Natasha Roberts on Contemporary Art with Style and Substance
As Armory Week always precedes Fall Fashion Week in New York City, curator and art advisor Natasha Roberts draws from her recent Bergdorf Goodman exhibition, A Room Just So, to spotlight six artists whose practices engage deeply with brands, material, and textiles as cultural signifiers. Whether tracing historical narratives, preserving cultural traditions, or interrogating systems of value and desire, each artist explores the intersection of art, design, and consumerism. Together, they demonstrate how the language of fashion and material culture continues to shape, and be shaped by, contemporary art.
Alex Anderson, Seeing is Believing. Courtesy of the artist/The KNOW
Critically acclaimed ceramicist Alex Anderson examines beauty, desire, and power through refined sculptural forms. A graduate of Swarthmore College and UCLA, and a Fulbright scholar at the China Academy of Art, he blends classical elegance with contemporary critique. His Bergdorf-featured ceramics, each accented with gold luster, were inspired by Aladdin’s Cave of Wonders, including a matte black and pearlescent glazed wall-text sculpture reading “Everything You Ever Wanted.” Shown in a landmark retail destination where abundance reigns, his work underscores how objects embody both cultural aspiration and vulnerability.
Edgard Barbosa, KORi_24_20. Courtesy of the artist/The KNOW
Brazilian-born, New York-based collage artist Edgard Barbosa explores identity, technology, and memory through the language of advertising. His unique technique, which he calls “korigami,” combines origami-style folding with collage, then digitally scans and restructures the results into layered compositions. The works carry a tension between analog craft and digital manipulation, echoing the dissonance of contemporary life. Influenced by modernist grid systems and commercial signage, Barbosa’s pieces transform discarded commercial imagery into new visual languages. Exhibited in New York and beyond, his work serves as a kind of spiritual archaeology, recovering meaning from the overlooked fragments of consumer culture.
Manuela Gonzalez, Flores Negras. Courtesy of the artist/The KNOW
Colombian-born and Florida-based artist Manuela Gonzalez creates works rooted in the visual and material traditions of textiles. A graduate of RISD and Yale, Gonzalez draws on her family’s history in fabric-making while connecting to the broader canon of abstraction. Her works often incorporate layered fabrics, crocheting, and painted surfaces, echoing both personal and cultural narratives. Exhibited at institutions including El Museo del Barrio’s Estamos Bien/La Trienal, her art examines how textiles serve as both memory and language. Gonzalez’s practice highlights the intersections of craft, heritage, and contemporary abstraction, weaving together the personal and the political.
Kouros Maghsoudi, Behsheen Chair. Courtesy of the artist/The KNOW
Furniture designer and multidisciplinary artist Kouros Maghsoudi brings a bold, playful sensibility to functional objects. Born in Chicago to Iranian parents who ran boutiques and rug galleries, he grew up surrounded by textiles and craft. His debut furniture collection, Mehmooni, draws on Persian culture while embracing postmodern motifs, emphasizing indulgence, sensuality, and fantasy. Maghsoudi’s work is unapologetically opulent, blurring the lines between art, design, and cultural storytelling. At once sculptural and functional, his pieces invite viewers to experience both luxury and liberation in everyday life.
Audrey Schilt, BTS at Ralph Lauren. Courtesy of the artist/The KNOW
With a career spanning four decades at the heart of American fashion, Audrey Schilt brings rare insight to her painting practice. A graduate of FIT, she began sketching for Halston at Bergdorf Goodman in the 1960s, including Jackie Kennedy’s fitting for her iconic Pillbox hat, before rising to Vice President and Creative Director of Ralph Lauren’s Women’s Runway Collection. In her Behind the Scenes series, Schilt transforms her illustrations of intimate backstage moments with fashion icons into enlarged, collectible paintings, capturing the elegance, energy, and allure of American style.
CHiNGLiSH WANG, CHiNGLiSH Brands: Balenciaga City. Courtesy of the artist/The KNOW
CHiNGLiSH WANG is a multidisciplinary artist whose practice dissects and reimagines cultural identity at the intersection of art and fashion. Raised between New York and Taiwan and educated at Parsons, he navigates contrasting aesthetics and traditions to create layered, thought-provoking work. By repurposing shopping bags from brands such as Dior, Balenciaga, and Fendi into sculptural forms showcasing their most iconic designs, Wang critiques consumerism while honoring the cultural weight of luxury goods. Their process of deconstruction and reconstruction pushes past surface glamour, instead asking what is remembered, forgotten, or worthy of reinvention. The result is work that feels in constant motion: culturally, aesthetically, and personally.
