Edwarda Artist Statement
Margaret Goldrainer
14 July 2014
The inspiration and explanation for my RISD Thesis Collection.
In 1960 France, a man by the name of Yves Klein exhibited his anthropometries for the first time. In a ceremony combining art and music – Monotone Symphony – Klein’s nude women painted the walls of his studio in this spectacular blue pigment – their naked bodies replaced paintbrushes and the walls became their canvas.
In 1961, Yves Klein created a votive for an Italian monastery in Cascia. Klein dedicated his Ex Voto as an offering to the relics of Saint Rita of Cascia, Italy. The mesmerizing piece is a divided container filled with fuchsia pigment, Yves Klein Blue pigment, and gold leaf.
In 1990, Tim Burton inspired by Robert Smith and the music of The Cure, created Edward Scissorhands. Edward was brought to life by his father, a brilliant inventor. Upon his creation, his father endowed him with scissor instead of human hands. While Edward’s scissorhands pushed him to the outskirts of society, they also allowed him to create. He forever changed suburbia with his beautiful and bizarre haircuts and his incredible topiaries.
On their own and in combination with each other, these three inspirations represent my devotion to the human form and the female figure. My hope for my RISD Thesis Collection was to marry these elements and create a beautiful symbiosis that culminated in a six-piece collection.
My narrative is a trinity – I created a six-piece collection that represents the essence of all three inspirations. My hope was to create a story in which the three become one, a SIMPATICO that cannot be separated.
I believe that this is my journey or pilgrimage as an artist and art historian. I hope to string my thread through various genres of art and different moments in art history. I wish to reconstitute my inspirations and pay homage to them in this moment, giving them new meaning and new life in our time. I believe that I am a unique designer and I wish to eloquently tell these eclectic stories.