Keep Calm and Carry On

Last night I went to view Shaun Richards’ Show: Women and Children First at Flanders Gallery. It was a much needed change of pace from stomping the pavement of Glenwood Ave! Upon arrival, Chloe and I were elated that we did not recognize anyone. Is that wrong? The gallery was filled with chic, unique, people from Raleigh. But after the exhibit, we decided to go out and got a reality check. But enough of that.......

Shaun did an interview with NewRaleigh.com regarding the show. It's a great article to read to learn more about Shaun and the inspiration for some of his pieces. In the interview, he highlights Bachelorette (below), Chloe's favorite piece:

"And The Bachelorette with that piece I was trying to make fun of this idea of love that we are sort of marketed and the title specifically talks about reality TV shows like The Bachelor and The Bachelorette. When I was sort of drawing up the painting, because there are a ton of layers there, that painting took five months and I thought it would take two. I just sort of kept reworking over things and sanding things away. So the idea started to make fun of this idea of love; reality shows, diamond commercials, romantic comedies, high school sweethearts that sort of thing.

The figures in the background the woman holding back the man whose whipping the, it looks like a boy, it’s actually Mars chastising cupid from a painting by Bartolomeo Manfredi. It’s Venus, it’s her son, Mars is chastising him for making him fall in love with his mother. So there’s a whole weird dynamic alone in that mythology............See I was watching Mad Men, and I just couldn’t believe the gender roles. And from everything I have read it’s pretty accurate. Combined with my own, there is um, definitely some autobiographical things with the vacancy of women as leaders in my growing up. Maybe that makes women more central in my work."

Bachelorette immediately gave me flash backs of the Diane Von Furstenburg Spring Summer 2010 RTW collection. Here are some of my favorite DVF looks.









Photos: Marcio Madeira