Nicole Tran Ba Vang Explores Fashion's Underside at CCC Tours

Nicole Tran Ba Vang's solo exhibition at the Centre de Création Contemporaine (CCC) in Tours, France, from March 17 to June 10, 2007, interrogates the cult of appearance and identity through fashion's visual codes. The show features photographs, a video, paintings, and installations. It opens with the ongoing series "Collection icônes," where Tran Ba Vang paints over fashion magazine photos of models, creating paradoxical images of dressing-undressing where clothing becomes skin. The video "Strip-tease" shows four faces applying and removing makeup in reverse choreography to Juliette Gréco's song "Déshabillez-moi." The series "Collection Automne/Hiver 2003-2004" extends the body into decor, while "Collection coutures cellulaires" uses enlarged, colored organic cells to transform the body into an abstract painting. The new series "Collection Automne/Hiver 2007/2008" deepens the body-decor ambiguity with flesh-toned monochromes where the model's body, embroidered and trapped by threads, seems to merge into space. The installation "Collection Chloé Printemps/Été 2006" features a wall embroidered like skin and pierced with words. CCC's new facade, designed by architect Philippe Chiambaretta, was inaugurated for this exhibition.