Photo courtesy of Louis Vuitton
Intimate relationships, femininity, social consciousness, and pop culture are interpreted in the 2023 edition of Louis Vuitton’s Artycapucines collection.
Named after the Rue Neuve-des-Capucines in Paris the Capucines is a timeless and classic Louis Vuitton bag that has been a canvas for artists since 2019. Named the Artypucines collection, Louis Vuitton shows its commitment to artistic creativity, savoir-faire, and craft, employing their innovative spirit and expertise at the service of artists through these creative collaborations. To date, 29 contemporary artists have been handpicked to design their own Artycapucines —- including Alex Israel, Beatriz Millhazes, Daniel Buren, Henry Taylor, Paolo Pivi, Park Seo-Bo, Tschabalala Self, Ugo Rondinone, Urs Fischer, Vik Muniz, and Zhao Zhao.
Now, five newly chosen contemporary artists join that roster, lending their unique vision to this year’s Artycapucines collection. Through the Maison’s masterful artisans, artists Billie Zangewa, Ewa Juszkiewicz, Liza Lou, Tursic & Mille, and Ziping Wang interpret their artistic identity and style to the classic Capucines bag.
In the Philippines, the Artycapucine bags are available exclusively at Louis Vuitton Greenbelt. Viewing is until October 30.
Billie Zangewa
Billie Zangewa’s domestic interiors, urban landscapes, and portraits are easily recognizable for her intricate and complex arrangements of raw silk. In Zangewa’s Artycapucines, the artists’ signature silk material is scanned and re-interpreted through high-definition printing. It brings to life her 2020 silk patchwork, The Swimming Lesson, where her son Mika is featured standing in the waters. Using a variety of threads and embroidery techniques, the swimming pool is recreated and sparkles with hand-stitched beads. Light-catching metallic thread is used to embroider her son’s figure, whom she often exchanges figurines with. This special bonding practice is symbolized in the three charms of African penguins with Monogram flowers on their bodies, which are attached to one side of the bag.
Ewa Juskiewicz
Ewa Juzkiewicz’s portraits are always touched with the surreal and grotesque. In her work, her subjects’ faces are hidden from the viewer, deconstructing conventional ideals of feminine beauty. For her Artycapucines, she based the design on her 2021 painting entitled Ginger Locks. To capture every detail, an innovative 3D digital printing technique is used to reproduce the striking portrait and to print the work onto the Louis Vuitton logo. The original light-to-dark green gradated background is recreated by carefully spray painting the colors by hand on a smooth type of calfskin. Inspired by secret lovers in the 18th century, the leather and green-gray satin interior of the bag has a detachable leather envelope with the portrait subject’s hair printed on the surface.
Liza Lou
With her ‘90s Kitchen glass bead structure, Liza Lou came into prominence and would go on to explore the notions of the handmade, materiality, and social consciousness through her sculpture, painting, and installations. Drawing inspiration from a classic Capucines BB, the artist preserved the bag’s classic design in her Artycapucines. Lou built a flowing sculpture surrounding the smooth calfskin bag, where her signature glass beads are printed in pastel colors embossed by Louis Vuitton’s artisans, which resembles her own Cloud Paintings.
Tursic & Mille
Painting duo Ida Tursic and Wilfried Mille’s practice is largely defined by their unique painting-on-painting technique and collaboration, as well as their taste for superpositions, startling combinations, appropriations, and throwbacks. In their Artycapucines bag, their 2021 painting Tenderness is at the center. The Taurillion leather body is covered by two “flower” shaped panels, which serve as a frame for the bag’s decorative elements. Using thousands of white embroidery stitches, the original brushstrokes are recreated on the front panel and given depth by printing the painting’s original rich colors on it. These techniques are also used in the rear panel, and the flap is embroidered with the word “Tenderness.”
Ziping Wang
Ziping Wang affectionately calls her bag “Sweet Tooth,” a fitting name for the artist’s continuation of exploring candy-colored, pop culture imagery in her Artycapucines design. It is the smallest Artycapucines created by far, with its main body composed of leather printed with a chessboard pattern that references both the Louis Vuitton Damier and the base layer of an empty image file. Wang’s Artycapucines is a visual treat with its glittery midnight patent leather with stars, printed light-blue leather for a sky, yellow leather that resembles a school notebook, and blue and green enamel beans. The bag’s white flap also has an enamel gingerbread man whose buttons feature the Monogram flower, and the leather handle is printed like a classic red-and-white candy cane.
