On Oct. 10, the Grand Rapids Art Museum (GRAM) hosted its first poetry reading night in honor of the new visiting exhibit “Lee Alexander McQueen & Ann Ray: Rendez-Vous.” The exhibit, on display until Jan. 12, 2025, explores a thirteen-year friendship and intimate creative collaboration between the late British designer Lee Alexander McQueen and French photographer Ann Ray.
The poetry reading, paired with the exhibit, focused on the fashionable nature of the artistic collection. Guests were encouraged to check out the gallery after reading a poem, or supporting fellow poets during the event. Poetry reading is a new event the GRAM will be hosting in honor of an exhibit every month.
The exhibit’s collaboration was facilitated in 2019 between Barrett Barrera Projects and photographer Ann Ray as an experimental St. Louis display. Barrett Barrera Projects is an organization that creates exhibitions and galleries. Since then, the collective and Ray have continued to bolster and refine the exhibition in its larger museum tour. The GRAM is the fourth institution to host the exhibition on its American tour.
“The exhibition, (McQueen’s) partnership and collaboration with Ann Ray is meant to give a more intimate look into the person that Lee McQueen was,” said Kelly Peck, the vice president of Barrett Barrera Projects.
“Rendez-Vous” is a mix of McQueen’s fashion and Ray’s photographs of the fashion collection between 1997 and 2010. The exhibition features over 50 key McQueen pieces, which is the largest private collection of his work.
Peck said the exhibit is meant to untangle the idea of person versus persona. McQueen had numerous personal struggles throughout his lifetime. After his death, the exhibitions were beautifully curated, according to Peck, but were arranged thematically to play into the darker tropes McQueen privately experienced.
“(The exhibit) really highlights that (McQueen) had this very close circle of mostly women in his life, and how influential they were to this process (and) to who he was as a person,” Peck said.
Peck added that the exhibit’s use of the name“Lee Alexander McQueen” instead of just “Alexander McQueen” helps to separate the luxury brand from the person behind the fashion.
“I hope people walk away from this exhibition getting a sense of the person he was and his humanity,” Peck said.
Elizabeth Payne, the GRAM’s director of communications, said the collection is a unique display of friendship. She emphasized that the museum hopes the exhibit will inspire and deepen friendships within the community.
“The connection and friendship between Alexander McQueen and Ann Ray is a central theme of the exhibition,” Payne said. “The two not only had an intensely creative collaboration during their thirteen-year partnership, but also a deeply personal friendship.”
To encourage community attendance, the GRAM will have three, free days to celebrate the visiting exhibit. The free days are courtesy of a collaboration between the GRAM and the Frederik Meijer Gardens and Sculpture Foundation.
“We hope people will be excited to visit the exhibition with their friends and loved ones, and find renewed gratitude for the friendships in their life,” Payne added.
