A Dinner Party Entry addition for women of the arts
Upon studying the women artists of the world like Berthe Morisot, Mary Cassatt, Artemisia Gentileschi, and Yayoi Kusama, I was introduced to Judy Chicago and her feminist work The Dinner Party.
As the many inclusions covered women from many ethnic backgrounds, professions, and educations, I was given a choice as to who I would like to include should I be given the chance. Which would be very cool by the way!
Anyway, the women here are known for their acts of heroism, courage, talent, dedication to academia, the arts, and many iconic feats during their lifetimes. I decided to choose a woman who inspired me as an artist and continues to represent an elegant standard of quality and attention to detail through her work, Malika Favre.
Malika Favre
Favre is a French illustrator and graphic artist who has lived in France, London, and Italy during her career as she has created minimalist works in the styles of Pop and Op art for clients like The New Yorker, Sephora, Penguin Books, Vogue, and Vanity Fair to name a few.
I first came across Favre’s work when I accompanied my mom to a Sephora store that had her work on display for their Spring 2015 product launch. I was a junior in a vocational high school, studying graphic design and trying to develop my sense of style. Favre’s work was bold, popped, and direct. A clear extension of herself that could not be misunderstood, or misinterpreted. The clarity of her work inspired me to search for my own clarity in my work, and she continues to inspire me today as my favorite contemporary artist.
Become enamored with Malika Favre’s work on her website here.
P.S. If she ever reads this,
Thank you Miss Favre, for being true to yourself through your art and investigating beauty in the smallest details.
Reference
The Dinner Party has many examples of tapestries, and plates that represent the female guest. The plate designs are often associated with vaginal artistic interpretations crafted through sculpture. Some guests like Sojourner Truth, are represented with an illustration of highlights of their feats in life.
For Malika Favre, I felt representing her work through the most common mode of consumption in a digital age felt appropriate for her place setting. However, the selection process was difficult considering many works that Favre’s catalog provided were excellent choices.
Process
Initially, I knew I wanted to represent the classic red, white, and black style derived from Favre’s logo in the place setting. It allowed me a somewhat easy way of representing her in the tapestry, and utensils. The plate was a different story.
No single work of Favre’s felt weighted enough to be a single example of her artistry. Considering the range and quality of work presented in her portfolio as seen in the gif to the right, it was a tough choice. Then I remembered that some of her vector artworks are animated.
I searched through Favre’s Instagram account and screen-captured a few of her animated works. I then converted the screen captures to video clips, and sequenced them together into one clip. Thus Favre’s plate would be empty, so as to transform from a plate to a window frame that peers into the many works of the artist’s career thus far.
But this was not enough. I needed to include something more, considering the majority of the work presented was not my own other than designing the place setting itself. Then I remembered the works I created inspired by Favre and chose Textured Dreams. This piece was a personal exploration of the beauty of curly, and textured hair. I animated my work using Adobe After Effects for this project and included it at the end of the sequence to represent Favre’s legacy as she inspires the next generation of artists like myself.
A Selection of Works by Malika Favre
Place Setting Animation