Artist Research;

Anne-Catherine Becker-Ech­ivard

Anne-Catherine Becker-Echivard is a contemporary artist who has become well-known for the images she creates using real fish, which she places like little puppets and then photographs. 

Artistic inspiration

After deciding to go with my theme of fish I looked up artists that involve fish or sea creatures within there work, there are obvious installation artists such as Damien Hirst who has created large pieces of work involving fish and other cold blooded animals. Most often these particular pieces are featured in Perspex boxes and styled to look as though they are moving. All of which is very intriguing and form a unique starting point for my shoot preparation. Some images of Hirst’s work feature below;

The Physical Impossibility of Death in the Mind of Someone Living 1991  

Isolated Elements Swimming in the Same Direction for the Purpose of Understanding 1991

Aquatic inspiration; A trip to the fish market

Upon focusing on the collections for the ocean trend of Spring/Summer 2012 I decided to pay a visit to my local fish market in Bolton, my main reason for doing so was to increase my archive of photographs and to focus more upon fish, noting there colour and shape as well as the way in which they were displayed upon the counters. The varied hues of silvers and blues are most interesting and would create a visually pleasing colour pallet for my editorial. The photographs below document my trip;

Most of the fish were displayed upon crushed ice with green parsley leaf for decoration, the contrast between the white ice, the silvery shade of fish and the vivid green is beautiful and something I could possibly include when designing my editorial.

Givenchy Spring/Summer 2012

Another designer collection from the Spring/Summer catwalks that also features this running theme of the ocean is Givenchy. The garments themselves are somewhat simple and feature bold cuts in pristine monochromes, the accessories and details however feature many unusual objects such as stiffened metallic frills that represent fish fins and enamel pendants created to look like shark teeth.

Versarce Couture

Although not a direct link to the ocean trend hitting the catwalks for Spring/Summer 2012 the delicate use of colour and the soft draped silhouettes from the couture collection by Versace. The use of pale shades of grey and blue as well as the heavy embroidery and embellishment is most beautiful.

Chanel Spring/Summer Ready to wear collection

There is an iridescent shimmer to the collection, light and feminine. The entire collection draws inspiration from white sea shapes such as corals, shells, sea horses, and stingrays other influences include Early Renaissance painters such as Botticelli's who famously painted "the birth of Venus" in (1486)

Details from the collection

Note the clutch bags and various accessories that mimic the shape of shells and are decorated with signature Chanel pearls.

Note the use of heavy embellishment upon brocade fabrics.

Closer details of the collection; The soft ruffled fabric and the intricate layers within the garments remind me of coral and sea creatures.