Description

Mark Arts in Wichita, Kansas, invites submissions for an innovative exhibition that explores and celebrates fashion in fine art. Clothing, accessories, jewelry, and hairstyles have long been the narrative tools that artists use to position their subjects in place and time and communicate personality, status, beliefs, and lifestyle. From John Singer Sargeant’s shocking Madame X in 1884 to Amy Sherald’s 2018 official portrait of Michelle Obama in a couture dress (by Michelle Smith for Milly), artists have used fashion in their work to disrupt orthodoxy and examine new ideas. À la Mode: The Language of Fashion in Art will examine the way that artists utilize and manipulate fashion within their own art practice.

Media may include painting, drawing, printmaking, mixed media, enameling, photography, jewelry-making, and sculpture. The art may be representational or abstract, portrait or still life, pop art or traditional, photography or three-dimensional, but its common denominator will be its use of fashion as its subject. All artworks must be display-ready with display hardware included. All artwork must be able to be reasonably handled by Mark Arts staff.

The exhibition juror is Shana Levenson, who will also be conducting an artist talk and Artisan Academy Workshop at Mark Arts in Wichita, Kansas, during the run of the exhibition.