RAIF ADELBERG – ALL I HAVE ARE MY DREAMS

IT IS THE DAY BEFORE RAIF ADELBERG’S ANTICIPATED PHOTO SHOOT FOR THE AW09 LOOK BOOK FOR RAIF, THE CLOTHING LINE; MODELS ARE FLYING AROUND GETTING FITTED, MAKE-UP ARTISTS ARE LISTENING TO RAIF’S CONCEPT FOR HIS CLOWN INSPIRED SERIES AND HE IS LAUGHING WITH POTENTIAL COLLABORATORS, PASSING OUT CANS OF PABST BLUE RIBBON AND EXPLAINING HIS ART DIRECTION. THERE ARE NO VISIBLE SIGNS OF STRESS ON THIS HIS FACE. AND WHY SHOULD THERE BE? RAIF ADELBERG IS AN INTERNATIONALLY RENOWNED FASHION DESIGNER BORN TO A FASHION MANUFACTURER AND AN ART COLLECTOR. THIS LIFESTYLE, FULL OF COLOUR, CREATIVITY AND THE LAST-MINUTE RUSH, IS ALL HE KNOWS.

Responsible for fashion lines RICHARD KIDD, Naked, RAIF, and Dead Boys Club House, his new body of work follows the pressure and anticipation you’d expect from a highly-acclaimed designer. Yet as he prepares to open ++ALL I HAVE ARE MY DREAMS++, his first photographic exhibition in London, Raif remains as calm and collected as someone you know this lifestyle comes naturally to.

Adelberg lives and breathes creativity. He claims that what he does is not work; it’s just what he does. And for this Canadian born trick-of-all-trades, the Railtown Studio in Vancouver, is where he does. Masterminding with clothes, words, paintings and photos, he is revolutionising the fashion industry. His production refines, fixes, recalls and erases bits of art and fashion history into something the artist /designer decides is a more truthful, personalised representation of popular culture.

Through art, design and photography he transforms a military jacket into a jilted lover’s revenge story called, ”REVENGE FUCK.” He illustrates an agency model with a clown face, draped in an American flag and crying black tears associated with prison time, and in “SEARCH & Destroy in DCBH,” he depicts Adolph Hitler laughing with a clown.

Every action, thought, word and image stems from his analysis on identity. He wants to characterise, through clothes, photos and paintings, what influences our identity and how we live within our own limitations; for each man, father, Jew, German, American, artist, and indeed, clothing designer. His work is giving the audience a depiction of humans and letting them interpret it as they will.

The canvas of tattoos that transform Adelberg’s body into a conceptual entity tells a story of his life and loves. Raif has used his own skin as canvas for his unbridled creativity; exhibiting his philosophy of life through illustration. Tattoos, like the high collars, ruffles and high-waist jodhpurs of Quentin Crisp and Oscar Wild, are a sign of self-worship; a defence against suffering and a celebration of life.

If all of this analysis is too heavy, the considerate artist adds levity to the depth of his emotion by fusing all the images together with pop music references, the greatest social equaliser.  Examples include, “Baby I’m Amazed” by Paul McCartney, and, “In Dreams” by Roy Orbison, acting as inspiration for his photographic collection, ++ALL I HAVE ARE MY DREAMS++.

The amount of work produced at the studio from day to day is mind boggling. He allows for no separation between the artist, the designer, the clothes, the artwork; everything, including conversation, is approached with a curiosity and collaboration that characterises Raif’s creative process, saying himself: “Intensity is my normal resting place.”

The need to communicate and to make sense of life spills out of everything about Raif Adelberg. You get the feeling when you are in his studio that he is still looking for the perfect medium, one that

will satisfy his need to uncover life the way it is supposed to be lived.

An interview with Raif is next to impossible; the direct approach will take you in a circle of riddles. For any satisfaction or closure, you must answer the questions yourself, using his designs as inspiration for questioning, theorising and concluding.

He is asking you to be responsible for your own feelings, thoughts and ideas about what you see around you.  And of course, to use his tools to make up your mind for yourself. He’s just making pictures, designing clothes and talking to people.

Words Maeve Doyle Editor Natasha Al-Atassi  Images Raif Adelberg

DOYLE DEVERE presents:

+ALL I HAVE ARE MY DREAMS++ original photographs by Raif Adelberg
30 Ledbury Road, London, W11 2AB

Tel: 07889 182757

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