UNHOLY MATRIMONY

Brett Westfall has been creating his brand of wearable conceptual art under the name “Unholy Matrimony”, a design label that has defied the expectations of mainstream fashion since 2002. Soon after starting the label he was spotted by Rei Kawakubo of Comme des Garcons, who loved his handcrafted and dyed pieces. He collaborated with Kawakubo in the “Brett Westfall for Comme des Garcons” collection and since then has become an indelible influence throughout the independent fashion world both for his collaborations with other designers and in his own right as a conceptual visual artist.

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EM: Brett, you just finished an order for Opening Ceremony. How did you get involved with the concept store and what can we expect to see there?

We met up with Opening Ceremony and began planning a collaboration [and merging our fashion aesthetics into this concept store]. The shop itself is an incredible design with many different rooms with a wide variety of very talented designers as well as [housing a variety] of art books and lifestyle goods.

EM: I think artists often feel pressure to formulate a style. Do you identify with that? And how would you define your work to someone who doesn’t already know it?
There is always pressure to create a better product and to maintain [a progressive perspective on fashion], but I have always felt with consistency and hard work, [a mature and] conceptual style will happen naturally.

EM: How would you describe the feeling of creating?
Creating [art or fashion] feels like fulfilling a purpose and an addiction. It is a freedom that is hard to describe, but it is something that [must be completed through to the end], otherwise I do not feel normal.

EM: What’s more difficult in your opinion: to define yourself as an artist, or to reveal yourself in your work?
To define myself as an artist is not difficult because I know who I am and what I am doing, I try to make my work speak so I don’t have to as much as possible.

EM: Your photographs of your collections over the years are artworks in and of themselves and I think the antithesis of popular fashion photography today. How would you define fashion? The good, the bad, the trendy — what’s your sense of all that’s out there?
Fashion is a business that is season to season, but style is where the conceptuality of it comes in. If you have your own style, than it doesn’t matter what label you wear or what season it is. I don’t like paying attention to trends.

EM: Who is your favorite designer?
Rei Kawakubo.

EM: Have you done runway shows in the past? Do you have one coming up?
Runway shows have not really been something that I wanted to do. Thus far, my favorite presentation is constructing installations, this way you can show the entire vision and connection of all the art and how it relates, from the fine-non functioning to the conceptual design.

EM: Where did you receive most of your training?
I am self taught but have learned a lot from the one’s who have guided me through

EM: Your work clearly draws inspiration from nature; can you describe the process of one or more of your projects, specifically “Life Support” and “Experimentus Organnicus”?

Experimentus Organnicus and Life Support were created to show that the Earth is very much alive and needs [our conscious attention in order] to get well soon [and overcome the adverse effects of global warming]. Especially [while I was working on the project] Experimentus Organnicus, when those three pieces [of garments] were under my garden for six months. The earth started to eat through the clothes and the roots grew through them. I didn’t expect those results when I started [developing] those pieces. As for Life Support, I [really enjoyed] working on it because it shows a lot of relation and irony between mankind and the earth. Taking all of the yolk out of the eggs was crazy. Some of them broke in my hands and mouth.

EM: Are these works creating a phenomenon or about a phenomenon?
I’m not sure if they are about a phenomenon but they definitely were made to provoke thought and emotion.

EM: What are some of your favorite materials in making art, and fabrics in making clothes?
Wool, cotton, earth.

EM: What’s next for you?
The opposite of what people are thinking….

EM: What’s the last book you read?
The last book I read is “Lame Deer Seeker of Visions” by John Fire Lame Deer and Richard Erode. It is about the life of John Fire Lame Deer, a Sioux Medicine Man. It is one of the best books I have
read. He has lived a crazy life. It talks a lot about humans’ relationship to the earth and the spiritual importance of it. It also talks about so many other interesting things that have happened throughout his life. I love reading books.

EM: What are you listening to right now?
The music I am listening to right now - Asunder -/album “Clarion Call” /- song “twilight amaranthine”

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Unholy Matrimony
http://www.unholymatrimony.net

Opening Ceremony
http://www.openingceremony.us

via Irene Zoe, 4 June 2008 11:12pm | |