Chequered Style - The style of an artist

Firstly I have to warn you, this post is more about an attitude rather than menswear. We at Stylesalvage are very much interested in the style of the artist, how an artist decides to visually portray themselves. EJ studied History of Art at Uni so she is much more knowledgeable on the subject than me but she did plant the seeds for my desire to visit galleries and interest in art. I fell in love with Duchamp after visiting the current exhibition at the Tate Modern, I have been a fan of Man Ray for some time but never really appreciated Duchamp until now! Countless numbers of books and articles attempt to interpret Duchamp's artwork and philosophy, but in interviews and his writing, Duchamp only added to the mystery and this is what I love about him! The interpretations interested him as creations of their own, and as reflections of the interpreter. In terms of his own style he was quite a character, a number of characters in fact (through the creation of Rose Sélavy) but one of his favourite accessories was his chess board. To say that Duchamp was an avid chess player would be something of an understatement. He played at near enough master strength, and it is well known that he had - during the later part of his formidable career as a visual artist - given up the pursuit of art in favour of chess. I can't play chess but I want to learn.

This is exactly how I want to style myself in 40 years!

Some random trivia for you, a scratchy recording of an interview with the chess loving art provocateur opened the Spring 2008 Demeulemeester show. I love Duchamp mainly because he advocated the idea that art is an attitude and a way of working rather than a practice and a product, this attitude should transcend into menswear.

Now this is me at 65! Infamous photograph of Marcel Duchamp and the nude Eve Babitz playing chess at the Duchamp Retrospective at the Pasadena museum of Art, 1963.