A NEW exhibition dedicated to the work of artist Steven Campbell will see shop windows in Glasgow city centre light up with large-scale art projections.
The virtual exhibition, Dressing Above Your Station, will explore the role of fashion in the work of the Rutherglen-born artist through an online model of the Tramway arts venue.
It will feature digital representations of the late artist’s paintings, clothing, and personal mementos.
A series of large-scale shop window projections on Sauchiehall Street will also launch alongside the virtual exhibition.
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Concurrently an on-street poster campaign, that both advertises and is a part of the show, will be presented across Glasgow city centre.
A Glasgow School of Art graduate, which he attended after several years working as an engineer at Clydebridge Steelworks, Campbell went on to become one of the most prominent Scottish artists during the 1980s.
His work included performance, community art projects, writing, immersive installations as well as his much-lauded paintings.
Central to the new exhibition is a collection of clothes by the Japanese fashion label Comme des Garçons, which were acquired by Campbell and his wife Carol in exchange for one of his paintings whilst living in New York in the early 1980s.
Each projection will present a selected element of the collection, including a recreation of the Comme des Garçons store in early ‘80s New York.
Clothing was of importance to Steven and articles about him frequently mentioned his appearance.
As he said about himself, “I’ve got a really good physical appearance. Good clothes … An invented look which suits me.”
Scottish fashion and textile designer Beca Lipscombe and fashion historian Mairi MacKenzie, who curated the exhibition, reflected on their own experience with fashion.
Beca Lipscombe said: “The title of the show Dressing Above Your Station refers to the role that clothes play in our dreams, desires and future selves.
“It’s something that resonates with both of us and that we imagine will ring a bell with many viewers of the exhibition.”
“The things that we desired, like Burberry, were aimed at the affluent, however we wanted a bit of that.
“We dressed well above our station and were totally aspirational. We were like peacocks who played around with dress codes.”
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Mairi MacKenzie said: “I used to pore over magazines, take trips to Glasgow to seek out glamour, and dream of the clothes I would wear when I got older.
“As a teenager, everything outside of the cities just felt dialled down and clothes were my route out of that.”
The exhibition launches on Thursday, March 31, it can be viewed for free on the Tramway website.
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