Transcendental Aesthetic I presents a series of ten small works of Brigitte Bardot, created during November 2016. Images taken by Sam Lévin between 1959–1963, which Bardot said ‘…managed to capture my quintessential natural, reliable and sometimes even sublime beauty…thanks to him I will remain in the eyes of the world eternally beautiful, young and unforgettable’, provide the foundation for this new series. (Sam Lévin, 2001, p. 6)

Visualised during two concerts at Milton Hall, London, 2016; Bach’s Mass in B Minor in late October and select pieces from Beethoven’s later works, in early November; the theme of the series is linked to fragments from the opening writings of Immanuel Kant’s Critique of Pure Reason, Transcendental Aesthetic. Here Kant describes space and time as forms of intuition rather than concepts, since both rely on our sensibility not our understanding. There is only one space; ’…for all parts of space, up to infinity, are simultaneous…’ and only one time; ‘different times are only parts of one and the same time’, but they are successive not simultaneous. (Kant, 2007, p. 63, 67)

Through experimental drawing, further developing the use of cotton fabric within each of the works, while combining the artist’s signature hand stitching with machine stitched elements — each multi-layered piece is an expression of space and time.

References

Kant, I. (2007). Critique of Pure Reason. London: Penguin Classics

Lévin, S. (2001). Brigitte Bardot par Sam Lévin. France: PC Editions

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The series was produced over seven weeks from early February 2016 while undertaking a new course of study in garment construction and design. Operating directly within an institution after three years of working predominately in isolation provided an unexpected insight into phenomena of character, which unconsciously shaped the direction of the work. The result is a more emotionally charged series, which touches on ideas of the will (the heart) and the intellect (the head) as discussed by the German philosopher Arthur Schopenhauer (1788—1860) in his central work ‘The World as Will and Representation’. (Schopenhauer, 2015, p. 491)

The will, as the thing in itself, constitutes the inner, true and indestructible nature of man; […] The intellect is the secondary phenomenal; the organism the primary phenomenon, that is, the immediate manifestation of the will; the will is metaphysical, the intellect physical; —the intellect, like its objects, is merely phenomenal appearance; the will alone is the thing in itself.

The relationship between the two is perhaps best likened to ‘the strong blind man who carries on his shoulders the lame man who can see.’ (Schopenhauer, 2015, p. 496)

These works were created through experimental drawing; combining the artist signature thread drawing with ink on paper, paint on cotton and woodcut combined with ink and gold leaf. Although based predominantly on only two images, one of Bridgette Bardot and one of Kate Moss, the result is twenty-one genuinely unique pieces.

References

Schopenhauer, A. (2015). The World as Will and Representation. 7th ed Great Britain: Amazon

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‘Beyond the Pleasure Principle’, consists of two series created between August—October 2015, combining thread drawings with paint and distorted pixilated imagery. Each work continues to examine the human condition, dissecting the psychical personality while encompassing aspects of narcissism, gender and the life and death drives. ‘Beyond the Pleasure Principle’ is inspired by Freud’s work by the same name. The series explore how repetition and repression in human behaviour provides an illusion of being in control by moving through a state of unpleasure to a state of pleasure. The influences of works by Schiele, Bacon and Kafka’s ‘Die Verwandlung’ (‘The Metamorphosis’) have emerged unintentionally during the creation process but are clearly visible in the final pieces.

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‘Beyond the Pleasure Principle’, consists of two series created between August—October 2015, combining thread drawings with paint and distorted pixilated imagery. Each work continues to examine the human condition, dissecting the psychical personality while encompassing aspects of narcissism, gender and the life and death drives. ‘Beyond the Pleasure Principle’ is inspired by Freud’s work by the same name. The series explore how repetition and repression in human behaviour provides an illusion of being in control by moving through a state of unpleasure to a state of pleasure. The influences of works by Schiele, Bacon and Kafka’s ‘Die Verwandlung’ (‘The Metamorphosis’) have emerged unintentionally during the creation process but are clearly visible in the final pieces.

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Work listed here forms part of a series which focuses solely on the British super-model, icon and muse that is Kate Moss. The series was created during May 2015. It consists predominantly of Thread Drawings with select pieces created as Line Drawings and Syringe Paintings. All works are based on images of Kate from the Playboy Magazine 60th Edition photo shoot. Each work examines the human condition, dissecting the psychical personality while encompassing aspects of narcissism, gender and the life and death drives, as discussed by Freud.

These concepts are communicated through ‘breaking' and 'reforming' the image(s), using geometric shapes (and pixilated images) in combination with the straight and diagonal lines formed by sewing thread onto paper. Each piece embraces the idea of deconstruction and the spiritual importance of the line as explored by Dutch avant-garde, constructivist Theo van Doesburg while the style of abstraction termed ‘painterly architectonics’, developed by Russian Cubo-Furturist Lyubov Popova, is clearly visible. The colour palette for this series was inspired by the Playboy brand and from specific images in the 60th Edition issue combined with 24kt gold leaf.

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The series of work presented below forms one part of four related series of work created during the first half of 2015 and focuses solely on the British super-model, icon and muse that is Kate Moss. Using found images from her Vogue Paris April 2008 and October 2009 photo shoots in combination with images going as far back as 1993, each work examines the human condition, dissecting the psychical personality while encompassing aspects of narcissism, gender and the life and death drives, as discussed by Freud.

These concepts are communicated through ‘breaking’ and ‘reforming’ the image(s), using regularly shaped blocks (and pixilated images) in combination with the straight and diagonal lines formed by sewing thread onto paper. Each piece embraces the idea of deconstruction and the spiritual importance of the line as explored by Dutch avant-garde, constructivist Theo van Doesburg. The colourpalette for this series was inititally inspired by the British luxury fashion house Burberry.

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The series of work presented was created during the first half of 2015 and focuses solely on the Czech adult film icon and muse Silvia Saint (Silvie Tomčalová). Each work examines the human condition, dissecting the psychical personality while encompassing aspects of narcissism, gender and the life and death drives, as discussed by Freud.

These concepts are communicated through ‘breaking’ and ‘reforming’ the image(s), using regularly shaped blocks (and pixilated images) in combination with the straight and diagonal lines formed by sewing thread onto paper. Each piece embraces the idea of deconstruction and the spiritual importance of the line as explored by Dutch avant-garde, constructivist Theo van Doesburg. 

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The pieces presented below form part of a body of work produced throughou 2014 inspired by Freud’s  structural model of the human mind, which Freud suggested is made up of three interconnecting entities, the id, the ego and the super-ego. Each work focuses on the outside restrictions imposed on us by the external authority from childhood, while exploring aspects of narcissism and the life and death drives as discussed by Freud, through imagery depicting fashion and art icons, himself as a child, his family and abstractions of the human form.

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