EMERGING TALENTS NOW
Most beautiful things emerge in Springtime. We’ve devoted this whole week to that truth. We love seeing new life pop up around us, in whatever form.
Today, as seniors are in the home stretch, preparing their portfolios for imminent graduation reviews, we are focusing on emerging talents -- photographers, artists, and designers -- with reference to the schools that nurtured them.
THE NEW SCHOOL -- PARSONS SCHOOL OF DESIGN
Jia “Daisy” Hua, a young designer from China, studied at the Parsons School of Design before she emerged with a brilliant debut.
Her collection mixes athletic fabrics with couture handcrafting techniques, including weaving, hand stitching, and bonding to create rich layers.
Hua works with powerful punchy neon colors, contrasting geometric solid shapes, with some against sheer floaty chiffon. Others weave neon through striking black patterns.
Hua was inspired by the work of artists like Mickalene Thomas, Caroline Larsen and Dan Flavin. And we can’t wait to see where she goes next!
Jihye Nam, another Parsons student, was inspired by Korean traditional dress, or Hanbok, which means “clothing” in Korean. Nam reinterpreted the dress by adding elements of modern sportswear, creating simple flowing shapes.
Silk organza, which is the traditional fabric of Hanbok, is layered and sewn together with big point stitches. Then Nam paints over the layered organza with the traditional Korean painting technique of Seoye. Hanbok also inspired the collection’s vibrant color combinations.
These dresses are true works of art. And they are just the beginning!
SCHOOL OF VISUAL ARTS OF BRUSSELS
Belgian designer Cedric Charlier graduated from the School of Visual Arts of Brussels. While he’s already had an impressive career, since he won the Moêt Hennessy Fashion Award in 1998, worked under Michael Kors at Céline, then Lanvin, and Cacharel, he has only recently emerged with his first eponymous collection.
Charlier is completely original in his use of color, with bold, unexpected combinations that totally work, like the cherry and yellow-tipped mint ensemble above, from his Spring 2014 collection.
He favors slightly deconstructed shapes with strong geometric lines. He is a highly artistic draper. And he knows how to cut a killer suit.
We are excited to watch his talent unfurl in seasons to come.
SCHOOL OF VISUAL ARTS
Anna Beeke is a documentary and fine arts photographer, based in Brooklyn, NY. She recently received her MFA from the School of Visual Arts in Photography, Video & Related Media. Her work ranges from intimate portraits where she totally gets you to see the beauty of each shadow, as well as each glint and glow to lush magical landscapes.
Beeke’s Sylvania series looks like a fairy tale unfolding. She somehow gets the trees to dance for her lens.
She’s already on her way. Beeke is included in "reGeneration2: Tomorrow’s Photographers Today," a traveling exhibition and book, organized by the Musée de l’Elysée in Switzerland.
Beeke has also won a nice clutch of honors and awards just in the past two years. She won the Alumni Scholarship Award from the School of Visual Arts, and the 2012 Film Grant from Kodak + too much chocolate, among others. And most recently, she was selected for Magenta's Flash Forward 2013.
Anna is represented by Uprise Art.
Yoav Friedlander, a photographer from Israel, studied photography at Hadassah Academic College Jerusalem and is finishing up his MFA at the School Of Visual Arts.
He plays a lot with reflected light, using the shapes it creates as graphic elements in his photographs. He is interested in the way photography visually maps reality.
And he considers the fact that most people viewing photos gain a certain understanding of the reality of the live scene even though they have never experienced it, or perhaps even anything like it.
“Since the invention of the photograph, reality gradually became augmented by its own reflection. I am focusing my work at that point of friction,” explains Friedlander.
We look forward to seeing the future work of all of the emerging talents featured today. What’s next for them is bound to be a joy for us all to experience.
Read more about Beautiful Spring, it relates to Arts/Design, Nature/Science, Food/Drink, Place/Time, Mind/Body, and Soul/Impact, including 10 Beautiful Spring Things Books, Beautiful New Life Emerging Now and The Most Beautiful Eggs Right Now.
Photo Credits:
- Photo: by Paul Jung. Jia Hua Designs.
- Photo: by Paul Jung. Jia Hua Designs.
- Photo: by Paul Jung. Jia Hua Designs.
- Photo: Courtesy of Jihye Nam.
- Photo: Courtesy of Jihye Nam.
- Photo: Courtesy of Cedric Charlier. Spring Collection.
- Photo: Courtesy of Cedric Charlier. From Resort 2014 Collection.
- Photo: Courtesy of Cedric Charlier. From Resort 2014 Collection.
- Photo: by Anna Beeke. “Fadma, an older weaver from the Ait Hamza weaving cooperative, poses in her home.”
- Photo: by Anna Beeke. From Sylvania series.
- Photo: by Anna Beeke. From Sylvania series.
- Photo: by Yoav Friedlander. From “A Form of View” Series.
- Photo: by Yoav Friedlander. From “A Form of View” Series.
- Photo: by Yoav Friedlander. From “A Form of View” Series.
- Photo: by Yoav Friedlander. From “A Form of View” Series.
- Photo: Courtesy of Nature.com. Eggs.
