source:gudakosternl
SCULPTURE, PHOTOGRAPH, PERFORMANCE AND WORK IN THE PUBLIC DOMAIN
Guda Koster is a Dutch artist who creates living sculptures and performances, which the photographs are the results of. Koster’s works are created in parallels of time, space and textile.In her works Koster uses fabrics, colours and patterns that underline the codes and meanings our clothing conveys.

How would you describe your works? I make installations, sculptures and photographs in which clothing plays an important part. Clothing doesn’t just have a function but also conveys a message. In our everyday lives we communicate identity and social position primarily by means of our clothing. Clothing can be seen as a visual art form that expresses the way we see ourselves and our relationship with the world around us.

What themes are you interested in exploring in your works?
I have a lot of books on clothing: not just on fashion but also on functional clothing like company uniforms, folk dresses, ritual cloths and of course books on other artist who work with textiles. Daily life, identity and transforming the human body are important themes in my work. A work may begin with the pattern of a fabric found on the market or it may start with an idea.

What techniques do you use?
I always sew the clothing myself and those will then be part of an installation or sculpture. I may also build a set, dress myself and photograph myself in the set with the self-timer. I use fabrics, colours, patterns and new cuts to underline the codes and meanings clothing conveys.

On the website you present a series of photographs. Can you comment on them?
In these photographs I am often ‘invisibly’ playing the leading role, dressed in self-made outfits, often photographed against a patterned background. The work looks professional and serious, but it is humorous as well. In de work Twins the pattern of the fabric is transformed into the windows of a skyscraper and in the work Snowwhite a furry coat is turned into an animal. You can see the photographs as little stories.

Your interest in fashion, interior design and architecture are evident in your works. What connects you to these disciplines?
You can also mention theatre, but the connection is the use of textiles and the relation people have with their surroundings. The clothed human figure becomes an integral part of a space or environment. I am inspired by daily life, but I exaggerate it or I give it a humorous twist.

What are your views and how would you describe tendencies in contemporary Dutch photography?
I have seen al lot of Dutch photography, but I don’t regard myself as a photographer. I am not interested in photographical ‘problems’. I make ‘living’ sculptures and the photograph is the result of the performance, therefore I am more a sculptor than a photographer. Therefore I am not so involved in Dutch photography and I don’t’ think there is a special ‘Dutch style’.

What are you working on at the moment?
I am working on something I have never done before. Fellow artist Jan Theun van Rees (www.onewallaway.com) has made the book „Hidden stories”. During the last ten year he has been photographing important cultural buildings in Amsterdam (Stedelijk Museum, the Rijksmuseum, the Amsterdam Jewish museum, theatre Carre etc.) during renovation. Not all these photo’s are on display in the book. He invited me and some other artists to choose one of those ‘leftovers. I have chosen one of a stripped room in the Stedelijk Museum. He prints it for me in the format of 3 x 2 meters and that will be the background for me to develop a new work. I can do with the photograph whatever I want. I have always built my own set and I am curious how my work will function with this illusionistic background that is not my own: it will bring other problems to solve and hopefully new ideas. Interview for internet platform ART CART, 2014
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source:cerclemagazinecom
The enigmatic installations of Guda Koster
Human limits and insecurities, obsessions and fears, vanity and desire are beautifully captured in the humorous and challenging sculpture and photography of Dutch artist Guda Koster.

Using clothing as a statement and confession of her enigmatic figures, stimulating the viewer to look beyond appearance, the artist recreates and reflects psychological, social and behavioral patterns through geometric shapes, textiles, color and repetition. Trapped in their own decadent boxes and waiting for their unfulfilled dreams and promises to set them free, the bearers of multiple possible identities depicted by Guda Koster expose themselves acting as a symbol of today’s paradoxical human condition.

Guda Koster’s work is published in the Portfolio pages of Cercle Magazine #4: Costumes.
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source:fahrenheitmagazinecom
Гуда Костер – голландский художник, которыйживые скульптуры и представления, из которых фотографии являются результатом.

Работы Костера созданы параллельно времени, пространства и текстиля. Костер использует ткани, цвета и узоры, которые подчеркивают коды и значения, которые передает одежда.

Костер гарантирует, что яОдежда не только имеет функцию, но и передает сообщение.

Это потому, что в нашей повседневной жизни мы сообщаем личность, и первый способ сделать это – через одежду, которую мы носим.

Кроме того, их можно рассматривать как форму визуального искусства, которое выражает то, как мы видим себя и наши отношения с окружающим миром.

В том числе, функциональная мода вдохновляет Гуду Костер. Например, фирменную форму, народные костюмы или ритуальную одежду.

Костер не только призывает наблюдать за одеждой иначе, чем просто прикрывать тело изменениями климата или скромностью социализации.

Он также приглашает немного юмора при одевании. И он критикует повседневную жизнь.

Например, в Спящая красавицаиронично изображает усталость и истощение, которые люди испытывают в своей повседневной работе.

По этой причине его фотографии кажутся маленькими историями.

Искусство Гуды Костер – это способ представлять повседневную жизнь, по иронии судьбы и подчеркивая важность идентичности через моду и скульптуру.