Indie Idol: Vanessa Beecroft, Kanye West's Favorite Artist
Vanessa Beecroft. Photo: Getty Images
In this series, we’d like to give you a little primer on those icons – musicians, artists, girls-about-town, that are often cited by fashion designers, and editors, as inspiration behind collections, and editorials.
Who: Vanessa Beecroft
What: Performance Artist
Fans: Kanye West, Tom Ford, Donatella Versace, Italian Vogue Editor-in-chief Franca Sozzani, Solange Knowles
'VB16 Piano Americano-Beige' by Vanessa Beecroft, 1996.
Tell Me More: Italian-born Vanessa Beecroft is a feminist artist who made her mark in the art world in 1993, when she held an exhibition at a gallery in Milan which featured a mix of drawings, and a “live installation” of a group of women, dressed in Beecroft’s clothes who were instructed to look “numb and aloof.” Since her debut she has staged over fifty performances and what they all have in common is the use of women, standing in a group, in various states of undress in the center of a gallery. From the beginning, her work stirred up controversy because it often involves nude women, which many people found exploitive and gratuitous— the very feelings she was trying to uncover in her art. In 1998, she staged a show at the Guggenheim with her “army of women.” They wore Gucci bikinis and spiked mules —courtesy of then designer Tom Ford. Pat McGrath did the makeup. Leonardo DeCaprio came to the opening and called it “dope.” While the art world sniffed at the “look at me sexuality” on display, seeing it as a bit vulgar (One critic called it “Hooters for intellectuals”), the fashion world was hooked. For a performance in Korea in 2007, where a restrospective of Beecroft’s work has being held, she staged a performance in a department store. The women, outfitted in red and beige pieces by Maison Martin Margiela, stood in a formation reminiscent of both the Korean Imperial Flag, and the Ying/Yang, a comment against the current separation between North and South Korea.
'VB60,' by Vanessa Beecroft, 2007. Photo: Kim Jae-Hwan/AFP/Getty Images
Some of her later work abandoned her feminist tendencies and explored more geopolitical issues including the genocide in Sudan. In 2008 Beecroft made a film of trying to adopt Sudanese twins, which was controversial and did not necessarily paint Beecroft in a positive light. However, the artist maintained that it was an accurate representation. (This was around the same time A-listers like Angelina Jolie and Madonna were adopting internationally.) Recently, she’s found a fan in Kanye West, who has collaborated with her on a variety of projects, including a performance for the release of 808s and Heartbreak, his short film Runaway, his wedding to Kim Kardashian, (there was an exhibition of her sculptures) and his latest video “Only One,” which features West and his daughter North, walking through a hazy, rainy, open field. Her influence is perhaps most obvious in the slowed-down movement, and North’s acute awareness of the camera. It was just announced today, that the presentation for his new Adidas collaboration, which will take place in New York City tomorrow February 12th, will also feature a performance by Beecroft.
'Affordable Care,' by Vanessa Beecroft x Kanye West, 2013. Photo: Corbis Images
Signature Style: Beecroft’s work is instantly recognizable by its group of women, facing out into the crowd, wearing high-fashion, or nothing at all. She refers to it as a “tableau vivant,” or living picture. Solange Knowles’ wedding pictures, which quickly went viral, were inspired by Beecroft’s iconic work.
