KASEY MCMAHON & ART. Crafting "Inlaid Skin": An Interview with Andreea Mandrescu. Andreea Mandrescu's "Inlaid Skin" decorates the body with insets (or offsets) of synthetic lace-like soft tissue.
These decorative skin grafts — like scarfs — are accessories that can be draped and wrapped around the body. Mandrescu considers her ethereal collection as "versatile surfaces" or fabrics suited to beautify both the human body and architectural interiors. I caught up with Andreea Mandrescu to learn more about the inspiration for her project "Inlaid Fantasies. " FT: Can you briefly explain your work "Inlaid Flesh’" and how you see your work and research impacting your own practice and the field in general?
The project “Inlaid Fantasies” is based on the research of marquetry and inlay crafts, the materials and the aesthetics traditionally used. The design outcome was a collection of versatile surfaces that can be used in numerous applications. I believe that by reinventing the crafts, I created an interesting versatile surface that can have an impact in more than one field. The feather explosions of Kate MccGwire. Kate MccGwire in productionCorvid, part of 'BOUND' exhibition (2011) © Kate MccGwireCourtesy of ''All Visual Arts'' (AVA) Photo © Tessa Angus Feathers stand for protection and shelter and bring to our minds our need to fly above the everyday routine and reach for the unknown.
They are also connected to mythical fairy tale creatures, symbolizing power and the art of enchantment. With their colors and their complex structure they magnetize and impose. British artist Kate MccGwire shares a fascination for feathers that begun like an accident and finally became a long term love affair. Her latest works are made entirely by feathers and, far from mere ornamentation, Kate uses them to create some really haunting pieces. Kate MccGwire in production Corvid, part of 'BOUND' exhibition (2011) © Kate MccGwire Courtesy of ''All Visual Arts'' (AVA) Photo © Tessa Angus Warp, 2010 © Kate MccGwireMixed media with magpie feathers 50 x 38 cm (diameter)Photo © Tessa Angus sources:
Lana Sutra by Erik Ravelo for Benetton. “The emotions each color gives, the cosiness of wool, a warm embrace: these are all feelings that unite the human kind and are expressed in a new art form in line with its time.” The Lana Sutra is the result of Ravelo’s reflections on the meaning of Kamasutra (kama, pleasure; sutra, a thread which unites). Each installation is made of two plaster sculptures: two bodies embracing and covered in woolen threads in various colors, chosen from the key tonalities present in the United Colors of Benetton Fall-Winter collection, currently available in the stores. The points where the two entities meet and where the colors merge into each other, is yet again a way to symbolize how love can cancel differences and bind humanity as one.
The Lana Sutra will also have its own special soundtrack: a theme created and composed especially for the occasion by Francesco Novara, a musician working at “Fabrica”. Www.erik-ravelo.com | www.benetton.com/lana-sutra/ | Thanks to Yatzer for the tip ! Cyril Foiret.