Last chance to see - John Baldessari's Giacometti Variations, at Fondazione Prada

Conceived specifically for the space, John Baldessari's Giacometti Variations, currently on show in the cavernous exhibition hall at Fondazione Prada in Milan (until 26 December) conscientiously 'blur art and fashion'. 

'It is au courant, almost de rigueur that fashion models be extremely tall and thin,' says the veteran conceptual artist. 'Giacometti figures are the most emaciated and skinny sculptures that exist. Why not fuse the two?'. 

The exhibition, which has been curated by Germano Celant of Arte Povera fame, comprises nine 4.5 metre-tall long-limbed figures in bronze and resin, instantly-recognisable as having taken their form from the work of the Swiss sculptor, which have been arranged rhythmically in a line down the hall - as if to mimic a fashion show.

In keeping with the theme, each sports a different 'look' designed by the artist - Baldessari claims also to have been influenced by the cotton skirt and bodice worn by Degas' bronze dancer, La Petite Danseuse de Quatorze Ans - with these rotated at various junctures during the running of the exhibition. So far the 'models'' embellishments have included vividly-coloured hula hoops, giant crystal-encrusted ruby slippers, decorative birds, elongated ladders and a stack of books. 

Of the whole Baldessari states: 'Is this parody? I’m not sure. I hate categories and definitions - I certainly am borrowing. Isn’t this what artists do? Doesn’t art arise from art? What I am doing is furthering an idea - that is the requirement of any good art.'

Malgorzata Stankiewicz