Belgian artist Isabelle de Borchgrave, whose "Pulp Fashion" exhibition of historical gowns made of paper was the Fine Arts Museums most-attended show in 2011, surpassing even the Balenciaga retrospective, is back in San Francisco with a smaller show of Fortuny pleated dresses, textile-like paintings and new bronze clothing sculptures at the Serge Sorokko Gallery.
The show, which runs through April 20, is open to the public at no cost and features something museumgoers have not had a chance to do: Buy the dresses, which have never been offered for sale (they are a mere $45,000 per frock.)
In town for the opening, de Borchgrave said she has been influenced since her teen years by the creative passion of Mariano Fortuny, a textile and furniture maker famous for his pleated fabrics. Her show features brightly colored paintings of jewelry, caftans and objects that look at first like quilts.
The "canvas" is four times as large to begin with, and carefully dotted with vibrant hues so that when the paper is folded into tiny pleats, patterns emerge in the right places, creating the effect of a quilt or a woven rug.
Her work, which she said has a feminine thread throughout, is meant to inspire creativity in the viewer. "I have no pretension," she said. "I play."
Rosalie Sennett attended the "Pulp Fiction" show and a "packed" demonstration by de Borchgrave of her paper-dress-making technique in 2011, and was among the fans attending the premiere on March 19. "It's so clever," she said. "She uses materials no others seem to use. Who knew that she could sculpt and paint, too?"
