We Heart The Art At Calvin Klein
Fashion and art go hand in hand, and Calvin Klein’s visual team is well aware of that: The Calvin Klein Collection’s flagship store on Madison Avenue is complementing their 2013 resort collection with eight watercolor works from British artist Tim Furzer’s “Unified Theory” series.
The idea to collaborate came about during the team’s visit to Furzer’s house in Long Island for a photoshoot. They saw a couple of paintings from the series, and according to him, “it all took off from there.”
“Unified Theory” is a series inspired by stones — their shapes, sizes, textures, and colors. Like a clothing collection, Furzer says that “the palette choice is integral to the way I conceived the series. The subject of each individual work is one particular stone.” But that doesn’t mean that the process was simple; as Furzer puts it, “To create each piece, I mixed a small amount of dense, thick pigment that closely matched the color of the stone. The pigment mixture was then deployed onto the paper surface using the exact volume of water I used to measure the size of the stone through displacement–when this happens there is a controlled separation of the mixed colors. Each work takes about three months to complete, as there are many layers and extensive drying periods involved.”
The result of the layering process is a medley of natural hues that come together in one shape, creating a soft looking tie-dye. The visual team at Calvin Klein selected pieces that complement the resort collection’s soft and hard aesthetics, as well as the rich desert color scheme.
Although “Unified Theory” was inspired by nature rather than the resort collection, both are connected creatively. According to Furzer, “Art and fashion for me are connected, because they both exist in the future. New art and new fashion always exist, because of what has come before them, while at the same time reflecting the contemporary state of the society that consumes them. Art and fashion can each signify progress and the achievements of humanity.”
Check out the creative combination at the Calvin Klein Collection’s flagship store at 654 Madison Avenue in New York City now through February 1. –LYNETTE PEREZ