Summer squash:
Jonathan Anderson’s Loewe costumes make the perfect match for performance artist Anthea Hamilton at Tate Britain
Jonathan Anderson’s Loewe costumes make the perfect match for performance artist Anthea Hamilton at Tate Britain.
If you like your art a little more interactive than canvases sitting in a frame and sculptures on a plinth, The Squash is for you.
Created for the annual Tate Britain Commission, which invites contemporary British artists to create new artwork in response to the grand space of the Duveen Galleries, this year’s immersive installation combines performance and sculpture by 2016 Turner Prize nominee Anthea Hamilton.
The artist, in tandem with her good friend, Loewe creative director and designer Jonathan Anderson, has created seven somewhat surreal, spiffy and spoofy costumes to be worn by the cast. Hamilton has transformed the heart of Tate Britain into an elaborate stage for the continuous six-month performance of a single character, dressed in a colorful squash-like costume.
More than 7,000 white floor tiles have been laid across the Duveens and encase a series of large sculptures that serve as podiums for a number of works of art from Tate’s collection, chosen by Hamilton for their organic forms and colors. The tiles create an immersive new environment within the neoclassical galleries.
Each day, the show focuses on a single character, dressed in one of seven colorful Loewe costumes inspired by the colors and shapes of squashes and pumpkins. The clothes also feature voluminous sleeves, bold patterns and legumestyle headwear. Each performer selects a costume that reflects their presentation of that day’s characters as they move around the space.
The organic texture of the costumes was created using handpainted leather and printed silk crepon, while 1970s clothing references have shaped some of the silhouettes. (And note the somewhat surprising retro-reference to the sea monsters from the BBC’s long-running TV series
Hamilton was inspired by the work of early 20th-century French writer and dramatist Antonin Artaud and his call for the “physical knowledge of images”. With The Squash, she hopes to examine the concept of a bodily response to an idea or an image.
Renowned for her bold, often humorous works that incorporate references from art, design, fashion and popular culture, Hamilton has exhibited widely with large-scale, site-specific installations.
These include her Turner Prizenominated Lichen! Libido! Chastity! at the SculptureCenter in New York (which was restaged at Tate Britain in 2016) and Anthea Hamilton Reimagines Kettle’s Yard at The Hepworth Wakefield in Yorkshire, England.
Anderson is the perfect partner for Hamilton. The young designer founded JW Anderson in 2008 after graduating from the London College of Fashion, then became Loewe’s creative director in 2013. Anderson’s work often explores gender fluidity. He recently curated an exhibition based around such themes for Disobedient Bodies at The Hepworth Wakefield.
For that show, he also included sculptures by Henry Moore, Sarah Lucas and Barbara Hepworth to show how artists depict form through their work. He also created an installation of oversized jumpers that visitors could put on to transform their own bodies into abstract forms.
Anderson said at the time: “This is a rare and exciting opportunity for me to bring together pieces of art and fashion that have long inspired my own creative work and to see what happens when these objects rub up against each other.” Of Hamilton’s exhibit at Tate Britain, he says: “I want this to be a space in which to explore ideas of gender and identity that have been an ongoing part of my creative practice.”
For his latest autumn/winter 2018 collection, Anderson also collaborated with an artist. The designer’s idea of going back to basics was reflected in the show’s set, which saw an otherwise simple space decorated by a centerpiece of sculptures by Martin Belou. The craft-focused installation, titled Les Hors d’Oeuvres, featured pieces spun from plaster and live fungus.
Have some fun at the Duveen Galleries at Tate Britain as you spot the brilliant combination of high and Loewe culture. The Squash runs until Oct 7. (tate.org.uk)
This is a rare and exciting opportunity for me to bring together pieces of art and fashion that have long inspired my own creative work.”
Jonathan Anderson
Loewe creative director and designer