ANUBHUTI ARYA

This new aesthetic direction focusses on merging two starkly opposite ideas- crude and refined. Whether through materials, techniques, finishes or even concepts, the raw, unfinished is blended together with a polished, more curated approach to deliver something entirely new and refreshing. Whether the motive is to go back to nature, connect with your roots, provoke intelligent questions, or simply make art and fashion a little more accessible and inclusive, this unique direction that is at once refined and raw is an interesting phenomenon. In everyday fashion particularly, it can be observed in terms of intentionally unfinished textures, frayed hems, or something as commonplace as a pair of distressed jeans. In terms of styling it can be observed when street style or folk crafts find their place in a fashion leader’s wardrobe or on the runway of a luxury brand. In this case the traditional method of fashion or culture adoption is reversed- instead of trickling down from the elite, the trend rises upwards from the base. In this sense, this amalgamated aesthetic of crude and refined could be an interesting manner to defy convention and hunt for trends.

However, the aesthetic is not just superficially confined to materials and silhouettes, but goes much deeper as a philosophy. The very idea of curating a raw, unpolished idea or material and lending it an artistic, fashionable quality suggests that taste is not derived from the object or material itself, but from the motive of its creation and the philosophy behind its design.

The most apparent example that comes to mind in regards to this aesthetic is the DADA movement, in particular Marcel Duchamp’s urinal. The exclusive nature of high-art was first challenged by the DADAists, that sought to promote non-art as art. However, due to its highly radical and intellectual nature, the movement, although a crucial development in art history, remained confined to the artistic crowd and never truly gained any momentum with the masses. On one hand while the DADAists were a bit more aggressive and radical, this new direction takes a softer approach, going back to nature and simplicity while creating art.

In the late 60s and early 70s, Italy witnessed the poor art movement- Arte de Povera. Here, artists began breaking free from using conventional materials such as paint and textile, and exploring unconventional raw materials to create art. These raw materials more often than not were what one can call ‘base’ materials- natural materials such as mud or leaves, or other found materials that costed the artist a negligible amount of money, hence lending the movement its name. This movement was at once humble yet radical, it sought to go back to the simple reality of everyday life and find artistic beauty in the mundane.

In the postmodern world, however, the merging of a curated approach with a raw, unfinished aesthetic has a slightly different, more complex motive. Hussein Chalayan’s graduating collection ‘The Tangent Flows’ at Central Saint Martins, consisted of decayed, rotten looking garments that he had buried along with iron fillings and exhumed six months later. With this he sought to provoke the onlookers, making them wonder about how easily fashion dies, and how decay and recycling can be a beautiful process. Here, the motive to mix crude materials with a thoughtful, crafted approach was to provoke questions and inspire thought. Similarly, in 1997 Martin Margiela worked in collaboration with a microbiologist to make moulds grow on his garments. Through this, he compared the natural process of creation and decay to the consumer practices of buying and discarding. In other cases, the motive could simply be embracing our differences and uniting people from different walks of life. This happened when Demna Gvasalia of Vetements sent curated characters down the catwalk for Fall’17, albeit these fashionably dressed characters were people from real life- regular people one may see on the street every day. The focus was to play on these stereotypes in order to celebrate our differences and embrace them. In other cases, it can be used to shock and leave deep, lasting impressions on the psyche of the onlooker, such as with Oliviero Toscani’s image of a new born baby covered in placenta.

For this emerging aesthetic we were inspired by contemporary pieces that follow in the steps of Arte de Povera. Kathrine Barbro Bendixen is a Danish artist that was enamoured with using cow intestines as a raw material for her art- in this featured piece, she winds them around an LED fixture to create a radically unusual lamp. In order to address the environmental impact of the fashion industry, Jasmine Linington uses sea weed to craft high end couture pieces. Another artist addressing the issue of climate change is Jihee Moons, who presented soap made out of air pollutants to demonstrate how polluted the air we breathe is. Alice Potts turns a material as vulgar as sweat into colourful crystals to adorn garments with. But this approach goes beyond materials and also lends itself into the final finishing of the artwork. Amba Molly fuses together various materials such as glass, copper, leather, wool and thread to create unusual looking and visually tactile pottery.
A revolutionary player in this aesthetic is Krown design, which specialises in mushroom based materials, which are high performing, affordable and renewable. They even sell DIY bags with spores of the fungi and the dirt on which they feed. In order to grow them, one simply needs to add water until the mixture is white and fluffy, after which it can be molded into any desired shape. Featured in our board is a lamp not only made by this mushroom material, but also resembling a mushroom in shape and finish.

Another way that the crude vs polished aesthetic is taking direction today in the world of contemporary art is that it really allows the artist to connect with their materials and to explore them physically without any worries or constraints about a polished end result. In this case, the process or technique becomes more important than the end product. It pays homage to the artist’s labour, and an unfinished, imperfect product is always more human and appealing.