A lot of people have been contacting Au Courant recently to ask why I haven't featured or talked about any of the costumes from Brian MacFarlane's 2010 Carnival offering, Resurrection.
Frankly, I don't have a whole lot to say, hence why I haven't said anything!
MacFarlane's design aesthetic is not my personal fave. I'll give Jack his Jacket, though; no one can do a stunning, captivating decor like MacFarlane does; anyone remembers his Christmas wonderland installations at the Malls in Trinidad?
But as far as designing Carnival costumes are concerned, he doesn't quite do it for me. True, his Mas' is probably the most creative designs around these days, what with the absence of Peter Minshall & Wayne Berkely and all. Not to mention the lack of new creatives having an opportunity to shine.
And yet, MacFarlane's Mas' doesn't resonate with me. Resurrection is a pedestrian take on those beloved Traditional Mas' characters; this is nothing we haven't seen before. I'd prefer a misshaped, dead-ugly, amorphous, mechanical, rusty and clanking Bat, over a perfectly rendered copy of one that has been already done. In a heartbeat.
What I champion with any kind of design, is originality. Originality in terms of being able to reinterpret common ideas and motifs to create a new concept, and a new discussion on a common design. Originality in terms of developing signature artistic techniques and visual languages.
I know there is no 'design' that's purely new; everything that is created takes some form of inspiration or direction from something that exists beforehand. But there are designers who are still able to tweak a popular, existing idea, until it becomes their own.
And this is what MacFarlane, and Resurrection lacks...
LMN Harris.
NB Image courtesy MacFarlaneCarnival.net
