Self-Portrait: Iris Van Herpen x Milton Glaser

Research:

Process:

Final Product:

 

 

Artist’s Statement:

In this photographic project, I chose to portray the fashion designer Iris Van Herpen in the style of the artist Milton Glaser, a well known graphic designer that created the “I heart NY” logo, Stony Brook’s logo, as well as a poster for Bob Dylan’s “Greatest Hits” LP. The poster was one of Glaser’s first. The poster depicts the profile of Bob’s face with psychedelic, swirly hair, with “Dylan” written at the bottom in one of Glaser’s typefaces. His inspiration for the poster was Marcel Duchamp’s 1957 Self-Portrait; and Art Nouveau, “That was an influence for the colors and shapes in the picture.” 6 million posters have been printed and distributed, and sells for hundreds of dollars, and has become a huge collectable.  I chose to apply the bold graphic design of this poster to my self-portrait in order to capture the aesthetic of the artist, who works with abstract, imaginative, almost psychedelic designs. In order to further highlight his style within the work, I chose to portray a hypothetical garment using one of Iris Van Herpen’s renown silhouettes from her “Refinery Smoke” collection and Glaser’s graphic design from his Bob Dylan poster.  The contrast between the bold graphic and subdued portrait is a classic element of Glaser’s work in which he uses silhouettes to direct the shape and volume of his designs.

Using my own self portrait, I created a work that demonstrates the hypothetical collaboration between designer, Iris Van Herpen, and artist, Milton Glaser.  In this project I collaged my face onto Iris Van Herpen’s body in a well know shot of her thanking her audience on the runway of her show at Paris Fashion Week Womenswear Fall/Winter 2016/2017.  Iris Van Herpen is well known for her use of innovative materials and construction techniques. Her design team experiments with technology and craftsmanship in order to create couture pieces. Her team is atelier, meaning they design and create pieces in-house.  The silhouettes, materials, and patterns of her work reflect various sources of inspiration, however, she employs creative technology to do so. In order to portray Iris Van Herpen’s interesting manipulations of negative space using fabric, I sculpted the graphic design of Milton’s work around Iris’s form.  Iris is dressed in Glaser’s graphic design, as if it were merely a print to one of her many avant garde, highly structured pieces.