Steve Pyke | Uniforms | intro
Uniforms
"Most portraits - photographs or paintings - deal with the clothed body. When clothing means fashion rather than anthropology it is inclined to be dismissed as superficial. But its cultural (and subcultural) significance is self-evident.
Ultimately, the enduring fascination of clothing is propelled by its constantly shifting roles, its inherent, unsettling contradictions: it purports to be primarily a form of modesty but is profoundly fetishistic, it confers individuality yet simultaneously pulls toward uniformity (which itself can mean unity rather than conformity). Its complex sign system has been compellingly studied by Steve Pyke over a long period, an investigation that has uncovered intriguing aspects of the relationship between people and how they present themselves."
-Martin Harrison
art curator