Maison Valentino in Beijing for Re-Signify Part II

Nothing short of ultra-lively and deeply immersive, the art space features displays by artists including Cao Fei, whose decadent, almost sickly luxurious installation of sparkling and overflowing gowns question the grotesque nature of Hollywood glamour. Fei presents clothing as aspirational, acting as something in between disguise and dress. 

Pajama, an installation made up of photographs by Paul Cadmus and Jared and Margaret French, propose that leisure, like photographs, are artificial, purely conceptual souvenirs that reshape the human experience. Their photos, taken on easy summer stays on Fire Island, NY in and Provincetown, MA between the 1930s and 1950s, suggest that the kind of insatiable nostalgia we crave now was never how people’s lives truly were to begin with. 

Countering the standout pinks, yellows, and beiges in Valentino’s Spring/Summer 2018 Haute Couture collection, polaroid images taken by Robby Müller offer a glimpse into city life. In his photos, colors are oversaturated, punctuating transient landmarks, pieces of the world we find ourselves in an intimate relationship with, only to realize everybody feels the same too. 

By twisting and reshaping elements of Western and Asian tradition, Xu Zhen questions standards of beauty and art, in some instances decapitating Greco-Roman style sculptures and replacing their heads with Asian-style sculptures. Zhen’s work is oversized and trances in the surreal, a signature theme that mirrors the Godly six-meter-high white dress from the Valentino “Of Grace and Light” Haute Couture collection. 

“Re-Signify Part II” continues to shape how we think about contemporary art, while studying the modes and stakes of beauty and high fashion.