Fashioning Art

Porcelain dress, Li XiaofengSome time ago, I walked past a gallery in Melbourne and was greatly taken by some ceramic sculptures of origami cranes, printed with traditional Chinese blue and white designs. Perhaps the gallery was closed, and I could not go in, but neither did I note the name of the artist. To my sorrow, I cannot now find him after running a search online.

I did, however, discover this amazing porcelain dress created by artist Li Xiaofeng. It brings together three loves of mine: fashion, ceramic sculpture and the blue and white porcelain from China. The dress is constructed from porcelain fragments from the Ming, Qing and Song dynasties, and one can only imagine how heavy it must hang.

It gathered a lot of notice at the Hong Kong Art Fair, and finally sold for $85,000 at the Asian Contemporary Art Fair in New York. Isn’t it an incredible piece of art?

Artist Li Xiaofeng with model

A Portuguese Passion

Classic blue and white tiles plaster Capala das Almas, a church on the Rua Santa Catarina in Porto, PortugalThe Portuguese love tiles. Their country is slathered in them. Fortunately, I happened to visit two of the cities that have the best on-the-street samples: Lisbon, and Porto. The latter particularly seems to be coated in blue and white tiles. Both cities’ churches and public buildings are adorned with massive swathes of tile.

It was the Moors, having picked it up from the Persians, who introduced the art in the 16th century. These were mainly floral and geometric based designs, as figurative designs are not an option for Muslim artists for religious reasons. After the Italian invention of majolica, in which colours are painted directly into wet clay over a layer of white enamel, the Portuguese went wild.

One reason for the proliferation of tiles in Lisbon was after the 1755 earthquake that destroyed much of the city, tiles were a cheap and practical solution for decoration as the citizens rebuilt. The Art Nouveau and Art Deco movements also inspired artists to create fantastic facades and interiors of shops, restaurants and residential buildings.

Azulejos continue to coat contemporary life.

Take a look at my gallery of this Portuguese Passion for some close-up examples of tiles, taken on the street, in 18th century palaces and in the Museu Nacional do Azulejo. (Credits provided where known.)

A magnificent fountain in Sintra, Portugal

Vintage Tat

The Elephant, The Pony and The Rabbit :: Hornbecker // Cano Cafenol // No flashI went vintage shopping a few weeks ago with Kitty who was after an 80s dress in the taffeta, ruched, puffy bridesmaid style typical of the era. Our trawl through all the vintage boutiques and secondhand shops on Chapel St in Windsor brought us eventually to Round Helen’s. (Formerly ‘Fat Helen’s’, the ‘Fat’ has been crossed out and replaced with the more friendly adjective.)

While Kitty was inside the rusty tin space rocket (the changing room) trying on a number of frocks, I was busily photographing all the bric-a-brac and tat on the glass shelves all around me. The somewhat addled young shop assistant nervously tittered about Princess Diana, and what an influential icon she had been (in a tone that suggested that though she was far removed from such reverence, she was quite adept at making cultural observations).

Shy Di :: Hornbecker // Cano Cafenol // No flashAs her eyes darted about from one thing to another, I edged surreptitiously away from her until Kitty emerged somewhat dishevelled from the cramped quarters of the space vessel. There were some promising candidates, but we made good our escape. And fortunately Kitty was to find her destiny in one of the other junk shops further down the street. 

China Ladies :: Hornbecker // Cano Cafenol // No flashCinderella’s Coach :: Hornbecker // Cano Cafenol // No flash

Tile Style

Portugal is really famous for it’s tiles, azulejo in Portuguese. According to the guidebook, one cannot say one has really been to Lisbon if one has not been to the national tile museum. Happily, I can say I have.

You can buy single tiles as souvenirs, but I could not decide which I liked best, and by the time I did, I decided my bag was too heavy for such nonessentials (although it would have made a nice trivet). All I came away with was a couple of ceramic tile pendants, which I intended to restring with beads to give as presents.

I was surprised that besides these diamond-shaped tiles there was very little to choose from by way of ceramic jewellery. These originally came strung on leather cord. I unpicked the knots and restrung the pendant with Indian bone beads and turquoise ovals. And happily, my sister Star (to whom I gave it), can say she loves it. 

Magical Barcelona

What springs to to mind when one utters the magical word, Barcelona, aloud? Undoubtedly one of the first is Gaudi’s riot of colour and imagination: La Sagrada Familia, Park Guell, Casa Battló (or the House of the Bones). Mouth-watering tapas, Spanish chocolates, and churros. Museums galore for art lovers – impossible to take it all in. Modern hunter-gatherers will be struck dumb with amazement, mind-bogglingly thrilled with a myriad of shops tucked around every corner.

Four and one half days was not enough to cram everything in – I wince when I think of what I missed out on.