When luxury marries art

• Source: Global Times
• [13:40 July 13 2010]
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Installation and Shanghai dreams

Of all the international luxury brands, Dior is possibly the most dedicated to working with Chinese contemporary artists. The exhibition Christian Dior and Chinese Artists at Beijing's Ullens Center for Contemporary Art in 2008 created a sensation both in fashion and art circles. Some 22 Chinese artists were invited to take part in the exhibition which included painting, photography and installations. The huge shining Lady Dior bag sculpture by Li Songsong, which has been displayed at Plaza 66, was one of the works from the exhibition.

This year Dior is focusing on Shanghai. You can find fashion spreads of models carrying Lady Dior bags on the Bund in dozens of fashion magazines and on Dior's official website home page. Dior is working with Liu Jianhua and Shi Xiaofan (who also took part in the 2008 exhibition) to create Shanghai-centric pieces.

Liu's installation, Glamorous - Starlight brings to life some of the concepts from his 2008 exhibition piece Daily Fragile - Starlight. He applied a natural veneer to PVC foam to suggest that something luxurious could be created from everyday materials. "This also symbolizes China's economy and its people's pragmatic pursuit of material satisfaction," Liu said.

Shi Xiaofan's Shanghai Dreamers is a series of photographs with Dior models unexpectedly placed among ranks of Chinese people. The images are based on classical historical pictures. "My inspiration came from the Chinese-style group photographs. They are ceremonial photographs, bidding farewell to a bygone era and yet a signal of things to come," said Shi.

Porcelain polo

On June 25, a sculpture of a polo shirt for Lacoste's 2010 Holiday Collector's Series made by the Chinese sculptor, Li Xiaofeng, was unveiled at the Museum of Arts and Crafts in Paris.

As China forbids the export of ancient artifacts, The Porcelain Polo Shirt was made with new pottery inspired by early Ming Dynasty pieces. Li painted porcelain bowls with images of a scholar contemplating a scenic landscape surrounded by the "Four Gentlemen" of classical Chinese paintings; an orchid, a bamboo, a chrysanthemum and plum blossom. "I chose to use under-glazed red as well as the quintessential Ming blue and white. Red represents blood and life force; traditionally, Chinese brides wear red, so it is also a color associated with festivals and joy." said Li.

For a second polo shirt, Li Xiaofeng photographed blue and white shards with lotus and baby designs from the Kangxi Period (1662 - 1772) and printed them onto the shirt. In Chinese culture, the lotus symbolizes purity and rebirth.

This marriage between foreign luxury brands and Chinese contemporary artists shows that the Chinese market has become more and more important and people in China are paying more attention to culture and the content of the brands instead of the astronomical prices. As Liu Jianhua said, many Chinese people's understanding of these luxury items is limited to imitation and superficial appreciation. But "in the future when there is more emphasis on creativity, there will be closer connec-tions between art, design and brands," Ding Yi said.