<h1 class="left">Christian Louboutin is no stranger to the creation of the fantastical. He owes his beginnings to a rebellion dear to him, against the naturalism that dominated French popular culture in the 1970s–of gritty, grunge heroes and heroines. At a time when bare-bone returns to realism were lauded as the way of life for intellectuals, it never quite sat right with the designer that femininity and all the whimsical glamour in association with it, was looked at with condescension. Forever fascinated by the art of showgirlship and performance, which presented the illusory in a diversion from the rigours of existence, he interned at the Cabaret Follies Bergère as a teenager. Against the backdrop of sensual audacity, all notions of hyperrealism were put to rest, and life became animated enough to resemble the otherworldly.</h1>
<h1 class="left">The soundtrack to this cross over to the mystical was a clicking red heel. A sound that announced Loboutin’s arrival and immortalised his legacy as a symbol of both art and beauty.</h1>
<h1 class="left">“Immortality is related to leaving a mark on the world; either architectural, pictural or literary, and to make sure this mark raises interest in people’s minds,” he tells dirty.</h1>
<h1 class="right">The role of art and detailed craftsmanship can hardly be separated from the designer’s body of work. Each intricate detail that finds itself on a Christian Louboutin shoe comes from his interaction with the world, and imaginations that pour in from continents and cultures across the world, from Egyptian architecture to Indian cinema. A ‘Louboutin heaven’, for him, “would probably be a very green place with no plastic, no pollution. But more importantly, it would be a place where all cultures are mixed, highlighted and celebrated.” To the man who has mastered the making of the magical, a conceptualisation of heaven comes almost effortlessly. Art and fashion intersecting to present people with a piece of paradise has been Louboutin’s mainstay.</h1>
<h1 class="right">“It seems that now, fashion has taken the role of art commissioner that the religious institutions used to be in the past, in the way that they commissioned artists for their posterity and were the centre of all art masterpieces. Now, it seems that many luxury brands are trying to play this role, and I don't know how good it is, but it is definitely interesting, and... why not?”, he questions. It certainly makes for a curious exploration.</h1>
<h1 class="centre">To test the theory, dirty presented eight artists with shoes that embody the Louboutin fantasy and asked them what their visualisation of heaven looks like, and how they might bring it to life through their own art, objects and designs. When the last breath heaves itself from a body, all that remains to be reckoned with is an individual’s belief of what lies on the other side. In the following pages, each artist plucks a fruit from the fantastical, takes a lingering bite, and presents their own version of paradise.</h1>
<h1 class="left">For Moumita Das, heaven is that which alters the existence of the darkness of death. The artist believes in an invisible circular motion between varied people living their own life, which inspires the form of her piece. Everything is interlinked with each other in an intricate manner akin to weaving. She knows that freedom cannot exist without thoughts of captivity, and hope without sorrow. In her craftsmanship, a void has been created by colliding positive and negative spaces within itself, the structure of it symbolising the socio-political existence of life as a woven surface where different types of threads intermingle with each other; knitting, knotting and creating layers on each other. This void she creates can be found within each person; it springs to light from darkness.</h1>
<h1 class="centre">Bhimanshu Pandel’s sculpture captures an unsettling representation of the afterlife and its profound impact on human emotions. Standing upon a mystical mountain peak, in the seat of nature, the sculpture embodies an aura of foreboding; mirroring the complex relationship between life on earth and the realm that awaits beyond. In the contradiction created by the existence of an angelic, mystical flower of divinity amidst the darkened imaginary creeper and thorns of an ethereal tree, a metaphor is presented on the emotional turmoil experienced by individuals when grappling with the notion of an afterlife.</h1>
<h1 class="right">Ankon Mitra’s artwork is an Epicurean delight, a forest of hedonism dotted with red and gold peacocks, where all of the heart’s deepest desires and indulgences are fulfilled. In the folds, in the glitz of the gold and in the fullness of the luscious reds - wax and wane a thousand shadows of chiaroscuro reminiscent of the eccentricity and audacity of showgirlship. These shadows beguile and arrest the viewers in their tracks - as they peer - with longing - into this theatre of absurd fantasy.</h1>
<h1 class="left">In witnessing Viraj Khanna’s fibreglass sculptures, replete with automotive and acrylic paint, the viewer feels a sense of transcendence which can be experienced through the physicality of the work, brought out in its suggestion and projection. There is a sense of liberty which resonates with the afterlife. The figure looks up, and points to the heavens.</h1>
<h1 class="centre">Nitin Barchha’s artwork is a composition of architectural elements that draws inspiration from the car race tracks of our childhood, in which a pathway for a steel ball to roll along is constructed in a bid to help one focus and forget about the clutter of the mind. To him, heaven is a place where one feels lightweight and can effortlessly float around, much like the freely moving steel balls in The Factory and Gambol pieces of his art. Once life has seen its full potential, much like the steel balls that complete their first journey, the afterlife presents the opportunity to do it all better the next time around.</h1>
<h1 class="left">Yaazd Contractor’s piece is an assemblage of parts, all from his previously made projects, put together to house the shoes. He has always resonated with the idea of the studio being a sort of haven, with its objective being a sacred place of creation. Taking the thought further, he went to the shelf that collates his off-cuts, scrap and rejected parts of work and attempted to give them collectively in this work, a new lease of life and purpose. This afterlife, or re-life, or second life, or 999th for all he knows, of the materials and parts that make up his idea of heaven.</h1>
<h1 class="centre">Rohan Joglekar paints a seaside paradise, of butter-soft skies and sand. Residing in Goa, the artist looks to his environment while reconstructing his idea of heaven. To him, a sunny day spent at the beach, laying with carefree abandon where water locks its uneven fingers into land; makes for the closest feeling to liberation. In his work, hours are passed in the absence of routine and in waning sunlight, where the afterlife appears in glittering focus.</h1>
<h1 class="right">In Biraaj Dodiya’s work, architectural forms such as ramps, beams, props, totems, tombs, posts, crucifixes, lean-tos, plinths, masts, deeply relate to the body’s verticality, horizontality or its complete breakdown. Her installation of paintings and sculpture act as visual beams, existing between two worlds, touching both floor and wall, sky and earth. A commentary is made on how humans are chained to our attachments, but it is the very thing that brings us joy. In total darkness, there are glimmers of light, and because of our impending mortality, we know that we are alive. For her, heaven is on the horizon.</h1>
<h1 class="left">Photography by Jedd Cooney</h1>
<h1 class="left">Location: Chatterjee and lal</h1>
<h1 class="left">Moumita Das is Represented by Chatterjee and Lal</h1>
<h1 class="left">Rohan Joglekar is Represented by Method</h1>
<h1 class="left">Nitin Barchha is Represented by Chatterjeee and Lal</h1>
<h1 class="left">Viraj Khanna is Represented by TAO art gallery</h1>
<h1 class="full">Christian Louboutin is no stranger to the creation of the fantastical. He owes his beginnings to a rebellion dear to him, against the naturalism that dominated French popular culture in the 1970s–of gritty, grunge heroes and heroines. At a time when bare-bone returns to realism were lauded as the way of life for intellectuals, it never quite sat right with the designer that femininity and all the whimsical glamour in association with it, was looked at with condescension. Forever fascinated by the art of showgirlship and performance, which presented the illusory in a diversion from the rigours of existence, he interned at the Cabaret Follies Bergère as a teenager. Against the backdrop of sensual audacity, all notions of hyperrealism were put to rest, and life became animated enough to resemble the otherworldly.</h1>
<h1 class="full">The soundtrack to this cross over to the mystical was a clicking red heel. A sound that announced Loboutin’s arrival and immortalised his legacy as a symbol of both art and beauty.</h1>
<h1 class="full">“Immortality is related to leaving a mark on the world; either architectural, pictural or literary, and to make sure this mark raises interest in people’s minds,” he tells dirty.</h1>
<h1 class="full">The role of art and detailed craftsmanship can hardly be separated from the designer’s body of work. Each intricate detail that finds itself on a Christian Louboutin shoe comes from his interaction with the world, and imaginations that pour in from continents and cultures across the world, from Egyptian architecture to Indian cinema. A ‘Louboutin heaven’, for him, “would probably be a very green place with no plastic, no pollution. But more importantly, it would be a place where all cultures are mixed, highlighted and celebrated.” To the man who has mastered the making of the magical, a conceptualisation of heaven comes almost effortlessly. Art and fashion intersecting to present people with a piece of paradise has been Louboutin’s mainstay.</h1>
<h1 class="full">“It seems that now, fashion has taken the role of art commissioner that the religious institutions used to be in the past, in the way that they commissioned artists for their posterity and were the centre of all art masterpieces. Now, it seems that many luxury brands are trying to play this role, and I don't know how good it is, but it is definitely interesting, and... why not?”, he questions. It certainly makes for a curious exploration.</h1>
<h1 class="full">To test the theory, dirty presented eight artists with shoes that embody the Louboutin fantasy and asked them what their visualisation of heaven looks like, and how they might bring it to life through their own art, objects and designs. When the last breath heaves itself from a body, all that remains to be reckoned with is an individual’s belief of what lies on the other side. In the following pages, each artist plucks a fruit from the fantastical, takes a lingering bite, and presents their own version of paradise.</h1>
<h1 class="full">For Moumita Das, heaven is that which alters the existence of the darkness of death. The artist believes in an invisible circular motion between varied people living their own life, which inspires the form of her piece. Everything is interlinked with each other in an intricate manner akin to weaving. She knows that freedom cannot exist without thoughts of captivity, and hope without sorrow. In her craftsmanship, a void has been created by colliding positive and negative spaces within itself, the structure of it symbolising the socio-political existence of life as a woven surface where different types of threads intermingle with each other; knitting, knotting and creating layers on each other. This void she creates can be found within each person; it springs to light from darkness.</h1>
<h1 class="full">Bhimanshu Pandel’s sculpture captures an unsettling representation of the afterlife and its profound impact on human emotions. Standing upon a mystical mountain peak, in the seat of nature, the sculpture embodies an aura of foreboding; mirroring the complex relationship between life on earth and the realm that awaits beyond. In the contradiction created by the existence of an angelic, mystical flower of divinity amidst the darkened imaginary creeper and thorns of an ethereal tree, a metaphor is presented on the emotional turmoil experienced by individuals when grappling with the notion of an afterlife.</h1>
<h1 class="full">Ankon Mitra’s artwork is an Epicurean delight, a forest of hedonism dotted with red and gold peacocks, where all of the heart’s deepest desires and indulgences are fulfilled. In the folds, in the glitz of the gold and in the fullness of the luscious reds - wax and wane a thousand shadows of chiaroscuro reminiscent of the eccentricity and audacity of showgirlship. These shadows beguile and arrest the viewers in their tracks - as they peer - with longing - into this theatre of absurd fantasy.</h1>
<h1 class="full">In witnessing Viraj Khanna’s fibreglass sculptures, replete with automotive and acrylic paint, the viewer feels a sense of transcendence which can be experienced through the physicality of the work, brought out in its suggestion and projection. There is a sense of liberty which resonates with the afterlife. The figure looks up, and points to the heavens.</h1>
<h1 class="full">Nitin Barchha’s artwork is a composition of architectural elements that draws inspiration from the car race tracks of our childhood, in which a pathway for a steel ball to roll along is constructed in a bid to help one focus and forget about the clutter of the mind. To him, heaven is a place where one feels lightweight and can effortlessly float around, much like the freely moving steel balls in The Factory and Gambol pieces of his art. Once life has seen its full potential, much like the steel balls that complete their first journey, the afterlife presents the opportunity to do it all better the next time around.</h1>
<h1 class="full">Yaazd Contractor’s piece is an assemblage of parts, all from his previously made projects, put together to house the shoes. He has always resonated with the idea of the studio being a sort of haven, with its objective being a sacred place of creation. Taking the thought further, he went to the shelf that collates his off-cuts, scrap and rejected parts of work and attempted to give them collectively in this work, a new lease of life and purpose. This afterlife, or re-life, or second life, or 999th for all he knows, of the materials and parts that make up his idea of heaven.</h1>
<h1 class="full">Rohan Joglekar paints a seaside paradise, of butter-soft skies and sand. Residing in Goa, the artist looks to his environment while reconstructing his idea of heaven. To him, a sunny day spent at the beach, laying with carefree abandon where water locks its uneven fingers into land; makes for the closest feeling to liberation. In his work, hours are passed in the absence of routine and in waning sunlight, where the afterlife appears in glittering focus.</h1>
<h1 class="full">In Biraaj Dodiya’s work, architectural forms such as ramps, beams, props, totems, tombs, posts, crucifixes, lean-tos, plinths, masts, deeply relate to the body’s verticality, horizontality or its complete breakdown. Her installation of paintings and sculpture act as visual beams, existing between two worlds, touching both floor and wall, sky and earth. A commentary is made on how humans are chained to our attachments, but it is the very thing that brings us joy. In total darkness, there are glimmers of light, and because of our impending mortality, we know that we are alive. For her, heaven is on the horizon.</h1>
<h1 class="full">Photography by Jedd Cooney</h1>
<h1 class="full">Location: Chatterjee and lal</h1>
<h1 class="full">Moumita Das is Represented by Chatterjee and Lal</h1>
<h1 class="full">Rohan Joglekar is Represented by Method</h1>
<h1 class="full">Nitin Barchha is Represented by Chatterjeee and Lal</h1>
<h1 class="full">Viraj Khanna is Represented by TAO art gallery</h1>