The Fan Museum and Paris-based street artist Codex Urbanus have teamed up with fan maker extraordinaire, Sylvain Le Guen in 2017. The project put fan making on the map and raises awareness for the traditional craft which is like many other techniques is in danger of being forgotten in this technological age.
Twenty nine street artists collaboratively got involved to create a series of innovative folding fans displayed in the exhibition.
The Fan Museum in London, Greenwich celebrates fans as an art forms that combines 'functional, ceremonial and decorative' (www.thefanmuseum.org.uk) uses stretching back to at least 3,000 years ago. The museum holds collections of the history of fans showing some of the earliest fans which date back from around 3000 BC. However, this exhibition celebrates contemporary street art and the traditional craft of fan-making aswell as Sylvain's work. Sylvain was born in Ermont, in the outskirts of Paris in 1977 and moved to London in 2000. Along with Sylvain a range of some of the best diverse street artists have worked on this project including Pure Evil, Lily Mixe,Annatomix, Sr. X, RUN, Louis Masaiand many more. The exhibition showcases over 50 fans ranging from geometrics, pop art, optical illusions, graffiti or fine art designs.
The fan that stood out the most for me was the 'Audrey (Teardrop)' fan. Created by Charles Uzzell-Edwards a graffiti artist most commonly known as "Pure Evil". He is also the son of Welsh painter John Uzzell Edwards. This piece was created by spray paint on paper, sipo wood. Pure Evil decorated the fan with a trademark stencil portrait of actress Audrey Hepburn, against a background of simplified pink floral motifs, inspired by Japanese blossoms. This is significant as Japan is known for traditional Japanese fans ; Japanese hand fans were popular amongst aristocrats and the samurai class. They were a way to signify social class and originally burial tombs were decorated with fans. The style of the fan Pure Evils work is presented on was originally called a War Fans in Japan. These fans were most commonly used as a signalling device by wartime commanders to communicate to soldiers.
The black handle of the fan is effective on the white base as the monochromatic colour palette ensures sophistication and elegance which is also associated with the late British actress Audrey Hepburn who was recognised as a film and fashion icon. She is most known for the 1961 film 'Breakfast At Tiffany's which like the brand Tiffany's posits themes of glamour and style.
The muted light pink hue is effective layered over the black contours of the face as it posits the face is hiding. This could suggest the 'Teardrop' which has connotations of struggle and pain also represented by the black shade. The idea that Pure Evil is presenting Audrey as crying is significant as it could represent pressures of fame and the consequences of everyone having a strong opinion on someone they have never met and how this can have long term mental health effects. Fans can also be used as an accessory to cover the face which is symbolic. The pink 'blossom' on the face varies in tone also suggesting how it has just fallen or is soaked in water creating a delicate setting. The thick bold lines highlights the shadows on the face suggesting again the face is hidden and can only be partly seen. Creating portraiture in this way is effective and contemporary and i love the unfinished look. I could also experiment layering watercolours over line drawings to create the low opacity muted hues which softens the finished piece.
The biomorphic shapes of the 'blossom' is effective as it holds no restrictive structure just like the random composition of the shapes. The hierarchy of the portrait is also successful as the central placement frames the face and signifies how its placed alone again emphasising themes of sadness and struggle.
The exhibition overall is full of a range of art styles, fan types and contextual backgrounds creating a busy and cultured exhibition however the clear acrylic display allows no distractions from each fan. The fans fully on display and sat up signifies their importance and posits the ideas of wealth and higher class usually associated with fans.
My Response :
I experimented with creating a fan using a patterned fabric. I chose a rose floral fabric as it portrays themes of elegance and has similar feminine themes to Charles Uzzell-Edwards fan and it also mimics the floral elements in Charles Uzzell-Edwards fan. Next time i will experiment will creating my own design perhaps using water colour similar to Charles Uzzell-Edwards.
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