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I’m for the art of last war’s raincoats

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Another quote from Claes Oldenburg’s famous Ode to Possibilities ‘I’m for …’ from 1961. It reads like a long list poem. Oldenburg said it was a statement, not a manifesto.

Risham Syed, The Tent of Darius

My poem Wearable Narratives, from my second collection, Nothing serious, nothing dangerous, published by Indigo Dreams in 2019, is in two parts. The poem was inspired by art in the Manchester Art Gallery. Last week I posted part i (Scarf).


The Tent of Darius, an installation from 2009, is a complex work by the Lahore-based Risham Syed. It consists of five embroidered vintage European Army Coats with a small painting. This is a copy, painted by her, of the Charles Le Brun work of the same name.
Syed describes her inspiration for it:


“I imagined these five coats to have travelled all over the world, with women having contributed to them by adding a piece of embroidery. They are like these tired, old worn-out soldiers who have dreamt of coming back home. On the one hand, they symbolize the imperial power, but on the other hand, there is another aspect to this work; how soldiers from the colonies were made to fight for the Imperial powers. It’s true for any army including the Pakistan army, where most soldiers are from Jehlum, Potowar region, from poor, lower middle-class families and end up with the army because of their physique/tradition, in the hope of making a romantic/glamorous career. This work, compares the romance/glamor to the actual reality of war, the aim of it and the beneficiaries of it. I juxtapose the embroidered coats with an ‘Oriental’ painting called The Tent of Darius, a seventeenth-century painting by Charles Le Brun that provides the title for the installation. In it, the Queen of Persia bows to Alexander the Great who has conquered the land. It serves as a metaphor for the West making incisions in the East.”

I was very moved by the sight of these five coats and the details of the embroideries which inspired the last stanza.

The tent of Darius

The ornate faux-Chinese frame holds
a cropped copy on acrylic:
The Queen of Persia
draped at the feet of Alexander.

Below, an array of five overcoats,
donated by European soldiers,
appliquéd and embroidered
by women’s hands.

Under the lapel, a stilled windmill,
peach-coloured vanes.
A green tree above a button hole.
Death comes like blue geese.

I am for an art that helps old ladies across the street

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Oldenburg in 1970 with Giant Toothpaste (1964)

So said Claes Oldenburg and he said a lot more like it, such as ‘I’m for art that flaps like a flag, or helps blow noses like a handkerchief’. Oldenburg said that his famous 1961 Ode to Possibilities, ‘I am for …’ was a statement, not a manifesto. It’s a fantastic read, a long list poem that works well as a writing prompt. Here is the link.


Swedish-born Oldenburg, one of the founding fathers of Pop Art died July this year at the age of 93. He was famous for his monumental sculptures where mundane objects (matches, clothes peg, apple core) suddenly became larger than life.

My poem Wearable Narratives (from the collection Nothing serious, nothing dangerous) is in two parts. Here is part i. It was inspired by a pure silk scarf, made by Andrea Zapp, that was on display in the shop of Manchester Art Gallery. At that time, I didn’t have a smartphone. So, here is a picture of other scarves, made by Andrea Zapp. See the note below for more information about her amazing work.

Scarf

A turquoise ribbon runs under khaki stepping stones.
Tomatoes are the red carpet. Slanting shadows
pull the empty staircase under water. Its fine metal
tracery anchors a washing line with checked tea towel.

Cold marble columns, bleached shutters closed.
Almost out of sight wooden farming implements,
a clock stopped at ten to eleven, a car hubcap.

Everything here is at an angle now.
What survives are the chalk drawings:
a cheerful elephant, the ibis and another bird,
its round black eye like a spinning top.

Note:

Andrea Zapp, born in Germany, living in Manchester, pioneered in coalescing her digital media art background with the fashion industry. Andrea has created the luxury fashion brand AZ.andreazapp. This sells high quality silk dresses and scarves printed with her own photography of urban views, rural panoramas, miniature scenarios and objects of culture and curiosity, creating a collection of stunning authentic hand-made garments.