Chloé Arts Launches in Paris to Empower Female Talent

In 1952, Gaby Aghion established Chloé to liberate women from traditional fashion and encourage self-expression through the clothing they choose to wear. Today, the brand’s creative director, Chemena Kamali, embodyies Aghion’s vision of designing free-spirited femininity and effortlessness luxury clothing that empowers women to be their authentic selves. 

Earlier this summer, the fashion house launched its latest program, Chloé Arts, in its flagship store in Paris. The initiative continues the values of the brand in women empowerment by recognizing outstanding female talents across different fields in the arts. For its first edition, the brand appointed Danish artist, Mie Olise Kjærgaard, whose work in large-scale painting fuels her interests in freedom, active energy, and the female gaze.

For the eight series paintings presented in Chloè’s flagship store, Kjærgaard reflected her interests by depicting female subjects in liberation. Throughout the works, moments are translated in the appeal of the female gaze where women are experiencing life from the inside out by rejecting restrictions. 

Kjærgaard sat down with Whitewall to discuss the flourishing partnership with Chloè Arts, her vision she wants replicated throughout her works, and her process when creating.

Mie Olise Kjærgaard for Chloè Arts

WHITEWALL: Did the recent show with Chloé come about with you to appear as the first featured artist in Chloé Arts? 

MIE OLISE KJÆRGAARD: The show came about through Chemena Kamali and The Journal Gallery—my gallery in New York. They presented the vision with Chloé Arts, and I really liked the idea of highlighting female artists and freedom, so I felt it was an interesting way to collaborate.

WW: What was the starting point for the paintings on view?

MOK: In my work, I am interested in movement and freedom. As a painter, I chase the freedom of the hand. There is always a kind of play in the studio, because I also chase my characters. There is a timing aspect in my work. The character of the strokes has to establish the bodies within a certain timeframe – it always starts up a bit hectic yet playful. I try out a lot of ideas, and it is obvious to my eye if it works or not. Later on, the process slows down and I have to control myself to not over-do it.

WW: Do you see these as a series? 

MOK: Yes, they are a part of a larger series, discussion and things I have been thinking about for a long time. I am the kind of person who likes repetition: trying things again and again, and focusing on the small variations. I work with topics that might go on for a lifetime, like motherhood, rage and anger, togetherness, gaze, feeling free, balancing and falling, losing-face and social hierarchy. The exhibition at Chloé brings together a group of works that I believe has a great dynamic.

Kjærgaard’s Vision in Creating

WW: When creating the collection of work you used the example of hitting a tennis ball perfectly as a freedom that is a privilege, matching with the energy you see in Chloé. I’m curious to know your inspiration behind this comparison after working with Chloé to create a vision of works surrounded by tennis.

MOK: I have been working with the topic of tennis over several years, and the idea of hitting the ball just right. I compare this concept of using your body to have fun to painting. In talking to Chemena about the ideas that Chloé was built upon, I found there was also a vision about freedom and energy, which made us a good match.

It is a privilege to even have that choice. There are a lot of women out there, and throughout history, who can´t even dream about that. There is energy in feeling powerful on your own, through constant small victories and moments of fun.

WW: I see a creative power of yours as an artist is to create paintings based on thoughts of women-hood. Within the eight paintings, how did you incorporate different moments of thoughts in women-hood throughout the series?

MOK: In the eight works, there are several ideas that I enjoy visiting in my paintings. There is of course the Tennis theme. The women on my tennis-courts often lose focus and start doing other things. They don´t follow the rules. They are easily distracted and quickly absorbed by something new. I know that feeling, and I treasure the detours of distractions.

Then there are the women in groups, who stand together as a team, a gang, a band and have found that if they stick together, they have the power to change things. There are also three portraits in the exhibition, looking back with no smiles, no shame, but with determination and curiosity. We have come pretty far in gaze-theory, and while SoMe and pop-culture sometimes move the ideas backwards, we constantly become more aware about who owns the power through complex conversation. But we still have a way to go before things are balanced.

WW: How do you think of scale in your work? And color?

MOK: Scale is exciting, because you can use your body differently in a large-scale work, where you move your whole arm, as opposed to just the wrist. I love to engage myself 1:1 with the painting, and I love taking a walk along the canvas with the brush. I also think that experiencing a large-scale painting is very different to a smaller scale, where you are up close and intimate. With the large work, you can get lost and have to step back. I think these bodily movements are key to my work.

My colors are maybe what is more intimate or personal to me. I have fun with brushstrokes, figuration and action in my work, but color is a different matter. I can’t use certain colors, and I have a very specific palette, that I have used my whole life. Having painted for more than 30 years, and been doing almost everything at one point, color for me is strictly personal, and I have very little margin for colors that I don’t like. I enjoy having a lifelong discussion with paint. I could suddenly take on a challenge with colors, but for now I feel very challenged on so many other levels.

How Kjærgaard’s Fuels Empowerment

WW: When you are working in the studio what makes you feel most empowered?

MOK: Definitely the action of painting: moving back and forth to the canvas, making the strokes and the marks. When talking about my work itself, it often becomes the women in the paintings that make me feel empowered. While the figuration of my work is important, the painterly – the marks, layers, texture, transparency, matteness, and counter-strokes – is an equally important part of my work

These crucial moments and the work in the paintings reflect how I felt that day: the bodywork, the energy, my fierceness and rage. I sometimes totally forget the overall picture, when immersed in tactility and movement, so it flows. I find my best work between having an idea of how to communicate something and letting myself enjoy that exact same freedom or rage while doing it. I like my women to have fun, to go after their desires with no shame, to sit and concentrate, or look back without smiling.

WW: What is the reaction you hope audiences have when they see your work in the Chloé Paris Flagship store? 

MOK: I think that Chloé has been brave by going for my work. They could easily have chosen something prettier and less critical, and by that I hope that people will be a bit surprised, have a little fun, and begin to wonder.

WW: How did this collaboration with Chloé further your relationship with art from a fashion perspective?

MOK: I have been around the block a few times, previously making fashion and architecture. I fought for a long time to get into the right schools, only to discover when accepted, that I had to do something else. I even had a fashion brand doing fashion fairs and shows at one point. This collaboration made me remember a life I once had a very long time ago, when artists were not supposed to flirt with fashion. I enjoy being at a stage in my life, where I can play and do what I want. I believe it’s a privilege to be able to express yourself on different platforms with exciting and talented people. I love the idea of expressing yourself, and clothing can be a very strong signifier of personality.

What’s Next for Kjærgaard

WW: What are you working on in the studio at the moment?

MOK: I am working on a big museum show, to open in my native Denmark this winter at the Trapholt Museum of Art and Design. I’m very excited to have four big rooms of mostly new works, along with a big installation collaborating with a female choir.

 WW: What is your day to day like in the studio?

MOK: I like to leave the studio on either a good note or a good problem, because I know I will be excited to come into the studio the next morning to either continue on something or fix it.
I am not afraid of a bad situation, as long as there is a situation to go into. I have a focus disorder, which means, that I can only do one thing at a time, and forget everything else. I often forget to make coffee or lunch and I don’t answer the phone if I am occupied. That’s also why I work best alone. Otherwise, I’m all over the place and I don’t get anything done. 

I love being in the studio by myself, it’s my kingdom and my rules apply here. I would rather paint my studio floors than clean them, and I just paint around the furniture. I feel safe to fail, sing, dance and I just have a great time. I think the reason I am an artist is because of studio-time.