Picture Consequences – 18

PICTURE CONSEQUENCES is the first collaboration between Melbourne designer Ingrid Verner and painter Gian Manik. The two came together to explore their individual work and friendship through a collection that challenges the intentions and messaging of fashion. The resulting pieces are an experiment in fusing creative practices to find a new shared visual language. 

Both Verner and Manik’s work celebrate the natural and unpretentious. They pull away from the clutter of mainstream art and fashion dialogues to celebrate the primary elements of their own worlds. 

Across PICTURE CONSEQUENCES, Verner’s designs take inspiration from the instinctual beauty of professional and personal uniforms; practical garments that we wed our identity to, and serve as both tools and points of expression.

The illusion to workwear is mirrored in Manik’s prints. Inspired by graffiti, studio mess and detritus they allude to the graffiti painter, house painter and artist as painter. In his hands familiar items such as a small man’s suit, polyester party dress and floral jacket are reconsidered through the application of paint, texta and aerosol. They emerge from Manik’s studio reformed and reconsidered. 

The resulting collections is an intelligent mediation on the lives, relationships and practices behind art, beyond the finished pieces we interact with daily. And a coded, nuanced celebration of friendship and creativity.