“I am proud, with my collection and the construction of the museum, to have created something lasting, which future generations will also be able to experience when they visit my museum and take joy in the art that has given me such joy for so long.”
Heidi Goëss-Horten
Swiss artist Sylvie Fleury has impressed audiences since the 1990s with the varied wealth of ideas expressed in her artworks. Fleury’s art comprises installations, performances, video art, painting, sculpture and light objects. But one theme recurs in her oeuvre: consumerism. She focuses on the glamorous world of luxury, the fashion industry and its major labels. The artist expresses her views about the growing rampant consumerism, but always with a sprinkle of humour, adding a certain levity to her critique of society.
Fleury seems like a seismographer of our social world, analysing our buying behaviour and the madness of our fast-paced lives and ever-changing trends. In her own words: “Exploitation, life-cycle assessment, brand mania. That is what challenges me. You used to be able to talk about these things with a certain levity; fashion was a circus. It was about fun. Today that doesn’t strike the right tone. Everything has become serious.”
The work Gucci Handcuffs also explores these themes. The handcuffs with the brand logo skilfully plays with the rush of the shopping spree combined with a sense of being trapped by the compulsion to consume experienced by many victims of fashion.