Efrem Angelo & Philippe Vogelenzang make strong statements about the other side of luxury @ Renaissance Mall (next to the Louis Vuitton shop), Aruba AIS SALON/

Street Art of Efrem Angela, a paradoxal statement about what Aruba should be, but isn't. Efrem used a poem of Juan Chabaya Lampe (the Father of the Carribbean) what describes a love for Aruba on one hand, but the loss of Arubas identity and culture on the other. Efrem feels tourism, the focus on America and the luxury leisure his island is exposed to, threatens the real Aruban culture. The last two lines are about the reality, how it is not how it should be, the love, the ideal....therefore Efrem almost pushed his pen through the wall....and was it ready for the trashcan when he finished. 
photo & text : Marij Rynja

Right accross the statement of Efrem hangs the suitable work of photographer Philippe Vogelenzang: tombstones of the biggest, most influentual fashion luxury brands. Has real luxe died or kills us? 
photo & text : Marij Rynja 

posted by Marij Elisabeth Rynja official blogger for SALON/

Magnificant ending of the Painted Table Dress process in Aruba

by Marij Elisabeth Rynja

Friday afternoon time stood still on the shores of Aruba. On the dock of Roger's Beach, near San Nicolas, we witnessed a breath taking presentation and performance of the Painted table dress, made during the social embroidery workshop earlier this week with 16 participants at Scol di Arte.
On the sounds of a traditional Aruban piano box, musician Michael Lampe leaded dancer Alydia Wever, dressed in the table dress, from water to land where a long table waited to be covered by the table dress. Alydia Wever danced with the long embroidered cloth folded in her arms, like it was a new born ready to present to the outside world. When she reached the table, she softly song repeatedly an Aruban lullaby called 'Maria ta den Cushina' (about Maria who ask us to come to the table and see what she has prepaired). Two girls, dressed in creations of Painted Series, made subtle sound effects of people with clinking wine classes. At final, when the table was covered, the girls put water glasses on the table, while Alydia Wever put off the table dress, walked back to the water and dissapeared with a elegant dive.

For Painted it was an emotional moment seeing their effort and creation get together so well. It was exactly what they wished for when they created the table dress concept two years ago. "It felt really, really good, its a disclosure so perfect it moved me deeply", Margreet Sweerts said. Sakia van Drimmelen: "The idea was already there, but never the right moment. We were asked two years ago to create a table cloth, but just making a table cloth and present it in a shop felt unnatural and not 'painted' like. I knew all along this table cloth should be a made by more than one pair of hands. I saw people sitting around the table and embroider together, even when you never did that before. I am really happy with the result."
Afterwards I spoke shortly with Alydia Wever, who still swom in the water....and so was I. She told me that since she lived in Queens, New York where she danced, she collected nice fabrics and textiles without doing anything with it. So, for her it was also a beatiful moment to dance with accual fabric in stead of only wearing it as a costume. And the teamwork made her dancing today right from the heart.

The project of the Painted Table dress is SALON/ pur sang.

Thank you Painted Series, Alydia Wever, Michael Lampe, Scol di Arte and especially UNOCA for supporting this well executed and delicate project.

In the back Alydia Wever starts her dance. The girl in frint is Alydia's daughter,
a dancer as well, dressed by Painted. Photo: Marij Rynja 

The table dress will be unfolded. Photo: Marij Rynja

End of presentation, the table dress is revealed (attached to the dress). Photo: Marij Rynja

Michael Lampe Photo: Marij Rynja

Alydia Wever | Margreet Sweerts | Robin de Vogel | Michael Lampe | Pierangely Wever | Saskia van Drimmelen

Written and photographed by Marij Elisabeth Rynja official blogger for SALON/
www.marijrynja.com

One Painted Table Dress and 16 pair of hands who embraced the gift of the other

Saskia van Drimmelen and Margreet Sweerts of PAINTED presented a new concept for AIS SALON/ in Aruba: the painted table dress.
In the spirit of Painted, where designs evolve with more than one pair of hands, they designed a dress annex tablecloth in order of a special social workshop. 16 people - varying from social workers, creative artists, local entrepreneurs and myself - get together to embroider on this table dress with a nice top at the end.
Their assignment to us was: embrace what you get, like it is a gift, and bring it a level further. In other words: your creations will be the starting point for someone else. Like a canon. And that's not easy, to let go your first embroidery you have worked on full of ideas and expectations about the result!

During the workshop Saskia and Margreet explained a few basic embroidery techniques and created a visual dialogue with the colorful yarn between the mixture of people. All participants of the workshop made a fish, water waves, a fantasy bird and treads that leaded to the top of the cloth.
The end result is showed last Friday by a local performer, Alydia Wever, who will dance a custom made choreography dressed in our co-created table dress. Read more about this performance on this blog or click here.

http://www.paintedseries.com/


Supported by Scol di Arte and Unesco.

Choose the yarn

Fantasy Fish

Bird and Fish

posted by Marij Elisabeth Rynja official blogger for SALON/

AIS SALON/ presents: Robin de Vogel, a girl with a monumental mission

Robin de Vogel, a third year student at the Gerrit Rietveld Academy who has lived in Aruba, is fascinated by the tangible signs of time, particularly those observed in architecture. These 'signs of decay' as she calls it are considered to be a flaw or something ugly. And therefore ignored. Robin de Vogel started repairing the holes and cracks in the city center of Amsterdam with self made pieces of ceramics which she glazed in a decorative manner, highlighting the signs of decay in the architecture by making them into little ornaments. She said: "In my work I try to pose questions about perception. The pieces blend in with the architecture and their presence is subtle, but at the same time they have a delicate decorative quality that grabs the viewers' attention. The project poses questions about aesthetics and underlines the temporal aspect of life".

Across Aruba and the AIS SALON/ locations, she has repaired a tile, a broken curb, missing cement, or a hole. Robin: "The buildings chosen for AIS SALON/ are of great historic and cultural value for Aruba. The work can be seen as something that ties all these locations together. I hope to make a statement with this work emphasizing the importance of maintaining these constructions for generations to come."

AIS SALON/ supports BRA-ART, a project for the awareness of breast cancer

SALON/ goes further than exposing the endeptment of contemporary fashion and design cross overs, we also like to support projects who give room for yougsters to explore their creative abilities. Like Bra-Art, a project of Atelier 89 of Elvis Lopez, an Aruban artist who started this Visual Arts Academy in 1989 and who coordinates numerous artistic projects on the island.

Last friday the resultst of a workshop for kids about the awareness of breast cancer was opened. Most of the children had witnessed the effect of breast cancer near by. They have customised bra's with various results. In this workshop they learned how to symbolise an emotion, a happening or a story into a personal piece of bra-art.


This project was supported by Mary Joan Breast Cancer Support Group

Heinrich 'Real men wear pink' Gonzalez entitled his creation 'Hey beautiful lady, which side do you choose'. His aunt survived breast cancer. He first made the bra, but was not satisfied. He created a body with one dammaged breast with cancer to enforce his message. For two months he worked on his bra-art project. Well done, Heinrich !  

Meet Marylou Hermans, a girl whose gransmother survived breast cancer and still enjoys her life. Marylou wanted to symbolise the way her grandmother dealed with her cancer. The roses symbolise beauty as well as blood, she tells me. The weaves and curls on the side of the bra symbolise transformation and movesment, that live goes on. And the peacock she made herself, stands for the pride her grandmother showed, with and after her cancer. 

made of melted candle wax

posted by Marij Elisabeth Rynja official blogger for SALON/