When my friend Marisa Olson, video artist extraordinaire, invited me to the opening of Unmonumental, an exhibit she co-curated with Lauren Cornell featuring artists working with Internet-based montage, at the New Museum next week in New York (VIP, of course), I had to ask what she’d be wearing. “I like wearing custom garments that reflect the concepts I work with,” she said. The exhibition will be available online from February 15 to April 6, 2008 at rhizome.org/montage.
“Cutting and pasting, breaking apart and re-assembling, ripping and remixing, the participating artists extend the radical practice of collage to the Internet, demonstrating how previously tried techniques can engender rich, new artistic practices.” – The New Museum
Accordingly, the piece Marisa will debut is a custom-made RUFFEO HEARTS LIL’ SNOTTY sweater-dress that conceptually, could compare with the likes of recent Prada, Miu Miu, and Balenciaga trends, and reflects Unmonumental’s lo-fi montage aesthetic.
And they do menswear! Never grow up, with big bold slabs and blocks of color, snap-on bandit-bandannas, kitsch prints and florals, rainbows, big-lips patches, and hooded-necks that you wouldn’t mind having to wear a brace under after you get whip-lash from watching someone walk by in one.
RUFFEO HEARTS LIL’ SNOTTY is the ironic Tee-shirt that grew up and got political. Each garment is hand-made in a Seattle workshop, and the designers take the fashion industry as seriously as they take consumer-capitalism in general – not very. With a disdain for Urban Outfitters and company, and a tongue-in-cheek sensibility, they prepare us for care-free craziness.
In a world where everyone wears RUFFEO HEARTS LIL’ SNOTTY, there is no war – just rock-shows, ridiculous cartoons, scrabble clubs, and fixed-gear bicycles. It looks like an 8-bit, space-age video-game puked all over Peter Pan’s Lost Boys after a Salvation Army run – and I love it!
The best part is it’s made from 100% recycled and re-purposed materials (minus the zips & snaps). The even BESTER part is that it’s all relatively affordable and you can buy some right now on Etsy.com
- If you haven’t been to Etsy.com, you are so missing out on handmade everything from amazing artists all over the place. Go!
DB’s Etiquette Recommendation: If you want to dress like a big toddler, there is a right way and a wrong way. The wrong way is creepy and makes people feel uncomfortable: Form-fitting overalls with running shoes will do this. The right way is taking the cue from RUFFEO HEARTS LIL’ SNOTTY and turning your attitude towards having fun, quitting your boring job, and liberating your inner-child with geometric art, huge color, and a genuine cohesion.
