This assessment is a part of a sequence of Should-See reveals, wherein a author delivers a snapshot of a present exhibition
Shifting via Karl Lagerfeld’s Nineteen Eighties condo in Rocabella appears like a surrealist dream: furnished by the provocative design group Memphis, the area is populated by geometrically sharp, placing furnishings in reds, blues and yellows. Whether or not via a mattress remodeled right into a boxing ring (Masanori Umeda, Tawaraya Get together Ring, 1981) or a bookshelf whose kind mimics the unruly branches of a tree (Ettore Sottsass, Carlton Bookcase, 1981), the group’s visionary playfulness creates a house that escapes the clutches of the mundane, pushing towards the boundaries of consolation in favour of extravagance.
For ‘KARL GOES TO MEMPHIS’, Almine Rech’s Monaco gallery has been remodeled into a duplicate of the enduring clothier’s Monte Carlo residency. The daring model of Memphis’s furnishings is accentuated by eight new works by Francesco Vezzoli. This choice of charming mise-en-abyme inkjet portraits sees an older Karl in his iconic black glasses and ice-white ponytail, gazing at opulent reflections of his weeping youthful self.
In KARL GOES TO MEMPHIS (THE PROPER ORNAMENTS) (all works 2025), silver-garland tears circulate from a trendy younger Karl’s eyes, with globular inexperienced beads hanging from the top of every strand of lachrymose steel. KARL GOES TO MEMPHIS (I WAS A SUNNY RAIN PHASE) takes the flamboyance additional, as Karl’s tears – depicted as a sequence of silver pear-shaped brooches – blossom right into a flower. Regardless of the common stoic facial expressions of Vezzoli’s monochrome topics, the bejewelled colors of their tears provide an surprising playfulness – which is echoed within the designs of Memphis, each signalling a welcomed crack in a rigorously curated facade.
The present’s most transfixing work, KARL LAGERFELD (PERFIDIA), contains a small silk embroidered portrait of a younger Karl staring wistfully forward. His raven hair bears a frosting of silver, his face an accumulation of gray and white hues resembling cracked porcelain. Crimson tears circulate delicately down his face. While it lacks the panache of different works on show, PERFIDIA presents a extra insecure aspect of the designer as he shrinks away from our gaze, eyebrows furrowed, lips clenched tight.
A joyous ode to kitsch and Nineteen Eighties avant-garde, the present presents a refreshingly nuanced perspective on a determine who has been repeatedly caricatured throughout the vogue world and past. Vezzoli skilfully side-steps Lagerfeld’s harsh, impassive minimalism to unveil a extra susceptible and playful aspect to the enduring designer and his imaginative and prescient.
Francesco Vezzoli’s ‘KARL GOES TO MEMPHIS’ is on view at Almine Rech, Monaco, till 24 Might
Essential picture: Francesco Vezzoli, KARL GOES TO MEMPHIS (TOO MUCH LOVE) (element), 2025, inkjet print on paper, acrylic paint, body, 1.2 × 2 m. Courtesy: © Francesco Vezzoli and Almine Rech, Paris; {photograph}: Alice Turchini
