'Fuel Pump... (Cultural Tie)', 2000
LIMITED EDITION Artists' Tie
A GREAT & ORIGINAL GIFT ITEM!!!
Cultural Ties was an exciting and unique fusion of art and fashion. This imaginative global project was the brain child of London art dealer Kapil Jariwala: the brief was for seventy-seven leading artists from around the world to design neck tie mock-ups which were translated into textile format by Como, Italy's Ratti silk factory. A limited edition, only 300 of each tie, were produced and sold worldwide via selected retail outlets, gallery shops and the internet. The project, in association with UNICEF, was supported by Gavin Aldred, owner of the Westzonegalleryspace, where the artwork for the project was exhibited, and Westzone Publishing Ltd.
"Art and fashion have come together for Cultural Ties, a project that aims to raise $1m (about pounds 700,000) for Unicef's clean-water campaign. Artists such as the Chapman Brothers, Jeff Koons and Louise Bourgeois have each come up with a unique design for a necktie, and these have been produced in a limited-edition of 300 by Versace's tie-maker."
Richard Wilson is one of Britain's most celebrated sculptors. He is known for his interventions in architectural space which draw heavily for their inspiration from the worlds of engineering and construction and are characterised by concerns with size and structural daring.
Wilson has exhibited widely nationally and internationally for over thirty years and has made major museum exhibitions and public works in countries as diverse as Japan, USA, Brazil, Mexico, Russia, Australia and numerous countries throughout Europe. Wilson has also represented Britain in the Sydney, Sao Paulo, Venice Biennials and Yokohama Triennal, was nominated for the Turner Prize on two occasions and was awarded the prestigious DAAD residency in Berlin 1992-3. He was one of a small number of artists invited to create a major public work for The Millennium Dome and the only British artist invited to participate in Echigo-Tsumari Art Triennial 2000.
Wilson's seminal installation 20:50, a sea of reflective sump oil, which is permanently installed in the Saatchi Collection, was described as 'one of the masterpieces of the modern age' by the art critic Andrew Graham Dixon in the BBC television series The History of British Art.