Tuesday 23 February 2010

Manuel Albarran, Metal Couture

The work of Manuel Albarran is devised through his fascination with and the utilisation of unique fashion materials such as metal, however his work touches on the realm of cosmetic appropriation because of the intimate way it forces the wearer to interact with it. Traditionally a mask is traditionally worn over or in front of the face to hide the identity of a person and by its own features, to establish another being.  This essential characteristic of hiding and revealing personalities and moods is common to all masks.  However Albarran's metallic suggestion of cosmetic application moves away from the historic understanding of masks and instead experiences identity through the construction of materials and partial embellishment of the face and body.  

 
 


3 comments:

  1. thats very cool. i like the organic feel of the material. why is one of the imgs tittled lady gaga? were these pieces worn in one of her videos? i m not a fan of hers to be honest...but a interested spectator maybe.

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  2. The work of Albarran can be seen in the Lady Gaga video 'Bad Romance'. I like your term 'interested spectator', much of Lady Gaga's casual appropriation of the work of others for public consumption is irksome because by placing it within the arena of music video she undermines its worth by the association with popular culture. Nevertheless the work her stylists pick up on for representing her staged persona is always very exciting.

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  3. yea thats kind of what i meant. i do like the work by others which is used to creates her media persona, but i doubt very much its all due to her creativty/input, there is a lot of peoples involvement. so yea not a fan but observer maybe :)

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