Show Me The Money: Solo Ronald van der Kemp

  • Show me the Money

    May 25 - July 20 | Rademakers Gallery

    'The exhibition by fashion designer Ronald van der Kemp, titled "Show me the money!" will commence on Saturday, May 25th. In the current year, Rademakers gallery aims to prioritize Art, Fashion, and Design while also emphasizing sustainability.


    The art collection by van der Kemp includes a handmade, tailored jacket in gold leather with gold and black brocade. The ceramic buttons seem to be directly inspired by Dalí and the pockets contain real euro notes: the colourful shreds of paper money come from misprints of De Nederlandsche Bank. "I like that: the value of paper gets a new value via devaluation," says Van der Kemp. The couturier also turns trash into treasure with the matching bag: the square handbag with gold chain is a refined shiny treasure chest, a piece of jewelry. Based on his love for clothes and crafts, Van der Kemp creates, generously using existing fabrics and other residual materials that have been discarded by others. In this way, the couturier gives those materials a beauty and an exuberant second life as glamorous vintage couture pieces containing a mix of ethics, aesthetics, creativity, and imperfection, with which he tries to get under people's skin, make them aware and incite them to action and change.

     

    The pioneer who was already upcycling when the word did not yet exist, sees fashion as a multidisciplinary art form in which all flavors are mixed like ingredients in a blender. Whether he paints and sketches or makes collages, films and statement couture pieces: a 3D collage can become hand-painted fabric for an evening dress, but why not also adorn a ceiling? A striking geometric gold paper mache bag is also an art object. And from a couture dress in a huge frame, he makes a painting for the wall, but when taken out of the frame, the dress is again a wearable work of art.

     

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  •  “Anything can come together, I never know what it's going to be. I work very intuitively; I also want to be stimulated and surprised,” he says about the process. It is a kind of antidote to the fashion houses and chains around the world that offer the same uniformity. “Perfection is cold and lifeless, while fashion lovers want something special that is also very well made.” This strengthens his idea of creating unique pieces that have a soul. “I love the beauty of imperfections. A raw edge is exciting. You should be able to see that it has been worked on by hand and with love.” This applies to all his works in which he uses a combination of materials to express his feelings about what is happening in the world and how he relates to it.

     

    In that sense, Van der Kemp has always been an idiosyncratic activist, a man with a mission; his unchanged message is sometimes ostentatiously proclaimed on a stage, but is often subtly hidden in his work and is about social issues and bringing about change. The mountain of dumped or burned clothing caused by the fast fashion industry in particular is a gigantic global problem and Van der Kemp soon saw that the luxury industry was following fast fashion. That worried and worried him very much.

  • That is why he rescues the beautiful materials discarded by others and gives them a new beauty and an exuberant second life as personal works of art on the wall or couture glamour pieces that parade on the catwalk, where he always tries to touch people's skin and make them aware. and to inspire action and change. Whether it is a show during Paris Fashion Week or at Rademakers Gallery.

     

    The artist says “I believe that thought-provoking intuitive creativity and aesthetics, which touches people underneath the skin, will lead to much-needed awareness, empathy and behavioural change in society.”

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