We’ve always thought of fashion as an aesthetic pursuit; a kind of art that everyone can practice, in ways both large and small, through their choice of clothing. Yesterday though we read about an exhibition currently on display at the Boston Institute of Contemporary Art, entitled “workworkworkworkwork”, by reclusive New York artist Charles LeDray, which takes a unique look at men’s wear and its place in contemporary society.
The first thing that strikes us as we looked at LeDray’s painstakingly handcrafted installations of suits, dress shirts and ties is how nonfunctional he has made these symbols of work and professional attire. Not only are they miniature in scale, most have been tattered, cut, ripped or otherwise mangled to the point of being unwearable even by the tiniest Lilliputian. Furthermore, LeDray’s tiny clothes are far from fashionable and arranged in haphazard ensembles of mixed patterns, stripes and colors in scale model second-hand shops.
At first glance, the entire display seems rather depressing and melancholy – a collection of shrunken, cast-off clothing and they dreams they may have represented. Of course, the shirts and suits LeDray has made were never worn by anyone, so any feelings such works might inspire about loss are fictions of our own creation. But maybe that’s the point, and a means by which to provoke the viewer into further thought about the materiality of clothing, rather than their culturally-proscribed symbolic value.
Of course whether LeDray’s intention is to make us ponder the deeper meaning of men’s attire or merely show the world’s most elaborate collection of Ken doll clothing, it is open to interpretation. Either way, art lovers and serious sartorialists alike are encouraged to check out “workworkworkworkwork”, which Boston Globe art critic Sebastian Smee has called “the best contemporary art show in recent memory.”
If you can’t catch the show in Boston, it will be traveling the country and moving to the Whitney Museum of American Art in New York and the Museum of Fine Arts in Houston.
Tags: Art, Formal Wear, Work Shirts
