your attention, enjoy the spectacle of exorbitantly
priced objects set into a context of $500 per square foot of rented real
estate, easily some of the most expensive on Planet Earth.
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