(1503, Donna Clotilde)
Christian Tagliavini’s collections Dame di Cartone and especially 1503 amazed me when I first saw them (online not, alas, in the flesh). They are bold, richly allusive, highly detailed, taking the form of portraits and exploring the tension between wearer and worn, fashion and art. Bodies are distorted to accommodate clothes; the sitters' identity becomes their garments, their stories the clothes' stories further mediated by allusions to fine art. Paintings or photographs? I could not immediately tell, they appear so tactile.
(Dame di Cartone, Cubism 1)
Tagliavini is a graphic designer and photographer, the combination of which, he writes, ‘provides him [with] the perfect frame and background to invent, create and totally produce images that blend fine arts and craftsmanship. No, not simply images, as Christian Tagliavini loves designing stories with open endings (requiring [the] observer’s complicity) on unexplored themes or unusual concepts, featuring uncommon people with their lives and their thoughts made visible.’
(1503, Ritratto di giovane donna)
All images from Christian Tagliavini's website; go and marvel o people who are not reading my web log and maybe you'll find you're lucky enough to be near one of the galleries exhibiting his work.