They have decided that this is the time…. this is the right time to take that leap of faith, to jump in the deep end, to throw caution to the wind and make….
Photography Not to Wear
Brave New Work by Antoni + Alison
Gallery Vassie is extremely proud to an exhibition of entirely new work by London-based, internationally renowned contemporary Artists and Fashion Designers Antoni + Alison (Antoni Burakowski and Alison Roberts-Jopp) - their fashion label is celebrating its 30th anniversary this year - with their 60th collection.
Antoni + Alison's clothes are collected and worn by a very diverse range of Celebrities and Artists worldwide, including: Chloe Sevigny, Clare Danes, Beth Ditto, Thandie Newton,Rachel Whiteread, Nicole Kidman, Kiki Smith, Agnes Deyn, Kate Moss and Katy Perry.
'Photography Not to Wear' is a show of their photography made purely for exhibition - not made for their clothes.
Why Now?
A+A: “It was inevitable and something we have wanted to do for some time. We wanted to mark our 30th year in a new way… not looking back at all on our past work but looking through a camera at new forward thinking work.”
Why?
A+A: “Because the dress prints that we have been perfecting for so long are as close as can be to Fine Art now - so it's time to take that leap onto the gallery wall… We have many collectors and wearers of our dress work in the art world - and now we want to make work that's not just to wear.”
How it feels?
A+A: “It feels totally natural to make this new work - brave - but very, very good. We have been photographing since the 1990’s and now we feel as if we have found the right place for our work.”
Where it comes from?
A+A: “We met at St Martins School of Art in London. Alison studied fine art - Antoni fashion. From our college days we were blurring the edges of the two disciplines and have continued to do this for the past 30 years, we have only ever worked together. We create for ‘the individual’ and follow our instinct rather than the trend.”
What Inspires You?
A+A: “After knowing each other for 35 years and being ‘Antoni + Alison’ for 30 of them we have an inbuilt vocabulary of inspiration that we continue to re-visit and make new. We realise that we are constantly looking, and that it doesn’t switch off.”
“We have had more ideas than we could ever place within the confines of fashion so working purely for photography's sake makes us feel so completely free.”
- all above taken from an interview with Antoni + Alison, August 2017
“We are British designers working with art-based and sometimes, funny concepts to produce pieces of work which we incorporate into a range of clothing and accessories. Our work is the result of two people putting their heads together to create things that nobody asked us to do."" — Antoni + Alison
In 2008 Antoni + Alison were awarded MBE medals (the Member of the Most Excellent Order of the British Empire) by Queen Elizabeth for their services to Fashion and Photography.
Antoni + Alison's work exists as a ‘Living Archive’ at The Victoria & Albert Museum, London and is also in the permanent collection of The Huis Marseille Institute for Photography, Amsterdam and the Citibank Collection, London. They have worked on commissions for the esteemed Wallace Collection, London and have exhibited as far afield as The Photographers' Gallery, London; Paris Photo; The Barbican London and The Museum of Modern Art in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, amongst others - this is their 3rd solo exhibition at Gallery Vassie in Amsterdam.
