DONT WALK 'Revelation': The Creative Concept Part Two.
By Serena Mundy
Figure 1, Garden of Earthly Delights, Hieronymus Bosch, Oil on Oak Panel, 1490-1500, Museo Nacional del Prado
DONT WALK furthered its art historical exploration through a photo shoot inspired by Hieronymus Bosch’s Garden of Earthly Delights oak panel triptych (Figure 1). The painting, depicting scenes of Paradise, Purgatory and Hell, propounds the notion of the sin of humanity, a concept explored by the Creative Team in the build-up to their show, Revelation. It’s worth pointing out, however, that DONT WALK are not the first to utilise Boschian visual imagery in the fashion industry. Gucci created a campaign focused on the theme, evidence that more than five-hundred years later, this surreal vision still awes even the most contemporary eyes. Gucci’s creative director, Alessandro Michele, produced a ‘vintage-inspired delirium’, pairing ribbons, pearls and brocade against the background of the old master painting, seeking to bring these paintings back into fashion, and ‘enlighten a younger generation about the cultural significance of the historical work.’ DONT WALK furthers this agenda by exploring the overlap of fashion, art, and digital media, seen in Figure 2. In a similar way to Gucci, DONT WALK stimulates conversations that stretch to the contemporary socio-political landscape, resonating both inside and outside of the fashion industry.
These ideas of mixing both old and new media permeates the year-long visual build up created by Elise Morrison for the DONT WALK show. The Charity Fashion Show’s merchandise, most notably their hoodies, demonstrate this play and vacillation between the old and new to create something exciting and unexpected.
While sin is the connecting link between the three scenes, the iconography in the left-hand of Bosch’s panel depicts the moment God presents Eve to Adam. This biblical scene references marriage, and by extension God’s instruction to ‘be fruitful and multiply’. The verdant landscape in which the figures are placed exacerbates the references to fertility that underpin the scene.
Figure 2, DONT WALK Triptych
The central panel, depicting the Garden of Earthly Delights, includes Adam and Eve, clothed against a backdrop of nude figures, representing their expulsion from Paradise. The viewer is warned against the perils of lust by the scenes of chaotic intercourse surrounding the protagonists. Fruit, plants and animals are exaggerated to emphasise the impact of sin, most notably the two owls, which traditionally evoke evil. Their gazes are penetrating. Furthermore, the fish traditionally represent the phallus in Old Netherlandish proverbs and the figures riding various animals allude to animalistic sexual appetites. The geometrical background and middle-ground contrast with the confusion in the foreground creates a heightened sense of chaos. The lusciousness of the foliage would have connoted lust to Bosch’s contemporaries. This scene of ‘fleshy lust’ thus propounds the break down of the human mask; the Revelation of our cores.
The right-hand panel depicts Hell, using the imagery of musical instruments. While lust prevails in the central panel, in the scene of Hell Cardinal Sins are punished. Gluttony is punished by their entrapment in a body cavity, avariciousness are eaten by a bird-bug who excretes them into an undignified pile. Further still, others are pounded by disembodied ears. Here, humanity’s fate is laid bare and consumed by passion and pleasure. Bosch details the transient nature of lust, leading to eternal punishment.
Drawing on the themes put forward by Bosch, DONT WALK plays with notions of lust, sin and Christianity to produce a show that seeks to unveil the true meaning of humanity.
Notes
https://www.sothebys.com/en/videos/hieronymus-bosch-the-garden-of-earthly-delights
https://news.artnet.com/art-world/gucci-ignasi-monreal-capsule-collection-1269587
https://www.artsy.net/article/artsy-editorial-decoding-boschs-wild-whimsical-garden-earthly-delights