Rob Ryan: Listen To The World

Last weekend I visited the Rob Ryan exhibition 'Listen To The World' at Yorkshire Sculpture Park before its 4 month run drew to a close.

Can We? Shall We? (2010)

The exhibition, spanning the past 6 years of Ryan's career, featured delicate papercuts and signed prints. Work included one of Ryan's most popular works to date Can We? Shall We? (2010), and Ryan's current largest papercut The Map of My Entire Entire Life (2012). Viewed in its vast entirety, it really was quite breathtaking.

The Map of my Entire Life (2012)

The whimsical figures of Ryan's work are often paired with sentimental, honest (and occasionally humorous) pieces of writing. Through his art Ryan explores how we view people and how people view us... And how we view the people we love. A romantic element runs through much of his work.

Our Sub Atomic Love Story (2015)

Listen To The World also featured new work, including the limited edition multi-coloured lasercut Our Sub Atomic Love Story (2015) exclusive to Yorkshire Sculpture Park, and previously unseen papercuts and screenprints produced for Ryan's 2016 wall calendar. My favourite piece was My Hands (2015) for the simple yet powerful message it conveyed.

'My Hands' (2015)

One of the things that I took away from this exhibition was that despite being incredibly successful, none of Ryan's papercuts were perfect. Cuts weren't always smooth and text wasn't always neat. And yet each piece of work was effective, and carried a thought provoking message. Your art doesn't have to be perfect, you just have to do it.

 The Pearls Story (2015)

Listen To The World ended on 1.11.15.

Ryan's shop Ryantown is located on Columbia Road in 

East London.

Image credits:
All images are my own, except...
The Map of my Entire Life: http://robryanstudio.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/11/Map-Of-My-Entire-Life.jpg

Until next week...

-Karen 

Cut Out Fashion

Giles SS13
Shattered glass was the key reference for Giles SS13: "a good smashed window can be quite beautiful in the right part of town." Laser cut leather created the illusion of fractured panes, successfully turning something ugly into something quite beautiful.

Images via vogue.com

Marchesa SS11 
As with previous collections, Marchesa SS11 was all about bringing the drama. Dresses were wrought with orientalist-inspired details. The soft pink laser-cut gown (seen below) encircled model Esme Wissel's body "like layers of delicate Mille-feuille".

Images via vogue.com

Alexander McQueen AW12
For AW12 Sarah Burton once again brought couture fabrics to the ready-to-wear catwalk, mounting laser-cut ponyskin on leather. Probably the most functional clothing in this blog post, you could wear one of these coats without flashing your underwear, and they look quite warm too! Mind you, I'm not sure how well ponyskin fairs in the rain...

Images via style.com 

Carven AW12
Guillaume Henry's Carven AW12 collection was "the fantasy of a girl walking through a museum filled with sixteenth and seventeenth century art, stealing things off the walls for her wardrobe..." I absolutely love this idea, so original and so fun! Henry's girl is feminine, a little bookish, and not afraid to flash a bit of flesh. 

Images via vogue.com

Sportmax SS13
I saved the best till last... For SS13 the Sportmax collection was inspired by the future, with contemporary lasercut coats punctuated by dogtooth... The models walked the catwalk in beautiful paper lanterns! These coats would cast mesmerising shadows, I need to dig through some magazine editorial archives. Modern, original designs. Very inspiring. 

Images via vogue.com

Would you wear any of these cut out designs?
Which is your favourite?

Until next week...

Karen