Brigitte Mulholland is thrilled to present BA Thomas’ first solo show in Paris, La tailleur qui va partout (The Suit that Goes Everywhere). The exhibition is an anthology of new paintings and drawings conceived as a single series of work about a fictional 1970s Parisian fashion house the artist created, called Maison Aline. Each work depicts moments from the history of the fashion brand via vignettes of interiors and cityscapes. Inspired by a residency in Paris, the exhibition is a tribute to the city and its rich history of fashion, as well as an ode to the fashion designers and garment makers of all kinds who weave their voices and vision into the clothes that they sew, a parallel to the process of painting.
The fictional backstory of the exhibition marks an evolution in the artist’s practice. Previously, her work involved interiors and landscapes that were simultaneously real and imagined: psychological scenes that combined fragments and images culled from a variety of real-life sources to create unique painterly scenes. Tables, chairs, rugs, windows, and objects that inspired Thomas were woven into interior spaces or landscapes that resembled, but were not completely loyal to, real places: a compendium of images and moments collaged into the canvas and paper. Humans are almost never depicted in the work, but their traces are; invoking a slightly surreal and palpable energy, their psychological presence always extremely felt. The story of Maison Aline furthers this impulse, and questions ideas of legacy and absence - stories long forgotten, histories lost to time. The process of collaging real inspirations into imagined scenes remained the same; all here culled from the artist’s time spent in Paris.
The paintings and drawings depict the life of the fashion house: dressing rooms, garment racks, mannequins, hats, the dozens of spools of thread used to sew the clothing, and even the chic Parisian building which housed the fictional brand’s flagship boutique. Patterns, texture, and colour are vital to Thomas’ work - further playing with the multiple levels of convergence between art and fashion. Fabric formed for a body - just as canvas is stretched over a frame. The exhibition is populated by richly coloured interiors in dialogue with romantic scenes of French iron-wrought balconies and Haussman buildings; deep maroon wallpaper patterns are complemented by delicate curtains and suits. The largest work in the exhibition is an ode to the seamstress - with dozens of brightly colored bobbins of thread arranged on the atelier wall, akin to a painter’s studio palette.
The title of the exhibition carries multiple meanings: first, it implies both form and function: a sense of purpose, exploring the limits of space and our bodies within it – one suit with several functions. The suit is also a symbol of liberation - trousers and tailored suits for women have been indicators of social mobility in Western culture in the last century. A woman’s agency is implied by her freedom of movement - here nodding to the ability to move between professional and domestic spheres, one item of clothing that can do it all. Psychology is a crucial aspect to Thomas’ work (she studied both psychology and art) - here embodied in the overarching theme of enclothed cognition; that is, the psychological impact that clothing has on a person’s feelings and behavior. Our minds are not separated from our clothing and environment - rather, they emerge from the dynamic interplay between them, shaping our experiences and interactions in the world. Here, those psychological narratives play out in the scenes created in the work; a palpable history unfolding across the vignettes, fictional but psychologically truthful to the experience of a creative life dedicated to making work - whether wearable or wall-bound.
