In celebration of Toi Art’s opening on 17 March, we asked Megan from Mode & Methodology to come up with looks inspired by works in the national art collection. Here is the first, inspired by Sing Tai Wong’s Man in the mountains.
“This work jumped out of the collection for two reasons – the use of various shades of blue, and the really defined use of colour (on my visit to Te Papa they noted the paint by colours approach and I felt proud for thinking that when I looked at it online. I am easily chuffed). I felt inspired by that definition, the blue, and the pops of yellow. So, I present you with…
“I wanted definition and a crisp demarcation between items, so I stuck to strong shapes and high contrast items. The yellow skirt is a vintage number I picked up last year, which has a massive tail/frill on the back – wearing it here with the sleeveless coat was an easy way to play down the drama of that feature, and to introduce the white space from the painting. As well as introducing a different colour blue, the necklaces broke up the solid mass of dark blue through the centre of the outfit.
“I think this outfit demonstrates that you can pick and choose what you want from an artwork when it comes to inspiring your own creativity – I disregarded the green, gave the yellow more prominence, and picked up the brighter hue of blue in my necklace (and background, but I can’t take this wall everywhere I go). That’s important, I think. I’m living proof that you don’t have to be an art aficionado to get pleasure and inspiration from art!
“Did you spot the man in the mountain in the art work?”
Yes, saw the man. This image reminds me of Marcus King’s work, his graphic design for posters.