Happy fall, friends! What better way to kick off a new season of exhibitions than to run through some of my personal favorite shows that I visited during the blog's off-season? Let me know which shows you would to see reviewed this fall in New York and Philadelphia.
Sports and Fashion ran from September 2018 -- April 2019 at the Historic Costume & Textiles Collection at The Ohio State University. Sports and Fashion presented the history of American sportswear, highlighting decades of textile development. Curated by Gayle Strege and Marlise Schoeny, the exhibition explored the cycle of influence between fashion and sportswear. The exhibition is a timely lens in which to read the current fashion climate's emphasis on athleisure and casual streetwear.
The Traphagen School: Fostering American Fashion ran from March 5-31, 2019 at the Museum at FIT. The exhibition was presented by graduate students in the Fashion and Textile Studies MA program, and was the first of its kind to dig in to the history of the Traphagen School of Fashion. The school was founded in 1923 in New York by Ethel Traphagen, who was one of the first teachers of fashion design in New York City. The school went on to produce prestigious alumni of American fashion, including Vera Neumann, Geoffrey Beane and James Galanos. You can view the exhibition online here. Also, The Ohio State University holds a significant number of Traphagen objects.
Nick Cave: Feat. ran from February 23, 2019 - June 2, 2019 at the Akron Art Museum. Prominently featuring the now iconic sound suits, the exhibition delved in to Cave's process of using found objects to create politicized artwork that comforted his own sense of self as a black man, while bringing a message of joy and peace to communities across the US. As stated on the exhibition's website, "Along with broadcasting an increasingly urgent call for equity, Cave wants his art to spark viewers’ imaginations and aspirations. This exhibition’s title, Feat., refers to the exceedingly hard work that goes into attaining success (it takes, for example, roughly seven hours to hand-sew just one square foot of a button soundsuit). It also plays on how talent is often listed in promotional materials—an appropriate nod to Music City and its creative community. Through this immersive installation, Cave hopes to provide a transformative place where your narrative can be featured and your dreams can soar."
Too Fast to Live, Too Young to Die: Punk Graphics, 1976--1986 ran from April 9, 2019 -- August 18, 2019 at the Museum of Arts and Design. Originally shown at the Cranbrook Art Museum in 2018 the exhibition was as much a rich celebration of graphic design as it was a celebration of the punk subculture. Highlighted topics included artistic processes such as collage and bricollage, and spanned to themes of sexuality and subversion. The majority of objects on view belonged to New York collector Andrew Krivine, presenting a unique opportunity to experience a show based not on only the curators' interpretation, but that of a singular collector.