XOYO is a unique events space that is more than just another venue. At XOYO you can enjoy the best in live music, cultural happenings and art exhibitions.
VOGUING, part 3
“Vogue” is a song by American singer-songwriter Madonna from her soundtrack album I’m Breathless (Music from and Inspired by the film Dick Tracy) and was released on March 20, 1990, by Sire Records. Madonna was inspired by vogue dancer and choreographers Jose and Luis Xtravaganza from the Harlem “House Ball” community, the origin of the dance Vogue, and they introduced “Vogueing” to her at the New York City club “Sound Factory”. Jose Xtravaganza is featured in the Historic Art Documentary How Do I Look, directed by Wolfgang Busch.
Paris Is Burning is a 1990 documentary film directed by Jennie Livingston. Filmed in the mid-to-late 1980s, it chronicles the ball culture of New York City and the poor, African American and Latino gay and transgendered community involved in it. Many consider Paris Is Burning to be an invaluable documentary of the end of the “Golden Age” of New York City drag balls, as well as a thoughtful exploration of race, class, and gender in America.
A dance form popular in the 1970s and 80s. Voguing began in the Harlem gay scene as a non-aggressive battle between two feuding individuals- who chose to use dance instead of violence to settle differences. Voguing often imitated the perfect lines and flexibility of model poses seen in fashion magazine such as Vogue- of the which the dance got its name. No touching was allowed during vogue challenges, even though dancers would often become intertwined in each others extended arms, legs and hand moves. The voguer with the best dance moves was declared the winner of the battle. There were different styles of the vogue, including pantomimes or moves imitating the challenger.
Since Helmut Newton’s death (1920 – 2004), there has been no retrospective of his work in France, although he did much of his work there, particularly for the French edition of Vogue. Provocative, sometimes shocking, Newton’s work tried to capture the beauty, eroticism, humour – and sometimes violence – that he sensed in the social interaction within the familiar worlds of fashion, luxury, money and power.
The exhibition bring together more than two hundred photographs, mostly original or vintage prints made under Helmut Newton’s supervision: Polaroid, working prints in various sizes, monumental works. It will be supported by press records, and a film made by his wife of sixty years, the photographer June Newton: Helmut by June. It takes a retrospective, thematic angle. Through the major themes in his work: fashion, nudes, portraits, sex and humour, the exhibition seeks to show that Newton was much more than a fashion photographer. His photography shook off all constraints, even though he often worked within the rigid framework of fashion and portraiture. His work is eminently classical, fitting into a very broad view of art. It experiments freely with themes and formats, and presents a unique vision of the contemporary female body.
We used to say of Yves Saint Laurent that his creations had empowered women. The same could be said of Helmut Newton, who was long intimately involved in YSL’s approach, and that was no accident. Nude or in a dinner jacket, Newton’s women are powerful, seductive and dominant - never icy but always impressive or even intimidating. They are liberated women who take full responsibility for the freedom of their bodies, timeless and unclassifiable, open to all fantasies. They are rich women, who have conquered the world and its money, and luxuriate in refinement, from evening gowns to bed. Luxe, classe et volupté could be the motto of the Newtonian woman. When Newton published A World Without Men, he formulated the visionary expression of a society in which women had gained enough power to do without men if need be.
The exhibition does not stop at Newton’s women, but explores the many, sometimes secret fields of his work. Designed by June Newton and punctuated by quotations from the photographer, it will be on both counts “Newton by Newton”.
Conception June Newton, with the collaboration of Jérôme Neutres, advisor to the President of the Réunion des musées nationaux - Grand Palais
“It’s just the feeling when you start thinking about your ancestors and DNA that the grounds open below you and you can feel your mother and her mother, and her mother, and her mother, and her mother 30,000 years back. So suddenly you’re this kinda tunnel, or trunk of DNA… All these ghosts come up so it ended up begin a Halloween song and quite gothic in a way… It’s like being part of this everlasting necklace when you’re just a bead on a chain and you sort of want to belong and be a part of it and it’s just like a miracle.”
we’re currently thinking of re-designing our smoking area, so we’re doing a contest to find the next illustrators/designers/graffiti artists. if you’re interested, please submit your portfolio, cv and artist’s statement entitled xoyo smoking area to alisa@xoyo.co.uk
