CHANGE CITY :
Nique Urban Fantasy Exhibition @ Revolver Upstairs, Melbourne (18/03/2004)
Created On March 19th, 2004 by kubikle-kittin
Local label Nique is known for its practical yet edgy streetwear pieces popular amongst Melbourne’s creatives and dancefloors. In a town where every tee and hoody has something to say, Nique’s layered graphics are quirky, conversation starting and (most importantly) aesthetically pleasing. But is it art?
The creatives behind the label (Nick Ennis and Lucy Douglas) chose to promote their brand this season by canvass rather than catwalk. For many, the Melbourne Fashion Festival conjures images of pony stomping teens strutting established department store offerings. Not to be forgotten however is the MFF arts program - a range of lectures and exhibitions drawing upon aspects of fashion arguably more enduring and universal than a single season’s trends. Contributing to both this arts program and the week’s party circuit, Nique’s Urban Fantasy Exhibition opened at Revolver on Thursday 18 March in style.
Experimenting with the pony walk up the familiarly steep stairs, we headed past the shooshing hordes in the front room around 9pm – movie night in there apparently. The back room was buzzing for the hour and day of week – plenty of diners at Patee Thai and expectant cliques near the bar. I’d chanced across Nique’s last show at First Floor – pretty much a private party with hoodies encrusted into wall mounted artworks. So I knew to expect something a bit different. Random light boxes with streetscape photographs and the label’s name confirmed it was the right place and time. Two ceiling slung searchlights drew the party’s eyes along the venues walls where a dozen or so works were hung. Fashion-as-art was taken less literally this year – no encrusted clothing but rather more traditional canvasses (with the exception of a piece of huge corrugated iron) printed with stencil-esque graffiti-reminiscent layered images, alternating with urban and mostly nocturnal streetscapes. Insignias of royalty, playing cards and street culture dominated the graphic works, scattered with the dramatis personae of a gazing girl, gloomy streetkid and chapeuxed crooner. Key images were echoed in a layered projection montage against an end wall with an accompanying soundtrack for the first few cycles. Plenty of street cred. But is it art?
Well, it was certainly turning into a party by around 10 as a critical mass formed and surged the bar, the volume picked up between the animated appreciation and Agent 86’s ... um … eclectic set (Phil Collins, Underworld and Julie Andrews don’t mix in my book, but the set was billed as something for everyone …). In a bizarre juxtaposition, aesthetes were offered free sake shots and vodka mixed drinks alternatively by willowy bored kimono clad lovelies and a blonde in red lycra and white patent heels. Ouch. I think something may have been lost in the translation …
Nevertheless, the works were duly toasted and punters will have interesting walls to colour their recoveries over the next little while (haven’t come across a published end date to the exhibition). Collectors of Nique’s clothes can hope that some of the evocative images on display will be echoed in forthcoming garments. In the meantime, punters can appreciate the designers’ talents displayed with grander scale and texture than any 5 minute runway show. You can decide for yourself if it’s art – I certainly think it is clever.
