THE BLOSSOMS OF DEPTFORT- BLOOMING ART SCENE IN LONDONS TRENDY SOUTH- EAST- OPENING GALLERY SPACE 'PETER VON KANT'

The first cherry trees are blossoming. It is the end of March and the crazy and dead exciting London summer season is about to start. My social calendar is filling up with invitations and the best start for it all was an exhibition and party of the who is who of the new emerging south-east London art scene in the also up-and-coming Deptford market area.

My dear 'honeys' and ' meine jungen Herren '  forget Hackney, give a shit about Hoxton ( boys and girls the good old 1990's are gone for 12 years now) and goodness gracious me, how boring is Shoreditch! Go to New Cross-Deptford!!!

One of my best friends, art dealer Peter von Kant opened his new art gallery space for a preview party to friends. The location is on Tanners Hill close to Deptford High Street is not yet renovated and open to public. The actual opening of the gallery will follow in a couple of month. But the VIP crowed, me included, could already have a look around. The place is still quite run down but it will be amazing eventually when it is made up to house Peter's shows and exhibitions.
Peter bought a 16th century house in one of the oldest high streets still existing in England. The whole row of houses with shops is the last reminder of these kind of low rise shop-living quarters from the 16th century. Von Kant's preview of the gallery space opened with two shows: The Peter von Kant Poster-Project organised by Alasdair Duncan and the 'Ad Acta' by the artist Dzenana Hozic, a construct of installations of photographs which relate socially and politically to the gallery space, its past and present.

Peter von Kant and a guest

I met Peter while working on his meanwhile cult classic opera film ' Nine German Arias' by Handel. I was doing the costumes and styling of the singers and Peter was directing and producing. I fell in love immediately. He is such a visionary person who loves to try out new things without fear and with great impressive creative force.
And the old gossip I am, I must tell you his family background: His mother was a beautiful Iranian model in 1950's Paris, whose artistic flair and talent was inherited by Peter, and his father, an Anglo-German business man whose aristocratic ancestry goes back to the famous German philosopher Emanuel Kant. So beauty, the love of art and fine living installed in him by his mother and the willingness to succeed, feeling for business and intellect from his father's side, he grew up to become an art collector and gallery owner. Now you know why I was smitten by him years ago and my fascination for him has never stopped ever since.

To be honest the evening was an success and unfortunately Peter hardly had the time to speak to me about his first project in his new gallery. As far as I know he asked 10 trendy artists to create 10 posters for the space. Artists included Robert Rush, Alasdair Duncan, Anthony Faroux (Genius! I love him and his art and he is also the ex-lover of French writer Nataschka Moreau), Richard Healy, Emma Holmes, Matthew Verdon, Matthew Draper, Roisin Byrne. Richard Thomas and James Howard.
I will meet Peter soon again and ask him more about the ' 10 Posters- Project' and edit this post accordingly.

Five pictures above Peter von Kant's ' 10 Posters- Project

Simultaneously Peter showed ' Ad Acta'  by the rising star female artist Dzenana Hozic.
The following text is taken from the exhibition catalogue since you all know I am just a little black rain cloud and unfortunately not an art critic.  Here we go:
'In ' Ad Acta ' she [ the artist ] crosses a relation of historical avantgarde photography and collage with imagery relating to the ship building and docking industries that once thrived in this part of South East London. They are intended as a remembrance of local working class history, and a reflection on the how this might relate to the history now.
The title 'Ad Acta ' is Latin for put aside, to archive, that which is not actual anymore; referring her to the historical loss of local industry and the ensuing position of many local workers.
[ ... ]

' Ad Acta '-photgraph- collages by Dzenana Hozic

The viewer is thrown between the space and the historical imagery, that of the photographed installation on Hozic's studio, the space where photographs are taken (the not yet renovated gallery space) each space is implicated in the others' building a sense of meaning is constructed between the different places and times.

' Ad Acta '-photgraphs-collages by Dzenana Hozic

In installation with Hozic's work are pieces by two eminent architects, one Victorian, G.E. Street, the other being the 20th century Italian, Gae Aulenti. G.E. Street's Gothic revival armchair is built of oak, a traditional ship building material.
Gae Aulenti was at first at the forefront of mid 20th century industrial design; her Oracolo lamps dating from 1968 are no longer in production and are featured in museums and design collections including that of the Centre Pompidou.'
written by Peter von Kant: 25 Tanners Hill,  Deptford, London SE8

Peter von Kant and guest in front of the ' Oracolo lamps' by Gae Aulenti

G.E Street's Gothic revival chair made from oak, a material strongly associated with shipbuilding

And at last but no least the people and the party. Well, I was dressed in a double breasted cotton jacket in beige by H&M Trendlabel with a blue striped sailor t-shirt underneath. The outfit was inspired by Jaques de Bascher de Beaumarchais famous dandy of the 1970's and lover of both Karl Lagerfeld and Yves Saint Laurent during that period. Instead of bell bottom jeans ( which I will buy again this summer  but not boot cut- I really want bell bottoms again- death of the skinny jeans is officiallly announced!)  combined it with a worn- out blue jeans by my girlfriend and grey Chelsea boots from Topman- my 1950's fur stole around my neck and my beloved purple wool beanie from Urban Outfitters and a little English lily in my button hole. I had a brilliant time chatting with artist and set designers, models, musicians and writers. The special thing at Peter's events is always a really cool mix of people from different artistic and design professions which only Peter can create thanks to his years of working in all kinds of jobs.

Left: one of the most chic artists and painters right now in London, the gorgeous Matt Verdon and next to him, the star of the evening, the artist Dzenana Hozic and a guest.

Guests at the party at Peter von Kant's new gallery space in south-east London

Thanks a lot my darling Peter for all the effort you put always to make these really special, lovely and artistic meetings. I am looking forward to the next one. The only thing that was missing was a non-alcoholic drink!

Love The Fashion Philosopher