Tag Archives: kurt cobain

Eye On Design: Anna Sui Grunge Kilt Ensemble

Anna Sui Grunge Kilt Photo By Gail Worley
All Photos By Gail

“I think that, with hindsight, this may have been a moment in my career where my own past and present truly came together, more so that with other collections, which, however much I cherished them, were a carefully stitched-together tapestry of obsessively researched elements. My Grunge collection was more ‘felt’ than it was thought.”

The 1993 Grunge collection secured Anna Sui’s place in the history of fashion. She saw Seattle’s grunge music scene as the major force in the youth culture of that period, and used the layering and mixing typical of its style to great effect, riffing on the youthful sincerity of the movement to produce some of the most influential looks of the nineties.

Anna Sui Grunge Kilt Detail by Gail Worley
Anna Sui Grunge Kilt Ensemble, Detail: Polyester and Cotton Tank and Leggings with Totton Kilt and Shorts

Grunge style sprang out of a Seattle subculture in which a new wave of musicians, including Nirvana fronted by Kurt Cobain, sported a “thrift store” style of dressing that seemed to mirror their novel sound. This “un-fashion” style chimed with the decade’s rejection of the excesses of the 1980s and quickly went from subculture to mass culture. Marc Jacobs, working for Perry Ellis at the time, glamorized this style to create a grunge collect for Sping 1993. Sui’s references to grunge in her own collection, in contrast, are colored with optimism and a “hippie” sensibility. The outfit seen here features a kilt, widely associated with grunge, as well as a flower belt more reminiscent of the sixties or seventies

Anna Sui Grunge Kilt Detail 2 By Gail Worley
Lunchbox by Designs from the Deep, Cowhide/Rubber Boots by John Fluevog for Anna Sui

Anna Sui Grunge Kilt Photo By Gail Worley
Anna Sui Grunge Kilt Ensemble (Spring 1993) Photographed in the Museum of Arts and Design

Kurt Cobain Paste Up By Poet

Kurt Cobain By Poet
This Image By Poet, Other Photos By Gail

Poet is the name of a street artist whose work I discovered through his Pink Mail Box series, which is called Love Letters. I started following him on Instagram under the hashtag #poetwastaken and, over the weekend, I went out looking for a few of the works he’s been posting on his feed. This piece, which includes an image of Kurt Cobain alongside a spray painted quote, is located in Freeman’s Alley on the LES.

Kurt Cobain By Poet Photo By Gail Worley

Once I found the piece in person (and if you’ve seen Freeman’s Alley, you know that’s no easy feat) I was disappointed to discover that the quote had already been pasted over by another artist’s work, even though Poet’s piece had only been up since January 28th. This kind of thing happens so often that Poet said he has learned not to let it bother him. Everything is a work in progress.

Kurt Cobain By Poet

Poet, who is based in Los Angeles, told me a bit more about the Cobain piece in a chat via Instagram. “The Kurt Cobain piece was actually initially derived from his quote “Thank you for the trajedy (sic), I need it for my art.” I had spray painted that next to that paste up, but the very next day it was covered by another paste up. This lead me to a add a short and sweet message of “I’m so happy” over Kurt’s image. I’ve been painting that quote for about a year now, and with paste ups only for a few months.”

Watch for more street art by Poet to be featured here in the coming weeks!

 

NYC Skyline Mural By Dirt Cobain

NYC Mural By Dirt Cobain
All Photos By Gail

I have no idea how long this pastel-hued NYC Skyline mural by San Framciso-based street artist Dirt Cobain has been up, but my guess is that it’s a couple of years old, based on its relatively decent condition.

NYC Mural By Dirt Cobain

This identifying banner sits at the west end of the mural, which covers the service door of a local business at the southwest corner of West 24th Street at Sixth Avenue.

NYC Mural By Dirt Cobain

Next time I walk by this street, I’ll try to a get photo from across the street, when business has its door shut.

NYC Mural By Dirt Cobain

Got it!

Dirt Cobain NYC Skyline Mural

John Grande’s Oh You Pretty Things at Jim Kempner Fine Art

Damien Hirst By John Grande
Damien Dot: Portrait of Damien Hirst by John Grande (All Photos By Gail)

Wedged between viewing rad new art by both Lynda Benglis and Herb Alpert, we popped into Jim Kempner on 23rd and 10th during last Thursday’s Art Crawl to check out a very fun exhibit. Taking Appropriation Art to a hilarious new level, painter John Grande presents his new series of portraits depicting pop culture icons superimposed with the distinctive design of Damien Hirst’s famous Spot Paintings. That Hirst himself is honored in the show is pure brilliance. Continue reading John Grande’s Oh You Pretty Things at Jim Kempner Fine Art

Poster Child By Bruce Pavlow at Shoot The Lobster Gallery

Marilyn Manson By Bruce Pavlow
Marilyn Manson Poster By Bruce Pavlow (All Photos By Gail)

Here’s a crazy fun exhibit that Geoffrey and I literally stumbled on during our recent fall season-launch art crawl: Poster Child, a series of new photographic works by Bruce Pavlow.

Culture Club Poster By Bruce Pavlow
Culture Club Poster

Viewing Poster Child in the gallery is like walking into an imagined tween or teenagers bedroom. Pavlow has photographed various posters of popular culture icons including bands, pop star pin ups, animals, landscapes and motivational mottos – which the artist asserts have been created by fictitious characters that have enhanced and personalized the images by incorporating ready-made slogan bumper stickers and colorful icon stickers from craft and toy stores.

Boy Band Poster By Bruce Pavlow
Boy Band Poster

With the embellishment of these memes and slogans, each poster illustrates a personalized narrative and context, reflecting the thoughts and desires of the fictitious characters as well as the culture at large.

Britney Spears Poster By Bruce Pavlow
Britney Spears Poster

Sex Pistols Poster By Bruce Pavlow
Sex Pistols Poster

The re-created posters are then photographed (no Photoshop was used) and digitally printed at near actual size on watercolor paper, giving them a photo-realist quality that amplifies the subsequent transformation. The humor, as you can see is quite sardonic and subversive. Check out Poster Child before it closes!

Drugs Poster By Bruce Pavlow
Drug Enhanced Nirvana Poster

Poster Child By Bruce Pavlow will be on Exhibit Through October 12, 2013 at Shoot The Lobster Gallery, Located at 540 West 29th Street in the Chelsea Gallery District, New York City.

Shoot the Lobster Gallery Signage

Romance Poster By Bruce Pavlow
Romance Poster