Review of Clothing is My Canvas Show | Heidi Liscomb 12-10-22
That my visit to the opening night of Loki’s wearable art design exhibition entitled Clothing Is My Canvas followed directly on the heels of a day trip to New York City where I was immersed in the world of expensive, fast fashion presented in the holiday window designs of some of the top names in fashion was not planned, but there it is. I drove straight from 5th Avenue to Columbus Street, Hudson in order to catch the vibe of opening night at Lightforms, and was thrilled to close out my day of fashion exploration looking at the creativity of local artist Loki.
Anyone who has seen The Devil Wears Prada or followed New York Fashion Week, has some understanding that our fashion tastes are somewhat dictated to us by powers beyond and outside of our view or control. We wear, after all, that which is available to purchase; clothing that is sold in stores; and I daresay that in general we don’t give it much thought, nor are we really asked of our opinion on the matter. I understand that there are individuals who do spend a great deal of time curating their wardrobes and that what they put on their bodies each day is carefully chosen and meant to convey a message, a sense of something – who they are, what they think, feel or believe in that moment, in that outfit. The rest of us, well, we pick clothing that fits, that looks presentable and that we mostly like, or at least tolerate, and can afford. Once we’re done with it, for whatever reason – we’re sick of it, it’s frayed or, the worst thing, it no longer fits, we…do what, exactly? Give it away? Throw it away? Turn it in to something else? Shove it into the back of our closets and hope it magically disappears? (This is my go-to cope, by the way…) But what if we did think more about what we wore and why we were wearing it, what it meant, where it came from and, maybe more importantly, where it would go when we were done with it? Affordability and taste aside, shouldn’t sustainability be a very real piece of the fashion industry? Fast fashion has had its day; slow fashion and the repurposing of clothing is the direction in which we should be heading.
It was apparent to me that these are questions that Loki has been playing with, seeking answers to as he has developed his art form of painted clothing over the last thirty years. He has answered some of these questions; should more thought go into what we choose to wear, and what happens to it after the wearing is done? Loki’s answer, at least in part, is yes and to that end, he has been creating his clothing line from repurposed garments on which he paints images, symbols or blocks of color and light. A beautiful evening gown becomes a background for lilies adorning the bodice, a swimsuit bears a hand-painted heart extending down to the hip, a hat is covered in brilliantly painted jewel patterns, collars without shirts are painted with brightly colored patterns and paired with skirts. There are shirts, jackets, pants, hats, dresses, shoes and skirts, all of which have been rescued from the landfill and painted with gorgeous colors and patterns in Loki’s signature style, making each garment a one-of-a-kind piece of art that can be worn or displayed.
Partly an homage to his youth when secondhand clothing was the name of the game in order to just have something different to wear, Loki is very clear about the impact that thrifting had on his sense of self and who he was in the world. That sense of wearing clothing which had already been worn by another and then discarded, was what ultimately drove him to explore how to make the experience a positive one by turning his threads into art, putting his signature on what he wore and expressing his individuality in spite of having little choice in what to wear.
The exhibit is laid out in two rooms which are separated by a wire over which two pairs of sneakers are hung. The sneakers, which represent a sort of calling card to mark a space where someone has died are, according to Loki’s opening remarks, marking the death of the old way of doing fashion, signaling to all who move between the rooms that it’s time to reclaim the meaning and mode of the clothing that we choose to wear in addition to keeping perfectly usable clothing out of the landfill. Loki has done just that; he has reclaimed the space where cast off garments once sat and turned it into a beautiful, wearable art form.
Clothing Is My Canvas
The Repurposed Fashion of Loki
LightForms Art Center, Hudson, New York
Saturday, December 10 – January 7, 2023