Helmut Lang

Helmut Lang To Stage First Solo Exhibition. By Godfrey Deeny.Fashion Wire Daily. 06.12.08.
excerpted text:

Helmut Lang is to stage his solo art exhibition, the latest example of signs of life by the man once regarded as the most influential fashion designer on the planet. (Godfrey Deeny)

Entitled “Helmut Lang – Alles Gleich Schwer,” or All Has Equal Weight, the solo effort will be staged in Hanover as part of a major event named Hanover Goes Fashion, with some 10 exhibitions held in leading museums and institutes. Lang’s show will be staged in the German city’s Kestnergesellschaft and curated by Neville Wakefield and Frank-Thorsten Moll. (Godfrey Deeny)

“The continuity is that I’m expressing what’s important to me with the appropriate form, content and context through different mediums and other dimensions” (Helmut Lang)

Tar Mag

All in the name of art. WWD. 05.21.08.
excerpted text:

"The premiere issue of tar mag — the new biannual arts title from BlackBook magazine founder Evanly Schindler — will feature Benicio del Toro on the cover, shot by Julian Schnabel. Other contributors include Juergen Teller, Terry Richardson, Matthew Barney and Ryan McGinley, who shot a 30-page portfolio of unclothed models (obviously in the name of art) for the first issue, out in October.Susan Cappa, formerly of Vogue, is publisher of tar mag, Zoe Wolff from Domino is executive editor, Neville Wakefield is the creative director and Bill Powers has been tapped as artistic director."

Neville Wakefield

Photographs by fashionartedit

Neville Wakefield. By Derek Blasberg. 10. Spring 2008. 

"My real interest lies in moving art across boarders. Anything that deals with that I'll do" (Neville Wakefield)

"Right now, the world is becoming so affluent. So the good part is that it's easier to get things made; the bad part is that a lot of shit gets made, too. But that's okay - I choose not to pay attention to the shit." (Neville Wakefield)

Neville Wakefield / Shea Spencer

Neville Wakefield / Shea Spencer. He. Issue#5. Winter/Spring 07-08. 

excerpted quotes

"Artists make product and commodity anyway, it's what they do. I think it's more of a question of convincing a different market that art is an interesting thing to participate in." (Neville Wakefield)

"What we try to do is work with people who really want to try hard to make great images. I guess if that makes them an artist, then that's great, but it's our job to translate that to people on a commercial level. And to make them feel OK about that, and help them understand that there's a fresher way of looking at things. It helps us that there's this sort of stalemate, with all the same people shooting the same jobs all the time. I think that our clients are excited about a fresh perspective, from people who don't necessarily come from that venue, or that group-think." (Shea Spencer)

"Certainly the fashion box encloses only about six or seven photographers, and it hasn't really changed in the last decade. So the conditions were receptive to us offering a different vision. Thinking outside that box." (Neville Wakefield)

"What 's interesting is that art has become a luxury brand that fashion now looks to in order to create a sort of market share. Whether it's Richard Prince or Olafur Eliasson doing Louis Vuitton - the polarities have sort of switched a bit. The art world is now competing with the fashion world in terms of glamour. It's being divided up into a sort of seasonal thing with the sales and the market. So I think those things have changed, and make the art world much more part of the commercial world. For quite a while, artists have had a very small, limited audience. But with W, suddenly they can find themselves on a cover of a big magazine. That changes everything." (Neville Wakefield)

 

Helmut Lang "Next Ever After"

Helmut Lang.Interview by Neville Wakefield. the journal. Entry #21.

excerpted quotes:

"I think its quite active from either side. It reminds me of a beehive right now. It has all become one".

"Not at all, I think the moment when I decided to work beyond fashion, it felt more like an evolution. It is like a lot of the decisions in my life that have already been there unconsciously".

"I thought that I would want to express things in different mediums. Too many things had become positively predictable".

"Yes, but where there's confinement there's also independence".