New Exhibition 'Dressing Above Your Station' Delves Deep Into Steven Campbell's Paintings

Clothing has always played a central part in art, so much so that the subject has attracted thousands of scholars over the centuries, all flocking to unpick, thread by thread, why many artists pay unholy amounts of attention to textiles in their paintings. Dressing Above Your Station is the latest exhibition to do precisely that, honing in on the detail of Steven Campbell's artworks. The exhibition also remarkably features a collection of clothes by Japanese fashion label Comme des Garçons, which were acquired by Campbell and his wife Carol in exchange for one of his paintings whilst living in New York in the early 1980s.

Virtually featuring inside Glasgow's contemporary arts venue Tramway, Dressing Above Your Station uses modern technology and the looming metaverse to communicate the thoughts of its curators Beca Lipscombe and Mairi MacKenzie. Loans from the Paisley Museum, The Marlborough Gallery, The Glasgow School of Art, The Noguchi Museum, and Glasgow Life take form In digital representations of Steven Campbell paintings, clothing, and personal mementos, with visitors of the virtual exhibition guided by an audio recording of the late painter's wife.

Picking up on the exchange between Comme des Garçons and the Campbells in the late 1980s, there will also be projections in shop windows on Glasgow's Sauchiehall Street coinciding with the virtual space, as well as a recreation of the Commes des Garçons store in early '80s New York and a poster campaign that both advertises and is a part of the show.

Dressing Above Your Station will take place virtually between 31 March and 26 June 2022.