“Items: Is Fashion Modern?” at the MOMA

Visited the Items: Is Fashion Modern Exhibition at MOMA which is described on the exhibition website as follows: “Items: Is Fashion Modern? explores the present, past—and sometimes the future—of 111 items of clothing and accessories that have had a strong impact on the world in the 20th and 21st centuries—and continue to hold currency today. Among them are pieces as well-known and transformative as the Levi’s 501s, the Breton shirt, and the Little Black Dress, and as ancient and culturallyRead more

Conference Presentation: “Rich Relations: The Evolution and Uneasy Symbiosis of Art and Fashion” May 12, 2017, Ryerson University

I presented my paper: “Rich Relations: The Evolution and Uneasy Symbiosis of Art and Fashion” at the Nouveau Reach: Past Present and Future of Luxury Conference on Friday May 12, 2017. : http://nouveaureach.ca/ (Abstract) The new Fondation Louis Vuitton (LV) is the latest incarnation of the corporate/art mega-partnership, highlighting the increasingly uncomfortable relationship between art and fashion. This research explores the cartography between autonomous art culture and fashion commerce and the increased blurring of their overlapping borders. From its earliest roots,Read more
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Mark O’Connell Art Portfolio

From my explorations a monograph emerges that can include painting, collage, block prints, drawings, poetry, fashion illustration and text. Upon completion, the series is gathered together and exhibited partially in a gallery, and partially online. This hybrid installation model allows the artwork to be read both as a cohesive agglomeration, as well as a collection of individual art objects and text. I use the form of the art to mediate levels of accessibility for the content therein. The availability ofRead more

Method and Methodology; Ontology and Epistemology; Empirical and Documentary Research.

“Theory without empirical research is empty, empirical research without theory is blind.” Pierre Bourdieu (1988: 74). Qualitative research has been challenged for its subjectivity. However, empirical quantitative methods have been shown to have their own biases that can potentially limit the results of experiments due to the input and language prescribed by the discipline. In fact, an impetus for the adoption of qualitative research methodologies were the restrictive frameworks of traditional quantitative analyses, and the considerable ideological framework that is usedRead more