Visionaire No. 17 – Gold
"The alternative small run publication has often dazzled, always relentlessly focused on changing the way we look at the printed page. Looking haughtily over its shoulder to fleur's flair, Visionaire rolls up its sleeves, cups its hands to its mouth, flexes it muscles and whispers, "The eyes have it."
- David Bowie
This particular issue of the highly collectible, multi-format, luxury art and fashion publication based in New York City, with its heavily embellished, gilded and incredibly ornate cover, was inevitably going to appeal to the magpie in me! I have an unashamed love of all things 'baroque' and when this issue came into the office amongst other art books purchased at a recent auction, I was immediately drawn to its luminous gold exterior and intrigued to learn what treasures it might reveal upon closer inspection of the contents. Beneath the hologrammed, embossed, and foil-stamped sun motif hides a shallow box of curiosities, each more intriguing than the last and each with its own unique take on the theme of 'gold', including: Seven pages of Philip Taaffe’s gold stars foil stamped onto vellum, Inez van Lamsweerde and Vinoodh Matadin’s fashion photographs featuring gold-foil stamping to four-color prints Origami USA, who folded a gold-paper goldfish for each issue and, my personal favourite, Todd Oldham's contribution of an actual gilded-metal halo!
Above: The outer box with holographic centre, and Angel Fish and Halo
This issue boasts prints from a host of talented contributors from Andy Warhol to John Galliano and Juan Gatti to Christian Lacroix. Bursting at the seams it houses delights such as a large colour print of Schiaparelli's 1938 gold embroidered cloak of black and silver velvet inspired by the Neptune Fountain in the Parc de Versailles, Francois Berthoud's gold embossed heart, egg and tooth on deep duck egg blue backgrounds, not to mention the small booklet entitled 'The Midas Touch' containing magnified sumptuous gold reproductions of the fingerprints of the likes of Linda Evangelista and Marcus Schenkenberg.
Above: Gold heart and Finderprints
Each inclusion has obviously been carefully, painstakingly selected to help to tell the story of the theme of its issue and, for me, the New Yorker sums up beautifully this cornucopia of delights:
"Visionaire is a creative playground... a cabinet of irresistible curiosities. A daring iconoclast dressed to thrill."
- The New Yorker
Visionaire has been, for over 20 years, a leading light in the art and fashion publishing world. Using its cross-pollination of art, fashion, film, and contemporary culture as a tool to communicate unique experiences to viewers and visitors, across multiple platforms, in physical spaces, online, and mobile. With a strong network of working artists, photographers, fashion designers, models, celebrities, filmmakers, writers, agents, editors, collectors, galleries, and museums this publication, which produces quarterly editions of a very limited number, has indeed over the years, challenged perceptions of the limitations of the printed page.
Browsing Visionaire's official website, I noticed that you could view all of the covers and even see samples of the contents of every issue of this ground breaking publication since its debut issue in 1991. This led me to discover that there were many more that appealed equally to my love of the baroque and just general 'over the top' grandeur and glamour! A few issues that particularly caught my eye were:
Number 4 : 'Heaven' of which the creators say 'we can no longer recall which came first: coming up with the theme or seeing the Saints of Pierre et Gilles. Either way, their work makes up the backbone - and the cover - of this issue. We got very excited by the idea that an issue could come together with parts from all over the world. Todd Oldham’s embroidered-silk clouds, for example, were made in India, and we then cut them up together in his New York studio'. Each copy of this issue also included loose white confetti!
Number 58 : Spirit Couture, I thought was a wonderfully fitting tribute to talented British designer Alexander McQueen. Bound in supple white leather the cover is embroidered entirely with metalized brocade sewn by Alexander McQueen Atelier in the pattern of the last collection that was designed by McQueen himself. The entire issue is printed on seeded paper that if placed in soil will sprout wild flowers!
Above: Artwork inspired by the film Goldfinger, and The Midas Touch collection of fingerprints
In addition to our copy of 'Gold', we also currently have in stock copies of Number 22 Chic and Number 19 Beauty - 'Chic' marking the publication's second collaboration with a guest editor, this time Mario Testino, assembling a scrapbook of chic based on Testino’s idea that “chic between people finds its ultimate expression in collaboration." 'Beauty', with its mirrored mylar case featuring a limited-edition Visionaire lipstick, mascara, and lip gloss, conversely, created controversy within the editorial team with some thinking that by putting makeup on the cover, the issue would be sending the wrong message: “To be beautiful, you need this." Others argued that cosmetics symbolized contemporary beauty and loved the idea of walking into a bookstore and seeing actual products floating on the cover of a book! Contributors included makeup artists and hairstylists, such as Serge Lutens, Kevyn Aucoin, François Nars, Dick Page, Topolino, Danilo and James Kaliardos, who transformed Cecilia Dean into three different races.
Even for those who do not have a passion for art or fashion, there is bound to be something of Visionaire that will appeal and inspire and I challenge anyone to open one of one of these mysterious publications and not delve a little deeper to see what curiosities might just lurk behind that next page!
Contribued by Jane
(Published on 15th May 2015 )