Richard Wentworth partners with couture house Alaïa on new exhibition
18 August 2017
The couture house Azzedine Alaïa presents an exhibition of new work by Richard Wentworth, opening in Paris on 8 September until 26 November 2017.Over the past three years, the London-based artist has been a regular guest at the house, where the new work presented has evolved as part of an ongoing interest in assembling images in Wentworth's archive of the world. In the early 1970s, Richard Wentworth began Making Do and Getting By, which has continued until today and now consists of more than 200,000 images of sculptural events observed around the world. The exhibition at Alaïa offers the public selected images Wentworth has gathered in the Maison, granting unprecedented insight into the life of the couture house.
During his visits, Wentworth was granted full access to the manifold aspects of Maison Alaïa, from the creative studio to the ateliers and archives. Every image is like a still life, a fragment of life of couture, and provides a portrait of the world of Azzedine Alaïa, who describes the artist’s work in these terms: “Richard’s eye is wonderful. He has made me see things I do not see, I do not pay attention to. He sees it all. I am very private, but never, with him, have I sensed a difficult presence. He makes us see things in a way we would never have seen them.”
On the occasion of the exhibition 'Richard Wentworth at the Maison Alaïa', the Association Azzedine Alaïa will publish a book with the same title, with a foreword by author Pierre Guyotat. It will also include an interview with Richard Wentworth and essays by philosopher Emanuele Coccia and fashion critic Alexander Fury (T Magazine).
